The Council at The Trinity International Hip Hop Festival on Saturday, March 30, 2019, at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Greg Schick)

The Council to welcome DJ Kool Herc at the Jamaica Music Conference

Kingston and New York-based Hip Hop collective The Council will welcome the man regarded as Hip Hop's founding father, DJ Kool Herc, at the Jamaica Music Conference (JMC) on Thursday, February 13, at Dub Garden, 10A West Kings House Road, Kingston 10. The group will be performing as part of The Apollo Showcase at the Welcome Reception of the conference, which has DJ Kool Herc as its guest of honour.

The open stage and concert event, The Apollo Series, has curated a 30-minute showcase that will highlight some of the best local Hip Hop talent to have graced its stage. Five Steez, The Sickest Drama and Inztinkz of The Council is slated to appear, with a feature from Dizzy the Ill One.

“We see the JMC as an essential forum, filling the gap of formal knowledge sharing in the country’s music landscape,” says organiser of The Apollo Series and head of A.C.T.I.O.N. Jamaica, Simon the Writer. He said when presented with the opportunity to curate a showcase, The Apollo Series team could not pass up on it. “We feature all kinds of talent on our platform and that includes local Hip Hop artistes, so it was a no-brainer for us to present a set suitable for a guest of honour such as DJ Kool Herc.”

Council member The Sickest Drama says, “This is a historic moment for Hip Hop on a global level and for the culture of Jamaican music, of which Hip Hop is an extension by way of the sound system culture. It is for this reason The Council has been spreading the idea of Jamaica being dubbed the First Coast, as without DJ Kool Herc, there may be no Hip Hop as we know it today.”

The JMC 2020 Welcome Reception begins at 6 p.m. with cocktails. The conference, which will continue through to Saturday at the Courtleigh Hotel, will feature other showcases, panels and events geared towards sharing best practices in the music industry. The JMC closes on Sunday, February 16, with the Itopia Life Beach Day at Wickie Wackie Beach. All attendees must register. More information is available at www.thejmceffect.com.