The annual SXSW festival has come and gone. Like many years prior, there were many high moments and some low moments. This year, the biggest low moment hands down was the fear people felt over bomb threats. After you got past the worry and got your mind wrapped back around music, friends and fun and you were reminded about all the great things you came to Austin for.
You also quickly realize the downside of SXSW for music fans. Rising costs to perform, high prices for room and traffic. All those things were trivial compared to these 5.
5. What Am I Hearing?
Ok. Rappers, I get it. It’s a new stage, different sound people, I get it. But as our guy Mike Sick says at the famous Bar Exam, “don’t rap over your vocals.”
Maybe it’s because you’re not the one in the crowd, but watching rappers perform a karaoke show isn’t fun. I’m not going to say any names ( I heard several artists during the Ear Drummers stage…..). If performing is important, get with your dj or the sound person and get correct. Old school rappers giving full effort while newer acts are basically playing their music and asking the crowd to sing along.
4. Bruh, where can I play this?
Rappers, I get it. You got all your promotional material for the week. Fliers, check! Stickers, check! CD’s, check! Let’s leave that last category to the side.
At this point in life, I don’t even know a person with a CD player. So when rappers hand me CD’s I feel like their basically saying, “can you throw this away for me?”
I asked an artist one time, “do you have a CD player?” His jokingly said, “No.” So I asked, “how do you listen to music?” He said, “ITunes or Soundcloud.” My response, “So why hand me a CD? If you don’t own a CD player and stream your own music online, then why give me a CD?” I have yet to get a response. I still get CD’s though.
3. 911 Is A Joke
The police in Austin are usually a mixed bag. I’ve seen police search a bag while standing in line for a NAS show, finding weed, closing the bag and saying “have a good night.” I’ve also seen police rush through crowds like Aaron Donaldson. This year it was more of the latter and it wasn’t cool. Between the bomb threats and Tekashi69, police were on 10 this round. I was ready to get out of Austin as soon as possible.
2. I Can’t Hear You!
Phone coverage was nill. Granted, that’s something to expect when you’re in large crowds of people. With the heightened police presence and fear of a mad bomber running around, having a way to contact someone is kinda important. Having to walk blocks away from downtown just to send a text was exhausting.
1. The Shell Game
Look, I didn’t know that in 2018, people will bet money on the street with a guy you met who happened to have a piece of cardboard, three soda caps and a bean! Yet, standing on 6th and Neches, I watched it happen. While my homies from “I Got Big Bowls…Pause” filmed clips for their show, as their crowd grew I noticed something else.
A crew of people out playing the shell game. It started with one and before you knew it, they were popping up like hair weave pages on Instagram. And they had customers. Lots of them. And I’m from the hood. I’ve seen things. I can tell when someone playing is part of the hustle. There were some of them, but there were a lot of people really trying to double their money. I was in awe. At one point, my man Big Sant had to tell one to “Get.”
Yeah, there were a ton of highlights this weekend. Those 5 weren’t some of them.