When an old school hip-hop artist dies, it hits me hard. That’s the music of my generation, Generation X. When MCA (Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys) died in May of 2012, I remember where I was. I was working at Chelsea Market working as a sales associate for a jewelry designer. I tweeted about the Beastie Boys while shoppers browsed the artisan goods. There was a DJ in the center of the market and he played some vintage Beastie Boys. I may have given him a nod in agreement from across the room.
Today I wake up to reading about the passing of Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor) of A Tribe Called Quest. This is a sad day. I was a devotee of A Tribe Called Quest. Their second album, ‘The Low End Theory” was a CD that I wore out. I especially loved Phife’s verses on “Butter”. Phife had an earnestness to his rhymes that I and many others appreciated. RIP Phife. You were always on point.
With tonight being my last night here at SXSW, I wanted to go see some bands. First, I checked on Foursquare and Twitter to see where some of my friends were at, but my gut told me to strike out on my own in the hopes of something supercool. I did an IRL “StumbleUpon” when I read on a flyer that Miz Metro would be playing at midnight at the place called Club 115. I saw Miz Metro speak last fall at a 140Conf Meetup. At the Meetup, she talked about how she is using twitter to grow her fan base as a artist.
So I was there catching Miz Metro performance when two of my friends showed up. Let me preface this by saying that I didn’t check in on Foursquare, so this was complete serendipity. Chris Sullivan (AKA Shockwave) and Jen Dunlap (AKA Funlap) walked in. I met their friend DJO. who also makes kimchi and he knows Cathy Erway who is a friend of mine. We were on a panel together on Saturday for TechMunch Austin.[It’s a freaking small world!] DJO is the dj for The Beatards. They are bringing back the Brooklyn Old Skool hip hop energy with new school lyrics and beats. They are like the Beastie Boys for this century. Tonight was the first time I heard them and I love it! Shockwave get onstage and did a little something.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10253863&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
I had a fun time partying with friends that I don’t see that often in NYC. It was the perfect button to this week here in Austin.
It's Nichelle With An "N"