Photos & event review by Artskiee

For those that don’t know Hip Hop Kemp is one of the biggest Hip Hop festivals in Europe and takes place about 2 hours train ride from Prague the capital of the Czech republic at a smallish air field turned festival venue.

This year is the 10th anniversary and my first trip to the country and the festival.

We got there ready for the first day and was met with Wildchild and his B-boyin protege Baby Boogaloo on stage. They played a great set with a mix of Wildchilds classics and some new tracks from his upcoming cd all the while Baby Boogaloo entertaining the crowd with his jaw dropping dance skills.

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Snowgoons and PMD graced the stage next bringing the rawness. They were joined by Sean Strange and Sicknature. Another stand out set from this day.

The Arsonists (a group I wasn’t fully acquainted with) played a blinder of a set with amazing tunes such as ‘Blaze’ and Freestyles ‘like they used to’. I didn’t know about these guys until seeing them at Kemp. They now have a new fan.

Odd Future headlined shortly after Arsonists and although I am a fan I wasnt too impressed with the live side of things. It will be cool to see how these guys will growin the future.

The second day we saw 3 great acts in the day Pac Div, Phi-Life Cypher and RA Rugged (joined by his protege ‘Mini Paz’). All 3 acts were great and pulled great crowds who were all fighting the 32 degree temperatures with no shade in sight. Shit was insane!

The night had an equally great lineup with the Swedish hip hoppers Looptroop Rockers, M.O.P and Pharaohe Monche. As expected the tune of the night was Monche’s ‘Simon Says’ which even had the people on the hills at the back running down to the front of the stage.

The Third day included a lot of foreign acts from all around Europe with the 2 main killer duo acts being the Heavy Metal Kings and Method Man and Redman. Both main acts kept us Europeans in check showing the the true home of Hip Hop is the US. Vinnie and Bill played a mix of HMK, AOTP and Jedi joints with Vinnie also performing some of his solo tunes.

Red and Meth came on really late (1:00am) and by that time the cheap beer and good hash had beat me. They came with the goods to a backdrop of 2 light structures pulsing RED and METH. No one can touch these two. Bring on How High 2!

All in all the festival was great. There was plenty to do all day when nothing took your fancy on the main stage. B-boy, Graff and Freestyle competitions daily, a Reggae stage and a dance tent. All the food was great and the beer extremely cheap (compared to UK festivals).

Artskiee