As a newbie to the whole A3C Hip-hop

festival scene, I couldn’t think of a better one

to attend than this one.

A3C is in its ninth

year, and this was

definitely the biggest

one they’ve had to date. Not to mention

that this was the first year the festival was

relocated from its familiar host grounds at

The Masquerade, but instead, was spread out

amongst 5 different major locations including

East Atlanta Village, downtown Atlanta, Old

Fourth Ward, and Little 5 points. There were

even shuttles that transported attendees to

and from all 5 locations to help ease the burden

of traveling back and forth from various events

and shows.

While some of the veteran A3C attendees

preferred the one central location, over the

new model that sprawled out all over the city,

it’s easy to see that this is the tactic A3C is

using to assert themselves amongst the likes

of even bigger nationally acclaimed festivals

like Lalapalooza and SXSW.

In fact, while waiting around in Space

2 for THE BAR EXAM to start, I had an

amazing opportunity to speak with artist

BIGREC, the man behind the “Real Hip-Hop

Is Back Movement,” and his manager Kim. As

seasoned A3C veterans, they could understand

the frustrations of people disliking the new

model.

“I personally loved when it was all in one

central location at The Masquerade” said

BIGREC, “but from a business point of view,

they had to spread out. You gotta think of it like

this, if you’re trying to really make your mark,

you’re going to want to take over the entire

city. I know that’s how I would approach it. So

people may not like it at first. It may be a little

shaky here and there, but it’ll eventually catch

on,” he said assuredly.

Kim on the other hand, had complaints

about another new phenomenon that had

begun to occur at this year’s festival, which

was the intrusion of mainstream artists.

“I think it’s a good thing that they come

to smaller events like this to show support

and everything, but for them to have all

these performances and to using this as an

opportunity to further promote and market

themselves I think takes the shine away from

the independent artists who are trying to do

the same thing. It’s supposed to be about

them, not the mainstream artists.”

Even with the conflicting views, you could tell

A3C was just going through a bit of growing

pains, if you will.

“I think things will run a lot more smoothly

next year. People are going to become a lot

more familiar with the city, and it’s going to be

a win-win for everyone,” BIGREC added.

Soon after my discussion with Kim and

BIGREC ended, the show began to start.

There were performances from Majur, who

really surprised us by opening with spitting

some amazing, raw bars acapella style. He

was followed by the prolific Phene, and the

Cambodian soldier himself, Mic Barz. Other

appearances included MICXSIC, Me’Mo,

Billionaire, Buggs Tha Rocka Joe Stu, and of

course, Mr. RHHIB himself, BIGREC.

S O U T H E R N H O L L Y W O O D M A G A Z I N E S O U T H E R N H O L L Y W O O D M A G A Z I N E

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