“Teacher ,Teacher, Teacher” These were the cries that went out as KRS One, the headliner for the 4^th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop festival entered the park and through the press area into backstage. Right then and there you knew that the mass of people who attended the festival had come hungry, hoping and praying to be fed by this prophet, the man from Hip-Hops Galilee the South Bronx.

This year’s festival had a different tone than last years. Last year was more of a raw display of lyrical talent, like a beast let out of a cage. While this year’s festival was more condensed, focused and thought provoking. This was in part a result of the day being split in two, with the early afternoon dubbed “Brooklyn Hip-Hop family day” with a focus on Childhood Obesity and the late afternoon/evening the festival and performances. The presence of the main sponsors was felt as Truth.com, Brooklyn Brewery, and The Source Magazine had booths/displays in the courtesy tent and by the entrance to the fair grounds. There were other smaller sponsors such as Okay player present as well. Fulton Ferry State Park was the perfect setting as always. With the park sitting in between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges the East River and the FDR Drive made for the perfect backdrop. Not to mention the man made Waterfalls that are under both bridges that added extra ambiance. Combine that with extremely warm temperatures and Thousands of men, women, and children of all races and you had the makings of a Hip-Hop Utopia.

As performances got underway VJ Ralph Mcdaniels A.K.A. Uncle Ralph was the host of the evening and as always had command and the respect of the crowd. Sadly to say the festival got off to a slow start talent wise. Homeboy Sandman, and Zaki I don’t even remember them being on stage. Fresh Daily had swagger but not much else. Then came 88 Keys at this point the festival almost came to a dead halt. It got so bad that at one point he had to remind the crowd that he had worked with Mos Def and asked them to cheer for him as if Mos Def were on stage. It was an attempt to be funny but it made the situation worse.

At this point things were looking real ugly, but alas light at the end of the tunnel in the form of Mickey Factz and Blu and Exile. I’ll be 100% honest with you I had never heard of these MC’s before their performances last Saturday, but their definitely on my radar now. Mickey Factz had energy and crowd control. He reminded me of Busta Rhymes in that although his rhymes aren’t the best he made up for it in raw emotion. Blu of Blu and Exile was also a breath of fresh air with his candid rhyme style that spoke to the everyday man.

As things started to heat up J.Period rocked the crowd with hit after hit. He then took it to another level by bringing Brooklyn’s own Jeru the Damaja to the stage who performed some of his Classic hits like “Come Clean” and “Crooklyn Dodgers”. J.Period then proceeded to bring out Keith Murray at which point the crowd went bananas. Keith killed it with his verse from the classic LL Cool J cut “I Shot Ya” and his own masterpiece “The Most Beautifullest Thing in this World “. In Between Sets Uncle Ralph had a few special guest of his own including Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz who used 85% of his stage time to encourage young people to vote and vote for Obama. Keeping things political next to hit the stage was Political Activist and former Editor in Chief for Vibe Magazine Kevin Powell. Kevin is currently running for Congress in the 10^th District in Brooklyn. Kevin’s message to the people is to vote, vote for the right people and be aware of what’s going on around you, especially in your immediate neighborhoods. Hip-Hop Legend Crazy Legs showed off some of his B-Boy moves while reminding the crowd of Rock steady’s 31st anniversary event happening later this month. There were also appearances by members of the Zulu Nation and Brother J of the X-Clan another Brooklyn native.

As DJ Premier hit the stage one thing became obvious the sets were getting shorter and shorter. Premo told the crowd “… they said I only have 15 minutes so I’m a rock out for 15 minutes” Preme played a number of his classics with artists like Nas and Jay- Z, but most of the his set was devoted to his work with the King of NY Biggie. Premier taunted the crowd for not singing hard enough to classics like “Unbelievable” and “Ten Crack Commandments”, but as soon as he got into his zone his set was over.

Buckshot followed after Premier, and took full advantage of his 15 minutes commanding the crowd with head nodders like “Who got the Props” and “I got Cha Open”, but again his play clock runs out and he exits the stage as fast as he got on.

The moment that most of the people have been waiting for finally arrives

and the Teacher KRS-One comes on stage to a hail of applause. KRS wastes no time and goes into a Dancehall Reggae freestyle which sends the crowd into a frenzy. KRS performed his classic battle tracks like “The Bridge ” and the follow up “The Bridge is Over” he also performed hits like “Sound of Da Police” but for the most part his performance consisted of him free styling. The Blastmaster free styled about the crowd, the bridges, the people and cars on the bridges, and anything else you can think of that was relevant. In keeping consistent with his whole career most of his messages were about knowledge of self and uplifting ourselves as a people. KRS then proceeded to try and form a cipher with all the MC’s who were on stage earlier, but half way through his time was up. With limited time, two loafs of bread and 5 fish, the man from Galilee fed the multitudes and then left.

This year’s festival as in previous years didn’t disappoint. For a “donation” to Brooklyn Bodega you get in return a day of real Hip-Hop in fun and safe environment that everyone from the babies to grandmothers can enjoy. In an age of $5 a gallon gas and $5 a gallon milk, you would be hard pressed to find a better deal than the Brooklyn Hip-Hop festival. Hopefully next year time constraints won’t be such a factor. Stay tuned for the second installment with video footage included.

(Game Blouses)!

Shouts: Brooklyn Bodega, Craig Hackey, The Whole HN staff (Sorry about the Cd’s!), Hoodworks, Brick, Rich, Raw, Kevin Powell, and Toni Dubois