7th Annual Hip Hop for Peace Festival - 2011
Put your Peace signs up Vancouver! The 7th Annual Vancouver International Hip Hop 4 Peace Festival just finished rocking the streets of the Vancouver city centre and the surrounding suburbs this September. Organized by Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO), this festival covered three events over two days in downtown Vancouver, Burnaby and East Vancouver. The all ages events brought together hip hop and peace lovers of all ages, students, workers, immigrants and Indigenous people under the banner of ‘HIP HOP 4 PEACE!’ Over 1800 people came out during the festival to take in the performances by the freshest local and international talent of MCs, DJS and breakdancers. Obsesion, the pioneers of Cuban hip hop, returned for the third time to headline this year’s festival and bring their rhythmic messages of peace and social justice to Vancouver crowds direct from Havana, Cuba.
Day 1 of the festival saw the downtown Vancouver Art Gallery as the
backdrop for ‘Peace in the Streets,’ an all-day block party of hip hop
performances. Sunshine was beading on our heads as Janine Solanki, MAWO’s
spokesperson, and festival co-MC, introduced the day. She began the day by
explaining what the festival was all about and what to expect over the weekend.
She pointed out the information tables, packed with literature about MAWO’s
campaigns and other peace and social justice issues, and made sure people
checked out the graffiti installations that were spread out on the gallery
grounds. She also made sure people checked out the visuals in the Malcolm X tent,
featuring his photos and quotes, as well as interactive displays of life under
war and occupation in different parts of the world. It also featured photos and
information about the effects of the US blockade on Cuba.
After Janine hyped up the crowd with the festival’s signature chant,
“WE LOVE HIP HOP! NO TO WAR!”, she introduced the first act. Babie Paul laid
the beats from the turntables from the very beginning. Joose Justice brought
the crowd in closer for his festival-opening performance, bringing fellow MC,
Yoge, to show his talent. Up next, Ill Tone got the crowd thinking and moving
with his antiwar songs. Oki, from the KI First Nation, brought greetings and
shared some of her own songs. Ali Dahesh, Iranian-born MC, gave a special
performance dedicated to the people of Palestine, bringing up Bd Kasseb,
bouncing their English and Farsi lyricism off the downtown buildings. Long-time supporters and hip hop MCs, Fully
Faded, rocked the mic next with the lyrics of SOS and the Mighty Void Abyss
with DJ C-Lo providing the beats. JB the 1st Lady had the whole
crowd’s attention when she opened up her set with a traditional Indigenous
song, and kept people moving with her positive and uplifting music. Discreet da
Chosen 1 was then able to introduce some of his new material to the crowd.
Ndidi Cascade and Deanna, a strong female duo, kept the crowd up and inspired
with the positive messages in their lyrics. Alison Bodine, co-chair and
executive committee member of MAWO, took over as festival MC and reminded
festival-goers why this festival is so important today with all the wars and
occupations that are going on all around the world. She then brought up Sunnite
Marx, Joose Justice and Heatwave up to the stage, who kept the energy of the
crowd up.
The Vancouver Art Gallery steps swelled with people as Obsesion, the
headlining act from Cuba, hit the stage. The trio of El Tipo Este, Magia and DJ Jigue had the crowd moving and
grooving to their Cuban flavour of revolutionary hip hop.
There was still a lot more hip hop and people to hear from before
the day was through. Indelible, the hip hop crew made up of brothers J Thorn
and Illucid, lit up the stage with their heavy beats and word rhyming back and
forth. Fatty Down also brought out his authentic raps and melodies to an
excited crowd. It was then the Groundbreakers’ turn and Babie Paul took a break
from his role as festival DJ to join Attikus and GBox on the mic, while Ted D laid
the beats and scratched records. Che Pablucci, then brought out his Argentinian
hip hop to the gallery steps. Speeches Beyond, Joe Blow and Nuisance
collaborated for a high energy performance. As the daylight dimmed and downtown
streetlights turned on, up and comers Alexander Reyes and Reno each took the
stage to share some of their own songs, bringing everyone to the end of the
first of the Hip Hop 4 Peace Festival.
Day 2 rode on the energy and buzz created from the previous day’s
outdoor show. The Bonsor Recreation Centre was the setting for “The School of
Hip Hop,” an interactive day of workshops with artists and organizers of this
year’s festival.
Janine continued her role as festival MC by introducing the first
workshop, “Hip Hop as a Tool for Peace.” In this workshop, all the members of
Obsesion were able to speak about the development of hip hop in Cuba under the
particular conditions of the US blockade and hardship. They explained how the
Cuban Agency of Rap, a government sponsored institution, came in to being, and
the creation of the International Hip Hop Symposium. This year’s theme of the
symposium was “Hip Hop for Peace,” and they elaborated on how this message is
an international one that MAWO had begun. Joose Justice then gave a
presentation on his recent trip with MAWO organizers to the International Hip
Hop Symposium in Havana, Cuba, where he was able to perform and meet artists
from around Cuba and Latin America. He recounted the important connection that
Vancouver has with Cuba and the need to continue strengthening the ties.
Shakeel Lochan, organizer with MAWO, then gave a presentation on how hip hop is
being used as an outlet by oppressed people around the world to voice their
anger, frustrations, and hope for a better world. He emphasized that this cultural
aspect of people in struggle for a better world is something very important to
help bring these voices and ideas to new people.
The participants got their notepads ready as the second workshop was
about to begin. Joose Justice led everyone in a tutorial on the fundamentals of
rhyming. With the help of the music videos of KRS-1, he laid out the basics of
putting together a song, even performing a few of his own and inviting Oki,
from the KI First Nation, to perform a special song she had written for this
year’s festival.
To get ready for the final workshop of the day, everyone cleared the
chairs from the centre of the room, and did a little stretching in anticipation
for the BBOY and BGIRL workshop. B-Minus from the Now or Never crew, and Matt,
Johnny and Josh from the Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz, led a packed room through the
basic steps of breakdancing. Those basic steps became more and more complex and
by the end, everyone had a good chance to show off their new skills in the
dancing circle.
When the workshops were done, the festival wasn’t over and everyone
quickly packed up all the gear and headed down to Joe’s Cafe in East Vancouver
for the festival wrap-up party. Many of the artists who supported this year’s
festival, along with those who came out to take part in the festival showed up
and had a chance to share some of their talent. There was a slideshow of the
history of the festival and a very special exchange of gifts that took place
between MAWO organizers and Obsesion, showing the strong connection between the
two in building hip hop and the message of peace.
This year’s festival was another success, with over 1800 people who
crowded Vancouver streets and filled rooms to take in the music and politics.
As KRS1 put it, “Hip and Hop is more than music. ‘Hip’ is the knowledge and
‘Hop’ is the movement.” This festival is growing stronger every year, with
collaborations between Vancouver, Cuba and beyond. Stay connected for next
September, when the 8th International Hip Hop 4 Peace Festival will
be back hitting Vancouver’s streets.
Photos to Come Soon!
Photos to Come Soon!