Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival – Show & Prove Super Bowl – Recap [Photos, Video]

With a chance to rock the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival main stage up for grabs, the three Brooklyn Bodega Show & Prove preliminary winners, Chris Faust, LA, and Clear Soul Forces faced off against each other at the Show & Prove Super Bowl. The first event of the week-long Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, held at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, also featured performances from veterans J-Live, Artifacts, and Camp Lo.

Opening the night, Brooklyn’s Chris Faust wasted no time, delivering an impressive stage show. Faust’s showmanship and swagger was on full display as he gave his songs the big band treatment, sans DJ.  The Brooklyn Bowl faithful seemed to enjoy Faust, but while Faust’s big band approach would have been well suited for any other night, Faust was perhaps a bit too comfortable, playing it a little too safe on a night when so much was on the line.

A relative newcomer to the scene, the fearless LA, hailing from Brooklyn commanded the Brooklyn Bowl stage like she owned it with a fiery, animated set, reminiscent of a young Tina Turner, as she danced and rocked her hair across the stage. LA seemed possessed, as if she had just been released from her home after being cooped up for too many days.  LA was hard, but elegant, and was fearless as she dramatically fell to the stage floor and jumped down to join the audience to dance with whomever would dance with her.  As confident as a woman as you will ever see, she seemingly snatched the victory even before Clear Soul Forces rocked the stage.  The crowd clearly loved her liveliness, and while the other two acts were better lyrically, LA’s energy could not be matched.

Click to see pictures from the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival Show & Prove Super Bowl

Click to see our pictures from the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival Main Day

Although Detroit’s Clear Soul Forces certainly tried. Clear Soul Forces is composed of four members: Wimpy, J-Roc, E-Fav and llajide. CSF knows how to rock the crowd, but the crowd’s energy wasn’t mutual, and despite a very good musical set, they had trouble maintaining the crowd momentum set in place by LA.  Personally, I feel this group is lyrically tight and should have won, but without the crowd behind them, they didn’t have a chance at upsetting the sentiment in the house that the hometown favorite LA had ripped it, and was now the one to beat.

For a Monday night event, a great turnout, which is great to see, because it shows that people are not afraid to see a show where they don’t know all the artists.  All three acts really held their own. It was not clear what the selection criteria was for the winner, but when the crowd was asked by host The Company Man who had won, the loudest cheers came for LA.

After the competition, the night continued with sets from Artifacts, J-Live and a smoothed out set from headliners, Camp Lo. The recently reunited Artifacts (Tame One and El Da Sensei) and J-Live, representing the upper echelon of underground rapper, a la MF Doom, performed admirably, but can be a bit niche for the uninitiated. Artifacts bring the heat, but they don’t have enough of a recognizable catalogue behind them, and the crowd noticeably waned as people waited for Camp Lo to come out.  J-Live, a true veteran, gave a great live show and those experiencing him for the first time were very likely impressed. The resurgent Camp Lo, with their acclaimed mix tape 80 Blocks from Tiffany’s, capped the night’s festivities with a highlight performance, rocking a slew of tracks from their classic LP, Uptown Saturday Night, as well as some newer joints from the Tiffany’s mixtape.

Click to see pictures from the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival Show & Prove Super Bowl

Click to see our pictures from the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival Main Day

In all, the event was a strong opening event for what would become a fairly eventful and memorable 2011 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. Click here for additional recaps and coverage from the week-long Festival, including the Main Day performances, with Q-Tip and friends, including a spirited surprise appearance by Kanye West.

Show & Prove Super Bowl coverage (Courtesy: Brooklyn Bodega)

Camp Lo – Luchini

LA