Atlanta Hip Hop Day and Gay Pride
Based on the title of this article you are probably confused on how they go together. They could, but the one thing they have in common is that they were on the same weekend in Atlanta, (Oct 8-9), and I attended them on the same day. The great thing about these events is that they had FREE live music, which I love.
The first one I went to was Atlanta Hip Hop Day, held in Woodruff Park. I believe the purpose was to celebrate and expose the vibrant Hip Hop community in Atlanta. I was there for about an hour, but I took in quite a bit. The overall vibe was "unified ratchet" and I say that in the most respectful way. What I mean by that is that there were things going on and people who were there that made it seem that way. For instance, there were infants and children close to the stage and loud speakers, people smoking around said children, and homeless people and junkies walking around as well. But there was no seen conflicts or violence, therefore it was unified ratchet. Everyone seemed to be there for the sole purpose of entertainment. There were multiple food and drink vendors as well as a few vendors selling clothes and accessories. There were 2 stages a performance stage and a freestyle battle stage, that was open to the public. At the time I was there it was about 200-300 people in attendance. The first person I saw perform was Scotty ATL. He performed about 3 or 4 songs and definitely had the crowd involved. Check out this short video.
Also Yung LA came out and performed as well. It seemed that it was a surprise set because he only performed 2 songs, his verse from "Ain't I" and his new song "Win". To me he didn't have as much crowd presence as Scotty ATL, or maybe some people in the crowd just weren't feeling his new song. Here is a short clip of his performance.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience and I'm glad I got to see that Atlanta can celebrate our Hip Hop culture.
After that event I went to Gay Pride. My main reason for going was to see Kiiara and Zara Larson perform. But I also wanted to see some of the culture that Atlanta is so known for, to me love is love and a person can choose who they want to love, it is not for me to judge them. Anyway I arrived too late for Kiiara, I was actually walking into the park when she performed her hit "Gold". Nevertheless, I still got to take in the vibe and see Zara Larson perform. Pride was held at Piedmont Park and most of the vendors were closing up shop, but I saw quite a few churches and lots of people selling Pride related clothing.
Finally I saw Zara Larson perform and she did a great job. She did a cover of Drake's "Controlla" and danced to Kanye's "Fade" and of course performed her hit "Never Forget You". I was impressed with her set and I think that I can call myself a fan now. Check out her video below., I apologize for the quality.
The crowd really had a great response to her, everyone was dancing. Once she was done I went to the smaller stage where DJ Canvas was performing "Queer Your Gender Dance Party", she had the audience in there like it was a club, but outdoors. Here is a small clip of her spinning skills.
That was the end of my Pride experience and my free live music experiences. They were two seemingly opposite experiences and crowds, but who I am to say that people at Pride wouldn't have enjoyed Hip Hop Day or the other way around, because I enjoyed them both.