Concert Review: Hip Hop in Duketown 2010

This was the first time I attended Hip Hop in Duketown, a free Dutch hip-hop festival in the beautiful city of 's-Hertogenbosch (or Den Bosch). I heard of the festival when I was at Boogiedown Breda, a similar festival that took place a few months ago, and I immediately decided to go.

The gorgeous St. Janskathedraal in Den Bosch.

First off, I must admit I only arrived at the festival around 7 o'clock. That means I missed a few artists, but I honestly wasn't very interested in them because I didn't know them and Fresku disappointed me too much last time I saw him perform. So the first act I saw was Kleine Jay & Cartes. I think they have a few nice songs and the show was okay, but it didn't really convince me, so to say. But soon Hef, Önder & FS Green (you might know Önder as Turk, his old rapname) got on stage. I don't like Hef's music, I think it's very unintelligent and it confirms every stereotype people have about rappers, and indeed during the show it sometimes seemed like he was just trying to find out how often you can say the word 'nigga' in a minute. BUT, Önder saved the day, accompanied by his buddy Spacekees. Now, I don't wanna say something bad about everyone, but I don't like Spacekees anymore ever since I've seen him perform solo at Regelmaat XL 2009. He was very arrogant and acted like he didn't have to work like any other rapper to get the crowd going. Fortunately, he did a much better job at Duketown.

Önder

Somewhere in between the performances, I went to explore the festival grounds, and I came across some graffiti artists. I don't know much about graffiti, but I do like to watch it and take pictures of it. Here is a small preview:

Also, there was some basketball and some skating, but I was too late to actually witness that. Maybe next year :)

Anyway, after Hef, Önder & FS Green came the Nebulon Soundsystem. I had never heard of them, but when I took a closer look it turned out Zwart Licht and NoizBoiz are all members of this 'group'. Oh yeah, and D.Lipps & Skinto, but I had never heard of them before. And it turns out I didn't recognize the NoizBoiz because rapper Kariszma has left the group. But anyway, here's a picture:

I think the man on the right is Skinto, I don't know who the other one is. Honestly, my computer is too slow right now to go to all their websites and figure it out.

The Nebulon Soundsystem had a pretty good show. I especially liked the Noiz Boiz, which is good 'cause I was wearing my NoizBoiz t-shirt (which I bought in an impulse after I had first seen them live at Rokkesteen 2008). The only thing I didn't like was that they just didn't stop! Their show just went on and on and on, until I got bored and left the crowd to sit down somewhere. It was actually planned, they were on stage for an hour, but in my opinion that was a bit too much.

So, the next group that was going to perform, were The Opposites. But... They didn't show up. One of them had a toothache, so they decided not to come. It is very typical, only "big" artists stay home for reasons like these. Why? Because they don't need the money or the promotion they get from a show like this? Simply because they're arrogant? Anyway, I got over it pretty fast, but all the sweet little 14-year-old girls in the crowd were definitely disappointed. I'm sure The Opposites were the only reason these girls went to the festival in the first place.

Sooo, since The Opposites stayed home, the festival continued with the next planned thing: a DJ Battle (between DJ DAZE and DJ DNS). I've seen DJ DNS a few times, at several Dutch hip-hop festivals/concerts, so I was rooting for him.. And yes, he won. He used songs like The Champ Is Here (by Jadakiss, I think), so he really set the mood with that...

DJ DNS

And then, finally, someone reminded me why I went to Den Bosch for this festival. His name is Typhoon and he is a hero. If you've read my previous weblog, you'll know Typhoon has released an EP with jazz group New Cool Collective, named Chocolade EP. Well, he brought New Cool Collective with him to this performance. And his brother O-Dog. And his sister Dinopha. And singer Giovanca. And then, biggest surprise of the evening, his other brother Blaxtar. Needless to say, Typhoon comes from a very musical family. The combination of jazz, rap and R&B really blew me away, and I wasn't the only one. People were jumping and screaming along to the songs, and even my boyfriend, who usually doesn't like hip-hop, went wild. I enjoyed it very, very much. It was one of the best performances I've ever seen, no lie. Every song was a small party. Especially the last three songs: Los Zand, Bumaye and Licht Uit. And Brand Los, of course.

Here are some pictures of this lovely show:

O-Dog introduces his brother Typhoon

Typhoon rocking

Giovanca sings her longs out while Typhoon watches in awe

Benjamin Herman, founder of New Cool Collective

Blaxtar, O-Dog, Dinopha & Typhoon (all brothers and sister!)

Overall I think this was a nice festival, but Typhoon & New Cool Collective really took it to the next level. I recommend everyone, whether you are a hip-hop fan or not, to go to one of their shows. It's amazing.

Festivals and concerts I will be attending this summer

This blog is first of all a recommendation of some great concerts that are coming up. If you guys like some of the same music I like, you might wanna check these out, or at least check out the music so that my (future) reviews of the concerts will be useful to you in deciding whether you want to see these artists perform live as well.

June 22th: Tegan and Sara, at Deurne (Belgium). These women need their own blog, and I promise I will give them that, but let me just tell you a few things about them already. Tegan and Sara are twins from Canada. They are both lesbians, although they rarely sing about that in their music (in fact, I never heard them mention it at all). They play guitar and sing, and write their own lyrics. Their new CD, Sainthood, is great, I love every song on it. The Con is also a wonderful album, sounds less electronic in my opinion, so check that out as well!

July 17th: Hiphop in DukeTown ('s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands). I think it's the first time this festival will take place, and I'm very excited about it because it reminds me of Boogiedown Breda. Difference is that it doesn't have any American artists, but it does have some outstanding artists like Typhoon & New Cool Collective, The Opposites, NoizBoiz (I'm going to wear my NoizBoiz t-shirt, lol), Hef, Kleine Jay & Cartes, Fresku and Önder & FS Green. To be honest, the NoizBoiz are not good as rappers, but they make nice 'grime' music. And The Opposites are mainly cool because they're successful. What else is there to say? I'm very excited about this festival.

August 15th: Vienna Teng at Würselen (Germany). I've seen Vienna Teng perform twice last year, and both times I loved every second of it. She is an amazing artist, one of my favorites of all times. She plays the piano, sings and writes her own songs. Oh and her real name is Cynthia, just like mine! So I gotta love her ;) Check out her first album Waking Hour, it is beautiful, a true masterpiece. I will probably review that album later, it deserves a place in the spotlights...

I just love my boyfriend. And he must really love me too, since he's going to take me to all of these concerts!