Weird City Hip-Hop Festival Re-Ups
ATX’s early fall classic serves up a sophomore swang and bang
By Kahron Spearman, 10:30AM, Wed. Jul. 15, 2015
The Weird City Hip-Hop Festival returns for a second year with a vengeance, pulling out the big timbers at Delta Millworks, located at Fifth and Springdale. There’s mystery to the new digs, a lumber mill smack in the heart of East Austin. Equally mysterious is the headliner’s row – specifically the inclusion of ever-elusive savant Jay Electronica.
Setting itself up as Austin’s early fall classic – Sept. 18 & 19 – the front line includes mercurial Detroit rapper Danny Brown, garrulous Bay Area wordsmith Aesop Rock, and resident hooligan MC (and Austin constant) Freddie Gibbs. Former mixtape maven turned Interscope signee Charles Hamilton arrives trending up, reigniting a career miraculously reborn after numerous missteps. The Harlem rapper and former XXL Freshman has fought depression and bipolar disorder..
New Orleans’ Electronica, who released “Road to Perdition” featuring his label boss Jay-Z in March, has reemerged after his dalliance with a UK Rothschild heir in full Fruit of Islam regalia. He was previously scheduled for a December 2014 date at the Mohawk, so this is something of a makeup date. Heads will be hopeful the flighty MC stays put, at least through “Exhibit C.”
The bill is packed with Austin luminaries, such as two-time Austin Band of the Year, Riders Against the Storm, who are currently prepping a new release. Ditto for Dat Boy Supa, who crested to new heights with 2014’s Supacabra. Youth is served with Magna Carda, still kicking a July residency at Holy Mountain.
Local crews roll up en masse, including talented misfits – and recent Chronicle Cookout highlights – Subkulture Patriots and the mighty LNS Crew. Swang and bang set the League of Extraordinary Gz appears in many iterations, including Green Room’s Tuk Da Gat, S. Dot, Eric Dingus, and Dowrong, and Lowkey as a solo act. Continuing the two and over theme, super vets Crew54 put in the “Labor.”
Austin Mic Exchange host and Weird City founder Protextor, who just dropped new single “Austin,” maintains performance mode. Verbosity doubles down with a changed and forward-marching Scuare+, who’s flipped his sound considerably – to the positive. “Farah Flossitt” herself, KB the Boo Bonic, floats in on a new spaced-out single, “Stars Ain’t For Us,” featuring the Moon Guys.
Perennial ATX favorites Doughbeezy and Fat Tony make the trip from Houston.
Shows start 3pm Friday and at noon on Saturday. Two-day passes are $65 or $150 for VIP treatment. More at the Weird City Hip-Hop hub.
A.Dd+
Adrienne Mack-Davis
Aesop Rock
Anthony Maintain
Bamsworth
Ben Buck
Buckamore
Chakeeta B
Charles Hamilton
Clemits
Click-Clack
Cory Jreamz
Country Kingz
Crew54
Da’ Shade Moonbeam
Danny Brown
Dat Boy Supa
Dominican Jay
Doughbeezy
Fat Tony
Feral the Earthworm
Freddie Gibbs
Green Room (Eric Dingus, S.Dot, Tuk, Dowrong)
Jae Jax
Jay Electronica
KB the Boo Bonic
Krypol Haze
LNS Crew
League of Extraordinary Gz
Lowkey of LOEGz
Magna Carda
Mindz of a Different Kind
Modal
Protextor
Public Offenders
Riders Against the Storm
Ruler Why
Scuare+
Sertified
Sip Sip
Space Camp Death Squad
Subkulture Patriots
The Outfit, TX
The Underdogz (Phraynkh P + Mainstreem)
Topic
Worldwide
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Kahron Spearman, Sept. 27, 2014
Sept. 15, 2023
Sept. 8, 2023
Weird City Hip-Hop Festival, Protextor, Jay Electronica, Danny Brown, Aesop Rock, Freddie Gibbs, Charles Hamilton, Dat Boy Supa, Magna Carda, Subkulture Patriots, Riders Against the Storm, KB the Boo Bonic, Crew54