Branded Baron: Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival 2010 Recap

This past Saturday was the 6th Annual Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. I didn't know what to expect, but I made a goal to have fun and let people know about Branded Baron. My goal was reached.

At this festival I had fellow Branded Baron supporters Tiffany and Keith help me out. We arrived early, because I didn't know how the traffic going into the city would be. We were early and we were given a pretty good spot. We were right near the entrance, which was great, because everyone had to walk by our tent. We forgot chairs, so Tiff went to go get us some chairs while Keith and I set up the tent. Sound check was in the background and we had a decent spot to check the performances when they occurred later. As the set up was being put together, I saw Qn5 Music's Brooklyn emcee PackFM. He came by to check what we had and he told us that he was performing as a guest on one of the roster's sets. Unfortunately I missed his feature and a bunch of the performances, because it was a busy day with all the people coming by. I was able to see a few performances and capture a view on video. Set up was fine and I got to see how some people promoted their stuff. One vendor had a DJ playing for the whole day. No matter where you went you heard music.

Once the start of event was open to the public, it was sell, sell, sell. I actually was nervous to see what the response of the designs we offered would be. I know the designs are hot, but there's always that thought in the back of the mind that maybe they aren't. Plus, there were a couple vendors that also sold t-shirts, so the competition was stiff. Luckily the response was huge favorable one. When the first person bought a shirt, I felt a bit at ease. Like I said earlier, I did not know what to expect. I thought I forgot the sign up sheet for the mailing list, but I somehow found it a couple hours later, but thanks to those who signed up. I had some new stickers printed up for the event and we gave them away to anyone who came to the table. Tiff told me after the event that one person came by to take the sticker, because all the people she was with and saw had one. That made me feel good, even though it wasn't a shirt the Branded Baron name was out with the unofficial mascot, the Astronaut from our "Astrohop" tee.

I met a bunch of cool people. Photographers took photos of the three of us and I was interviewed by a couple people. Shout out to Vanissa Chan and Robert Adam Mayer for the photos. Check out encorestatus.com soon for one of the video interviews. I'll post the video interview when it is available. I met artists, rappers, a guy who has a social networking site IAmCrack.com for underground rappers, and DJs such as DJ Brown Boi and DJ Lady Essence of the online radio show "Soul Exchange". They want me to stop by, so hopefully I'll be up there soon. You can listen to them every Tuesday on inthemixxradio.com or see previous episodes on youtube. Dez from Fly Kickz stopped by and said hello. She should've had a booth and shown off the customized sneakers she does. The variety of people at this festival was great, because everyone was there in positive spirits and wanted to have fun. It was a cool community definitely. Keith had fun interacting with people that he didn't want to leave the tent, now that's a people person.

It was great to hear the performances during the day. Whoever had the live band killed it early in the day. The music kept a cool vibe while selling and meeting people. I left the tent a couple times to check out the performances and see what else was around, since it was also family day. There was a separate section dedicated to info on Hip hop and people to have fun with their families showing the positivity of Hip Hop. They had a capeoria group perform, some artists spraying their art, games, and more. I'm a bit bummed that I forgot about the artists, because I wanted to see their final paintings. Well you can see the progress of their work.

One of my highlights was I saw someone walk into the festival rocking the Gamer t-shirt. At first, I thought that it looked like mine, but when I saw the logo on the sleeve I knew it was. It was L.I.F.E.Long's buddy who bought one of the shirts when I was at Real Deal radio. I took a pic of him and his pal, rapper Premonition pointing to the shirt. He even hooked me up with fellow emcee C-Rayz Walz. I've been a fan of his and you'll soon see him rocking on stage with Branded Baron lion king tee. I am listening to his cd "Free Rayz Walz" right now as I type this which I got from him.

The downside of the day was it rained twice. The first time wasn't bad, but the second time was pretty hard and lasted for awhile. Luckily we had a tent, but if we didn't the Brooklyn Bridge would've covered us somewhat Some random guy came under the tent with the three cups of beer. I know what you're thinking, he's an alcoholic, but he said he bought 2 beers for a couple of girls that he just met, because they bought him pizza. Once he saw the girls, because apparently they were paying to come inside to the festival, he joined them with their beer. He went on his way, but I believe Tiff or Keith put a Branded Baron sticker on his back while I was talking to him. He left Branded Baron. lol

(Buckshot Duckdown Records)

The performances were cool and I'm glad I saw what I was able to see. Aquil, Fashawn, Masta Ace, Buckshot, Smif-N-Wessun, CL Smooth and Pete Rock, Black Sheep and De La Soul were some of the performers. Keith and I were watching Black Sheep's performance from the view we had behind out tent. Now I can't help by think of the KIA commercial with the hip hop hamsters when I hear "This or That". That commercial is funny, but the crowd definitely liked the performance. The whole park was packed by the end of the day and we didn't realize it, because people walked by the tent all throughout the day so it didn't seem much. The one person I wanted to see perform was Masta Ace. I'm a fan of his and I almost missed his set, but luckily I recognized his one song and left the tent. He brought Craig G up to perform their parts in the classic song from the Juice Crew, "The Symphony". De La Soul did their thing when they got on stage, they were the headliner.

(De La Soul's Set)

The most memorable sale that day was when we were about to load the car with everything we had at the end of the day. The Branded Baron tent was down and everyone was not near the area, we were by the car. One customer who bought a shirt earlier came up to us and wanted to buy another "Stunningly Fresh" shirt. I found out he was going to a birthday party after and that shirt was going to be the present to the birthday boy. I love it when people buy Branded Baron shirts as a gift for someone knowing that they're going to like it.

The whole day was fun and definitely glad people like what Branded Baron has to offer. More people are looking stunningly fresh. I really would like to come back next year. I'd like to thank the Brooklyn Bodega Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival staff, everyone who stopped by whether they bought something or talked with us for a bit, Tiff, and Keith. It was fun and the whole event was a good representation of the Hip Hop culture.

Here are some more photos & video taken from the event.