Finding The Beat In Brooklyn

March 5, 2022 by

While it is true that good music is where you find it, if you know where to look, it’s a lot shorter trip. When hunting for live Hip-Hop, that often means heading over to the Prospect Park Bandshell and the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, which , which I hope manages to bounce back and have a robust, post-Covid 2022 as they get set to announce the lineup for the Summer of 2022 . If you saw  the feature on D-Nice’s Club Quarantine show (Brooklyn Roads , September 2021) you know that they always come correct.

With that in mind—here are a few of my favorite Hip-Hop moments from Celebrate Brooklyn! over the years:

1) The Roots: June 18, 2013—The Roots are many things to many people, but they are true Hip-Hop at heart. You never know quite what might happen at one of their shows, and seeing Tuba Gooding, Jr and Captain Kirk Douglas fly off high Questlove’s drum riser while staying in time and in tune was a perfect example. Captivating!

2) Big Daddy Kane: August 8, 2009—Brooklyn’s Greatest Lyrical Acrobat also showed he lost nothing off his ground game, keeping his dancing strong with Skoob and Scrap to the delight of a full house who sang along with almost every word of his classic rhymes.

3) Buckshot: June 28, 2008—The erstwhile Boot Camp Clik and Black Moon Vet turned out for the Crooklyn Dodgers Reunion and as usual, tore things up, as did the grimy collective.

4) Ghostface Killa: June 23, 2012—Brooklyn got the chance to celebrate The Wu (Wu-Tang Clan) loudly and in style with this show, and it was a steady frenzy with every word Killa delivered.

5) KRS-One: August 3, 2007—Brooklyn’s Finest Hip-Hop wordsmith also once slept in the bandshell when he was homeless. So coming back to headline the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival meant pulling out all the stops and delivering all of the hits. One of the best nights of music in any form the ‘shell has ever seen.

6) Skoob, Big Daddy Kane, D-Nice backstage: August 8, 2009—Some of the great moments also happen away from the crowd, and these golden-age giants squeezing into the tiny dressing room speak to the camaraderie that the form, and the Festival, foster.