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The Life & Times of Julie: SXSW, Day 1

Without boring you, my dear reader, of my antics, I’ll start my tale with picking up my badge, which is basically my (semi) all-access pass into official SXSW showcases. Like, who cares that my flights were delayed, and my housemate sheltered some weirdo random kid who could have been an axe murderer for all we know?

Pretty much, my day started at the Loft at 718, where one of my favorite DJ’s DJ100proof was spinning, and my homegirl Hollis explained her attack mode for the festival. Let me say, I was really fucking overwhelmed at the start of this festival. Could I have planned this better? Could I have done some planning at all? Yes, and yes.

Anyway, I chilled out, and we walked over into the general direction of the Fader Fort, which is like the place where hipsters go to meet hipsters and not enjoy the music being played. Or maybe they do. I’m not really sure because I’m obviously not a hipster.

While walking over there, we ran into Shawn Chrystopher on the street (what up Shawn!), and I ended up going to get my wristband and stay over there to see Big K.R.I.T. I mistakenly thought K.R.I.T. was on at 3:00, mostly because I didn’t have a schedule of any sort. I listened to two rock bands who sounded the same (isn’t that what people say about rap music who don’t listen to it) and drank free Vitaminwater and Smartwater.

Big K.R.I.T.’s set was so impressive! No diss to Seattle, but it was great to be in a crowd that actually enjoyed his music, that was dancing around, and wilding out. If you’ve ever been to a rap show in Seattle, you’d know that most people just stand there with blank looks on their faces.

If the audience projected great energy, then Big K.R.I.T. magnified it right back at us. He had so much energy, and he sounded spectacular. It was like I was listening to his mixtapes, except he was live. He performed a bunch of my favorite cuts from Return Of 4Eva, including but not limited to “Rotation,” “My Sub,” “Sookie Sookie,” “R4 Theme Song,” and got the crowd super hype with “Country Shit,” before ending it on “The Vent,” which was an interesting choice to me. I’m always a fan of ending on a high (hyped) note.

After watching K.R.I.T., what did I do… Seriously, what did I do? I was going to go up to Nice Kicks, but that was a busride away and I wasn’t feeling it. I think that I went over to the Green Beacon of Hope (AKA Starbucks) and then met up with Will at the Convention Center to charge our phones and schedule our respective nights.

Following a BBQ dinner, we were making our way over to Kiss & Fly, when I saw Shawn and Randy, again, in the street, and then almost got hit by a bunch of cars because I wasn’t paying attention. It was actually terrifying, and I ran away (in the wrong direction, of course) because so many policemen were around and I was afraid I would get a ticket. True story.

You know what else is a true story? I could have auditioned, if you will, for the Slaughterhouse video by sending in pictures of myself, but I chickened out, and looked a mess in this weather.

Anyway, we made it to Kiss & Fly during THEEsatisfaction’s set, which I found enjoyable.

SL Jones came on after them, and he was one of the artists who I had been really excited to see. There was something wrong with the DJ equipment, or something, but whatever it was left the Littlerock, Arkansas native Jonsey rapping accapella for a long time, with the response, “It’s okay, I got bars for days.” He also started giving some of the free stuff away, and I think the hosts were getting mad at him, which was kind of humorous.

The sound started working, and SL Jones had a great, monstrous set with his Sonny Digital, Lex Luger, and other trap superstar beats rattling the club. We all know how I love that shit… He performed predominately cuts from Flight Risk, which I loved, and I thought he was great. He was charismatic and rapped well, so it’s all good to me.

After his set, which ended about 30 minutes late, I decided to stick around because there wasn’t really anyone who I was dying to see until 10:00. I was super glad I stuck around because they ended up not adhering to the schedule, and Boldy James, who wasn’t even listed in the showcase, came out for a great set! I haven’t listened to him before, but I liked what I heard.

After Boldy made me into a fan, a flagrantly dressed Mistah Fab came out for another unannounced, but brief, set, prior to Roach Gigz performing.

At this point in my blog post, it feels like I’m just listing a bunch of rappers, and that’s kind of how it was–there was a lot of rap, rap, rap, rap, rap, but please, don’t interpret that as a complaint. I loved every second of it, and even more, because I was sitting down.

Anywho, with the help of my iPhone pictures, I can tell you that A.Dd+ came out next, and they were super dope as well. Again, another entity that I’ve heard about, but haven’t actually heard. They’ve been on tour, and were reunited with producer, so they were extra hype. They did a dance breakdown on stage, and I loved it as much as they very obviously did. Then, I happened to look down for one second, and look back up to see all of them jumping around in the crowd!? It was dope!

L.E.P. Bogus Boys, another group I’ve seen all over the internet but haven’t listened to, performed, and I was made into a fan. Heavy bass, gunshot sound effects, and energy are all good to me. Even though they were dope, I left toward the end of their set.

At SXSW this year, I’ve been trying real hard to only see artists who I haven’t seen, and who likely aren’t coming to Seattle any time soon. For that reason, I was going to head over to La Zona Rosa to catch Stalley, Wale, and Meek Mill, and not XV, Kirko Bangz, and Curren$y like I had planned. I really only wanted to see Meek Mill perform “House Party.”

I actually had full intention of going to that showcase, but I started walking in the wrong direction, and didn’t feel like turning around, so I decided to hit the TDE showcase with Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Kendrick Lamar, since I haven’t seen them.

I bypassed the entire line with my badge, got in, and got a drink. I needed it! The venue was near where I almost got hit by all those cars, so I was nervous returning to the scene of the crime. Seriously.

Instead of really paying attention to the show, I was hanging out with Nacho Picasso and Blue Sky Black Death, and we left, and wandered around. We passed by this giant Doritos stage thing that was designed to look like a vending machine, and I almost got separated from everyone because the A$AP Mob ran into me, I didn’t even notice. “Don’t you know who that was?” I was asked. I mean, obviously, I know who the A$AP Mob is, but I only saw white guys.

Ironically, I was later practically bowled over by the A$AP Mob, again–this time I actually noticed them, and Rocky, specifically–who also had Theophilus London in tow. That was pretty trill, all things considered, even though I almost fell off the sidewalk.

I was safely delivered to The-Dream at the Central Presbyterian Church. Pardon the pun, but it was like a dream. He is one of my favorite artists, and I honestly never thought I would have the opportunity to see him perform live because he’s too busy writing number one singles and working behind the scenes. When the opportunity arose to see him, you know I was not going to miss that, especially with the acoustics in a church.

So, it’s difficult for me to put in words how much I loved watching The-Dream. It was kind of like a transcendental experience, in a church and all, with a live band. His set was way too short for my taste, but I will take what I can get. Dude, he sounded almost angelic in his falsetto pitches. I was so happy that I could leave Austin now. I could also just gush on and on and on about him…but I am pretty sure that I’m going to catch him again at the Fader Fort today, so I will ramble some more about him later.

After The-Dream finished, I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. Naw, just kidding, we did walk over to Whataburger (AVERAGE AT BEST) before starting the long walk home because no taxi would pick us up. After about 10 of them drove past us, empty, even waving at us, one kindred soul picked us up and we made it back here.

Tweet Tags: A$AP Mob, A$AP Rocky, A.Dd+, Big K.R.I.T., Blue Sky Black Death, Boldy James, DJ100proof, L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Mistah Fab, Nacho Picasso, Roach Gigz, Shawn Chrystopher, SL Jones, SXSW, SXSW 2012, The-Dream, THEEsatisfaction, Theophilus London