DJ Sean Alvarez: Weekend In Review: Virgos, Roy Ayers, and AAHH! Fest 2014

Monday, September 22, 2014

Weekend In Review: Virgos, Roy Ayers, and AAHH! Fest 2014

What a great weekend and way to end #SummertimeChi!!!

Friday evening started out by celebrating a fellow Virgo's birthday in proper Virgo fashion with art exhibits, a FoodTV.com event, cocktails at a new eclectic space and some Jazz music. Of course we celebrated in subtle grand fashion because this is how we Virgos do.

Saturday with Roy Ayers was Great as well. The performances and music was Awesome! It was a pleasure seeing such a great crowd like this in Hyde Park and am grateful for the opportunity to spin the event. Big ups to everybody who attended the shows and/or the official after party.

Sunday the 1st Annual AAHH! Fest was absolute Love! After that experience and vibrating on such a high level from the music and energy it’s been hard to come back to reality. All of the performances and DJ sets gave the crowd what they needed and it was a great balance between all of the styles represented. The music was great, the sound quality and sound system was excellent, and the crowd was 100% undiluted beautiful. This may have been the first time I’ve attended an event in Chicago with this much diversity, love, style, and authenticity as it relates to Hip Hop.

One interesting thing was the generations that were represented. De La Soul gave call and response during their set to the 25 and under, 26- 30, 31-35 and over 36 age demographics. The under 30 demographic was well represented closer to the front of the stage and as the call and response took place the concentrated audience response moved further from the stage as the age group increased in number. It was great seeing all of the younger fans enjoy and receive education on the earlier years of Hip Hop.

This was one of the few times I have been at an event here that felt like I wasn’t in Chicago. We have quite a few very solid events taking place throughout the year that are great and give off the great personality of Chicago but this event conjured up a feeling I’ve only received at Freaknic 1993, my first Winter Music Conference in 2004 and from time to time when I’m in NY or LA at major events related to the independent and underground music events. Some of y’all know the feeling I’m talking about... This felt bigger than just being an event in Chicago. It felt as though it was more on a Global stage with mostly Chicago artists performing and representing our city. What was even better was I didn’t have to travel somewhere else in the world to experience this feeling. It happened right here at home.

After seeing the run of show (set times) I wondered how everything would work with artists getting shorter (15-30 min) performance times than most people likely expected. However, the amount of time allotted for each artist was perfect and allowed the show to flow just right. Fans were able to get just enough and maybe even a little bit more from each artist and keep things moving and motivated to the next DJ, artist, or host.

At the time I arrived MC Lyte was wrapping her show up with Lyte as a Rock (remix) which was a perfect segway into Wayne Williams of The Chosen Few’s DJ set. I was expecting a standard old school style of House music that would work well for a crowd like this, but he also played something new to my ears that sounded ridiculously dope (especially on that sound system). As a DJ and fan I always love hearing dope new music that I’ve never heard before. Next up was De La Soul and of course they rocked it! and set the tone and right "Vibration" for the rest of the night. After De La performed Timbuk2 rocked a true school Hip Hop DJ set focusing on 90s authentic Hip Hop. All around good stuff especially when he played a personal favorite of mine, Ghostface Killah’s, “We Made It”.

Jennifer Hudson’s show was entertaining, professional, and very well put together as it was great to enjoy a true R&B professional do her thing and give us just the right amount of diversity amidst a primarily Hip Hop roster. After JHud, VA (Vince Adams)fed off of that energy and played a very good well rounded Hip Hop set with the intuitiveness to satisfy everybody.

While Damon Williams did a great job of hosting the bulk of the show it was time to turn the mic over to Dave Chappelle. Chappelle would tell a few jokes and converse with the crowd while working his way toward introducing Lupe Fiasco. Lupe had me grooving early in his set and then I received a message from my bladder that prompted me to move toward the restroom. After Lupe performed it was scheduled that The Twilite Tone would spin but after hearing Salt & Pepper’s “Push It” my eyes quickly cut to the stage to confirm what my ears were hearing… Whoever is spinning is NOT Twilite. Not sure who was spinning but this DJ set would be very broad and to be honest I wasn’t very engaged until the magical moment when the DJ outta nowhere played KRS ONE’s “Outta Here”, which was one of two songs I recited lyric for lyric on this day (the other was Common’s “The People”) and is one of my favorite KRS songs of all time.

Next Dave Chappelle came back out to loosen up the crowd even more and get us ready before introducing Common. Common held down the first part of the final set and was DOPE! (as always). Then he brought out Twista. I’ve never really been fanatical about Twista or that style of rapping but during this moment I was able to appreciate his style, creativity, flow, and the degree of difficulty (and precision) in which this happens. His presence and performance was also important because he was the first Hip Hop artist from Chicago to be signed to a record deal. After Twista performed Common came back out with freestyles, songs, and a quick turntablist set from DJ Dummy. Then all of a sudden here comes surprise guest Kanye West. The crowd went nuts! This was my first experience seeing Kanye on stage and have heard his shows are really dope and creative. Although this was likely a raw and stripped down yet dope version of the show he gives when on tour he nonetheless rocked it! This made me realize that I appreciate his music more than I thought. It also made me realize his stage presence and control of the crowd is very dope and well executed. He rocked a significant amount of songs. Some from early in his career and some more recent songs as much of the crowd expressed their satisfaction. Common came back out as he and Kanye teamed up to close the show with "Get Em High". Common then brought all of the emcee's back out and gave his closing salutations thus sending the crowd home with some added Good energy and a true sense of pride for our city. History was made in Chicago on Sunday September 21, 2014 and I as well as approximately 10,000 others are blessed to have been part of this experience.