Day Party Crawl

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Texas Hip-Hop Party

For all its newfound hipness, East Riverside Drive is still pretty far from the middle of everything. Bouncing over to the Beauty Ballroom from Friday's more centralized day parties proved a hassle people weren't willing to entertain. With attendance for Life or Death PR's extravaganza sparse for a solid portion of the afternoon, not even a touted special appearance by GZA could fill the place. It's a shame, too, because the lineup was respectable. Sure, abstract-rap disciples Cities Aviv and Main Attrakionz got stuck with reductive 20-minute slots, but San Francisco hardhead DaVinci rocked a rough-and-tumble show to about 15 people. Seattle genre-bending weirdos (and Shabazz Palaces collaborators) TheeSatisfaction dabbled in alien R&B and weeded lounge-rap. Who says lesbian gender politics can't work in the rap industry? California's fight-rap merchant/amateur fashion mogul Young L stole the show with some of the best immediate energy you'll ever see at a South by Southwest showcase. As his microphone gradually ran out of batteries, he responded by evocatively dancing through the rest of the set. That's how you handle sound issues. Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire responded by joining the crowd for a four-song assault. If only there were more witnesses.