The 13th Annual Trinity International Hip Hop Festival
What a weekend! I live a blessed life. I was fortunate enough to receive the opportunity to represent, not just for myself, but, for my country and our local Hip Hop movement at the 13th Trinity International Hip Hop Festival at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut on April 6 - 8. Each year, the festival features notable Hip Hop acts from all over the world. This year, I was invited to perform, joining a roster of acts from the US (Noname, Taylor Bennett, Political Animals, Demi Day), Canada (Keysha Freshh), Cuba (David Omni & Esquadron Patriota), the Dominican Republic (Hache ST), Cabo Verde (Old City) and South Africa (Klein Fortuin).
I had known about this festival for some years now, through Clubba Lang of DotGotIt.com, which has been supporting me since 2010. Clubba was then living in Connecticut, and while he doesn't any more, Dot still does. And Dot and I got to link, which was great. I also knew of the festival through Greg Schick, who could be the most knowledgeable person about the different Hip Hop scenes globally. Greg and I had been in touch for years as well. I had done features for his label Nomadic Wax. Their website gave my 2012 debut album, War for Peace, a favourable review, and his site World Hip Hop Market ranked my 2014 EP, These Kingston Times, as one of the year's best international releases. The Trinity International Hip Hop Festival has a submission process through which independent acts can seek to perform. I had submitted previously but was not selected. At the end of 2017, Greg told me the committee was inviting me to perform.
It was an honour to be at a festival that has featured the likes of Rakim, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli and MC Lyte. I shared the stage with respected Hip Hop acts from different scenes... quite literally, because the show ended with a cypher featuring all of us trading bars... and I connected with numerous personalities and made new fans and acquaintances who may now become collaborators and friends.
Inevitably, I may leave out someone with whom I interacted, and for that, I apologize. Special respect goes out to Minister Server, who hosted Saturday's stage show and even 'served' as my hypeman. Also, Dr. Jesse Benjamin, who dropped a lot of knowledge in his panel and blessed me with a Walter Rodney T-Shirt. My favourite panel was Brian Coleman, Pete Nice of 3rd Bass and Stretch Armstrong of the legendary Stretch & Bobbito show chronicling the history of Hip Hop through party flyers and party stories dating from the 70s up into the 90s. I got to speak to both Pete and Stretch after the panel. Pete reminded me that 3rd Bass DJ, Richie Rich aka Daddy Rich, was born in Jamaica. When I told Stretch I was from Jamaica, he told me a little known story about how his show got started, assisted by his now best friend, Dylan Powe, a Jamaican in the industry who had gotten Inner Circle and Garnett Silk their record deals with Atlantic Records. The Jamaican involvement in Hip Hop has always been deep. Pete even said that DJ Kool Herc was hosting jams before the famed August 11, 1973 back-to-school jam. He said that was an epic night which is great to start the folklore, but Herc was doing stuff from as early as 1971. Emile YX from South Africa's Black Noise, as well as MC Pous and Dana Burton of China also had another interesting panel about free speech and censorship in their respective countries. Emile took us through his experience of protesting Apartheid in his music while Pous and Dana shattered Western misconceptions of Chinese government and society.
Outside of panels, the festival also featured a dance competition on the Friday night, graffiti walls and a patio showcase on Saturday afternoon. Sunday was the DJ and producer showcase of which I caught a part before heading to the airport with Keysha Freshh and one of the festival's organisers. I missed the graffiti in the park, however, which was happening simultaneously.
Saturday night was the big show. And by all accounts, I rocked the place. I had a lot of fun and got a lot of love from the crowd, especially the front row, which was super-energetic and excited. Due to sound check getting off on a bad foot, as the engineer explained it to me, there wasn't any more time for me to do mine, although the headliners and the bands that were playing did theirs. That evening, I was back-and-forth between a studio on campus and the show venue, attempting to do my sound check and an interview with Rene John-Sandy and DJ Sabotage for the Global Love Warming podcast all in the same time frame. At least, I got the interview done, making me the first act to return to the podcast. We also got some great visual content as the show was also filmed.
As for sound check, I was assured by the engineer that there would be no issues, and there were none that occurred that weren't addressed immediately on the fly. The sound team did a good job and so did DJ Boo, who added the extra flair to my set, without us doing any rehearsal, sound check or having any real discussion about what we were going to do. That's how pros work. What was crazy was Minister Server, chilling in the background, working the crowd as my hypeman on the mic. I think I did a good set. I opened up with songs from These Kingston Times (Deadly & Welcome) and then went into Dirty Couch from HeatRockz. I then performed Encore for the first time. I also did songs like Rebel Music and a piece of Slaving on the Plantation. I ended my set with some high energy thanks to True School, and I topped it off with a short freestyle at the end, bigging up Trinity College and my DJ for the night.
I was well received on the night and it was love all around, from patrons to fellow performers. Maximum respect also to Matthew, DJ Trouble Kidd, Cody, Giselle and Akayla who made sure I was good, helping me get around and showing me the place.
I was happy to have finally made it to this festival. I see it as an acknowledgement of my work over the years and also a recognition of the Hip Hop community in Jamaica. Given the significant contribution of Jamaica and Jamaicans to Hip Hop culture, I feel it is only right for us to have a seat at the 'Hip Hop United Nations', if you get my drift. I am the first Jamaican act that has appeared at the festival. I hope I return again, but I also hope I'm not the last or the only. Hopefully, next time, it will be The Council at the Trinity International Hip Hop Festival.
Photos by Thomas De Los Santos
