« Hella Fresh Fest 4 (Event Recap) »

Back when I was in high school, for 2 years in a row Zion I hosted an event at The Fillmore called Paid In Full. I remember those being two of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. They were the perfect blend of underground hip-hop and the more commercial hyphy movement. And while hyphy would effectively put the Bay Area hip-hop scene into a coma only a year or two later, these shows came right around the peak of it’s popularity. As a result the crowd was always nuts, and the overall feeling of the event was one of immense pride about being from The Bay Area. Unfortunately around 2006 or 2007 (I can’t remember exactly when, blame college) they seemed to stop happening . At the time I actually ran into Zumbi a few times at different events that I helped organize at UCLA, and in each of our brief conversations, I asked if he was gonna do another Paid In Full. Each time he said that they were planning on bringing it back, but I never saw any promotion for it, and assumed it was officially a thing of the past. That is, until I went to Hella Fresh 4 at The Fillmore this past Friday.

Apparently over the past few years, Zion I has continued on with the Paid In Full format of yearly shows at the Fillmore that feature all ends of the Bay Area hip-hop spectrum, they’ve just changed the name to Hella Fresh Fest. With this year’s line up featuring Zion I, The Jacka and Husalah, Los Rakas, The Honor Roll, The Jealous Guys , Symba, The HBK Gang, The Starting Six and DJ Amen in the mix, this news can only be taken as a great thing.  

Unfortunately I missed the beginning of the show, which included The Jealous Guys’ whole set and probably 2/3’s of The Honor Roll’s set. That was disappointing, but what can you do? When I did get to step into the building, The Honor Roll were a welcome sight, rocking with a live drummer and bassist on stage. I’ve been saying for years that I think a live band is the way a lot of hip-hop acts are gonna differentiate themselves in the future, and this was another good example of why. It just seemed to be more exciting and energizing for both the audience and the performers, and if the performers are enjoying themselves the audience is almost always gonna react in a positive way. After the Honor Roll, Symba got on stage and performed “Round Of Applause”. While I wish he got to perform a little longer and showcase some of his more lyrical work, like I talked about in his Freshmen 10 Article, I think “Round Of Applause” has legitimate hit potential and it was a good look to be able to perform it in front of a new audience. Next up was iamsu!, P-Lo and Kool John. They played three tracks which including the only Bay Area songs that seem to get regular radio spins these days in “Up” and “Swaggin 2011”. I was happy to see them get a chance to rock as well, because despite their recent radio and club success, I still think a lot of people don’t know the names of the MC’s on those two songs or what they look like. And as expected, they got on stage with tons of energy and got the audience involved. Next up was Los Rakas, and while a lot of hip-hop fans might not be the most familiar with their music due to it being mostly in Spanish, they have been blowing up on the festival scene lately with spots at SXSW, the Cypress Hill Smoke Out, Tommy Chong’s Spring Gathering, and the UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival. It appears that the festivals and the other recent touring has given the MC’s Raka Dun and Raka Rich a whole lot of on stage chemistry and confidence. They didn’t seemed phased in the least bit about the fact that most of the audience couldn’t understand a word that that they were rapping about. At the same time, they didn’t have any reason to trip, because the crowd was definitely loving the music. Side note: “Soy Raka” and “Kalle” go hard. After Los Rakas, came The Starting Six, the final opening act of the night. Despite the fact that there are 6 members of the group, and there were only 3 microphones, they still managed to put on an enjoyable set. Bringing iamsu! and Symba back to the stage for a few songs was a good look as well. 

Now on to the main event! I think it’s safe to say that most of the crowd seemed to have come to check The Jacka and Husalah’s set, and you could feel their anticipation in the air. After DJ Amen strung together a long set of Hyphy throwbacks that got the crowd gigging something stupid, Jacka hit the stage. The crowd's response was immediate; the room quickly filled with blunt smoke and cheers. The Jacka’s love in the bay is so on point, that audience was going nuts and hitting it hard, even to tracks like “Barney”, which never struck me as your typical upbeat party song (although ridiculously dope none the less). After a run of songs that ranged from The Jack Artist to Teargas and included a guest appearance from Cellski on “Won’t Be Right”, Husalah finally joined his partner in rhyme. Draped in a Chicharito jersey, Husalah high stepped up and down the stage while busting tracks from Dope, Guns and Religion, Huslin’ Since Da 80’s and the pretty much the rest of his catalogue. Seeing both The Jacka and Husalah on stage together was something I’ve wanted to experience for a long time now, and they did not disappoint. And the love shown back to them from the crowd reminded me of when The Bay really only cared about Bay Area music. Needless to say, it was dope.

After the Hus and The Jack, Zion I finally took the stage to close things off properly. Zion I’s live performance has always been high above the industry standard, and it looks as if they only keep getting better as time progresses. With Deuce Eclipse at his side, and Amp Live on the beat machines, Zumbi tore through a ton of the group’s classics including ”Finger Paint”, “Silly Puddy”, “Don’t Lose Your Head”, “Temperature”, “The Bay”, and “Hit Em”. My favorite part of their set came when Amp busted out what looked like a beat machine attached to guitar neck and a guitar strap. He stepped to the middle of stage, threw that on, and proceeded to knock out a live beat for Zumbi and Deuce to freestyle to. While a lot of artists that performed earlier in the night were known for having trunk music, the drum sounds that Amp used for that part of the show hit way harder than anything we had heard all night. You could literally feel the vibrations pulsating throughout your body, which was an ill feeling. Throughout the whole set the crowd were leaping on top of each other, dancing, and rapping along with every word. Not very many artists can elicit that kind of a reaction from their audience, especially in The Bay where people would often rather look hard and scary than fun, and for that Zion I will always have my respect and admiration. 

As you can tell Hella Fresh Fest 4 was as good a way to start the weekend as any. It’s relieving to know that Zion I haven’t let such an important and entertaining showcase of Bay Area talent disappear. Although it probably won’t go down again until next summer, you would be a fool to miss Hella Fresh Fest 5.

Big Shout out to the homie Left Lane on all the photography!