Before we start this (c) Dilla on Ruff Draft. This post is crazy long, you might just wanna download the Tanya Morgan live at SXSW EP below, featuring me, Blu & Peter Hadar, if you’re not big on reading & clicking links, otherwise, please read on & enjoy ->
.:Tanya Morgan w/DJ Low Key, Blu & Peter Hadar – Live at SXSW 2009:.
Like most of my flights out of town, my trip to Austin started with next to no sleep and a mad dash to wrap up loose ends for the time I’m gone, prepare for whatever random DJ iddish I’m spinning & all the normal travel stuff. I rushed to the airport after sleeping an hour and missed my flight’s check-in by literally couple of minutes, thanks to some confusion on the part of Frontier Airlines’ employees (WTF…come on y’all). Anyways, after 4 1/2 stressed, frustrated & tired hours of explaining the situation and talking/yelling/bargaining/etc with a variety of Frontier employees & managers during the busiest flying week short of Christmas I ended up barely making it on a flight to Austin.
A couple of short hours and half a nap later I touched down in Austin, where I was picked up by Tanya Morgan and the homie Dom from IM Culture and after catching up for a minute, it was time to figure out some last minute details for the set and get me SXSW credentials (word to DJing for rap groups & the parties it can get you into…LOL). Once I had my artist bracelet it was off to the infamous Red Bull Moon Tower to spin a few sets before the 1am Tanya Morgan show I’d be DJing at later.
It’s a well known fact that Red Bull is known for throwing exceptional parties and the Moon Tower was another one for the ages. People were lined up super early and there was an excitement (or maybe just an impressive energetic drunkness) for the exclusive, invite-only event that the Denver Post called the #1 SXSW party (although technically it’s not even a SXSW party). I played a bunch of new music from Che Grand, Daniel Merriweather, TiRon, Colin Munroe with some older classics and sleepers, plus some exclusive TM and U-N-I/Ro Blvd songs that the crowd was into. I wish I had those sets to post along with the TM stuff, sorry y’all. Around 12:30, I rushed off stage at the Moon Tower as the homie (and fellow Red Bull Music Academy Mr. X) DJ Scuba Gooding showed up to take over the turntables and it was off to DJ for Tanya Morgan at Back Alley Social.
This being my first SXSW trip I wasn’t quite ready for the rushed conditions and mess of equipment that goes along with having so many acts playing marathon style (no soundcheck, horrible sound in the club, switching out mixers between acts without checking any levels, one turntable that was broken and completely useless, no vocals in the monitors, etc). With that said, it wasn’t my best show with TM, but I think we pulled things off pretty well all things considered. Mad energy, a set featuring all new songs from the upcoming TM album Brooklynati (it drops on 5/12, preorders are available now), a special appearance from Kay (of the Foundation and Time:Line w/Nicolay fame, who I didn’t recognize because he wasn’t wearing his trademark glasses, even though we’ve kicked it in Denver…LOL) & super-producer Aeon rockin out on the edge of the stage when we played “She’s Gone” (the song he produced from the new album). After the showcase it was back to the packed Red Bull Moon Tower for a relatively uneventful wrap up to the night (only uneventful because it I was exhausted, the party went on strong til 5am).
Above: This pic corresponds to the beginning of the “All Eye Need” snippet from the SXSW live EP if you’re keeping score at home.
Above: Donwill & Ilyas of Tanya Morgan/Ilwil with me on the turntables. Below: Me & Von Pea use teamwork to show the crowd how to count to ten.
The next day started in the early afternoon with me rushing over to the Nahright/Smoking Section/Ruby Hornet showcase for a sound check that never ended up happening (the venues seemed overwhelmed with all the acts performing everywhere we went). Once I was at the spot I managed to see my friends from the Hiero tour, the Blue Scholars, crush it as usual for a packed house before getting caught up with the homies Blu, Exile & J Kim, who I hadn’t seen since the “Blu Collar Worker” video shoot in LA (I was heavily/randomly involved in making the video from the classic album Below The Heavens happen).
The place was full when me & Tanya Morgan got on stage to rock a completely different set than the night before. This time the venue was way more on top of things than the spot from the night before (two working turntables even…LOL) and the show went off a lot smoother. Both Peter Hadar & Blu made a special appearances to rock their features from Brooklynati (once again, it drops May 12th), check out the video below of “Morgan Blu” (featuring guess who). After our set we stayed and watched Blu & Exile rock (Blu spitting over Ex playing live on the MPC is awesome). Then, as Blu & Exile were midway through their last song, Charles Hamilton managed to play himself by starting his set before Blu & Ex had even finished performing (and after that same set he played himself again by claiming he produced a song he performed that was actually produced by Black Spade, another performer in the same showcase, SMH, check the whole story at freshselects.net if you haven’t already). Anyways, check out more coverage of the Nahright/Smoking Section/Knuckle Rumbler party over here, here & here.
After the show I was supposed to join Tanya Morgan for an interview out in front of the venue but instead got caught up talking to Exile inside. I ran outside looking for the group and saw their frequent collaborator, producer 88 Keys, so I asked if he’d seen them. He hadn’t but I turned the corner to find TM, tell them 88 was around the corner and see Donwill chase him down to say what up and have him join us for the interview. About five minutes into the interview, Homeboy Sandman walks by, TM flags him down and a crazy cipher that eventually came to feature all of Tanya Morgan, 88 Keys, Truth Live, Fresh Daily, Homeboy Sandman & P. Casso broke out. You can find the four parts over at 2Dopeboyz, but make sure you check part three where Von Pea spit the instantly classic (ahahaha) lines “Now it seems we in a house of dreams/trying to keep it low key & still sound supreme” (word to the Solution). There were all sorts of dope MCs rapping with me in the background, check out the clips, ahahahaha.
That pretty much finished the “work” (I LOVE my job) part of my trip to Austin. I definitely gotta mention that the pics with the fancy logos were taken by Seher Sikandar from RehesCreative.com, make sure you check her work out, she’s great (and nice and hopefully not mad I’m posting her pics). Also, make sure you download the live EP below if you haven’t already and check out the pics & stories from the rest of my trip after the jump:
.:Tanya Morgan w/DJ Low Key, Blu & Peter Hadar – Live at SXSW 2009:.
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