Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival 2010 In Full Swing

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, currently in its sixth year, continues this week after a strong opening event, the Show & Prove Superbowl, a culmination of their Show & Prove competitive showcases held throughout the year. Among the finalists, St. Joe Louis, Poetic Republic, The Crowd and Mikeflo, emerged a victor, Kalae All Day, who we have featured in our e-pages on several occasions. Congrats to her!

Moving throughout the week, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival continues, with a packed itinerary, bound to please all sorts of hip hop heads from the area. The Festival runs through Saturday, June 10, ending with the all-day-long Family Day/Performance Day, at Brooklyn Bridge Park and Tobacco Warehouse (and an after-party, to be held at Southpaw). Headlining the main event will be De La Soul, with scheduled featured performances by Smif N Wessun, Black Moon, Black Milk, Masta Ace, Skyzoo, Curren$y, Fashawn, Money Making Jam Boys, Rakka Iriscience, Those Chosen, Aquil, DJ Babu, J Dilla Ensemble and Dj Parler.

Other events throughout this week include a panel discussion on the legacy of the late producer J. Dilla, a Classic Hip Hop Film Night, a Salute to the DJ event, featuring veteran DJs DJ Spinna, DJ Bobbito Garcia, DJ Rhettmatic of The Beat Junkies, DJ Rob Swift of the X-ecutioners and Waajeed (PPP).

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival is organized and run by Brooklyn Bodega, a multidisciplined organization whose self-proclaimed “aim is to highlight Hip-Hop’s legacy as an agent of artistic progression, community building and social change.”

Editor’s note: We have always respected and supported what the Bodega does, and are impressed with the breadth and depth of the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. That is why we were eager to get involved and cover these fabulous events. For whatever reasons, our inquiries to them were repeatedly ignored. This slight is unfortunate, as we go to extreme lengths, often at great personal sacrifice, to cover New York area hip hop with a strong sense of professionalism, journalistic integrity, hometown pride, and love for the up-and-comers who grind the New York hip hop circuit. It is this spirit that we thought we shared with Brooklyn Bodega, so it would have been nice to have been taken a bit more serious than we apparently were. Nevertheless, we feel it is important to remind those who may not have been aware of the festival, to please go, support and enjoy.

For a full itinerary, to buy tickets, and for more information regarding the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, visit their website at bkhiphopfestival.com.