89.3 The Current, Vita.mn and RHYMESAYERS present: A Benefit for Haiti

A BENEFIT FOR HAITI

with BROTHER ALI, FREEWAY & JAKE ONE, SAGE FRANCIS, B. DOLAN, I SELF DEVINE, SIMS, TOKI WRIGHT, MUJA MESSIAH, BK-ONE, DJ KEVIN BEACHAM, and KING OTTO

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 7:00pm

$20.00 advance

$20.00

18+

Venue:

First Avenue

Mainroom

Info Tabs

Performers

Performer:

A BENEFIT FOR HAITI

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Special Guests

Special Guests:

Over the past 17 years, Brother Ali has earned wide critical acclaim for his deeply personal, socially conscious, and inspiring brand of hip-hop. Under Rhymesayers Entertainment, he’s unleashed a series of lauded projects, establishing himself as one of the most respected independent voices in music. The latest chapter in that celebrated journey is All the Beauty in This Whole Life, a 15-track collection produced entirely by Atmosphere’s Anthony “Ant” Davis.  

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FREEWAY & JAKE ONE

Freeway on Myspace

North Philly’s native son Freeway has seen a lot since the 2003 release of his certified Gold Roc-A-Fella debut Philadelphia Freeway. Greeted with equally heavy doses of critical acclaim and hood love, Free found himself touring the world and sharing the spoils with the hottest crew in hip-hop, a meteoric rise that would prove to be not without struggle, sacrifice and consequence. Indeed, a lot has changed since then, and through it all, Freeway has remained, quite literally, on his grind.

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SAGE FRANCIS

Sage Francis is widely considered one of our generation’s greatest lyricists. His career derives mainly from gifted wordplay which creates vivid narratives to instigate as well as inspire, but since it often derives from an accumulation of public disdain and personal turmoil, it’s more about storming the castle than about watching the throne.

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B. DOLAN

Fallen House, Sunken City, B. Dolan’s 2010 debut offering on Strange Famous Records, was a monument to indie rap at a time when the music industry had all but abandoned it. Aggressive, booming and confrontational, the Providence native announced himself as a high powered presence on the mic. Dedicated to it’s vision and heedless to trends, Fallen House was met with critical acclaim and cult status among fans, forecasting the resurgence of lyrically driven rap years ahead of it’s time.

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I SELF DEVINE

Chaka Mkali, also known as I Self Devine is a musician, MC, community organizer, racial justice trainer, graffiti artist, muralist, program coordinator and director of organizing and community building at Hope Community Center in Minneapolis. As an MC, I Self is known as an integral part of the Atlanta and Twin Cities underground Hip Hop community as ½ of the duo Micranots, ½ of Semi Official, ¼ of the Dynospectrum, and as a soloist. Over the last decade I Self has released over 10 albums of political conscious socially aware music capable of moving the crowd as well as uplift the spirit and sustain the movement.

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SIMS

Life and loss and dance parties. Sex and love and fractal math. Sims wrote More Than Ever last winter in the wake of some personally trying times: death and sickness in his immediate circle of friends and family. And he decided that the only acceptable answer to big loss is big joy—urgent, defiant, unapologetic joy. The thirteen tracks on More Than Ever capture Sims coming to, and living out, that conclusion.

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TOKI WRIGHT

Raised in a Buddhist household, immersing himself in Black history, world culture, and community work, Toki Wright’s awareness of the diverse world we live in is translated through his content driven music. He has taken paths that run the gamut from a non-profit youth organization in North Minneapolis to work with war-affected children in Northern Uganda. As an artist, Wright’s travels have taken him throughout the United States and Canada as support and hypeman for Brother Ali. Other performance credits include Soundset, Coachella, CMJ, Bumbershoot, Paid Dues, Scribble Jam, and SXSW.

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MUJA MESSIAH

Muja Messiah was named City Pages Best Hip-Hop Artist 2009, Star Tribune's Best Local records 2009, The Onion 's Local Artist of the decade. Muja Messiah was featured on Atmosphere's Strictly Leakage on "Crewed Up", URB Next 100, with "Beautiful" ft. Samahra (Black Blondie). Muja Messiah released MPLS Massacre vol.1. in 2008 with its more hardcore, aggressive tracks including the internet jumps "Amy Winehouse" and M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes".

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BK-ONE

BK-One's love of music has been a lifelong affair. From an early age, he studied classical piano and jazz theory, taught himself to play the vibraphone, and began collecting records. Before he was old enough to get into clubs, BK was touring the country as a vibes player in a jazz band and experimenting with multiple genres alongside local music veterans. After moving to Minneapolis in 1996, BK wasted no time finding a place for himself in the local Hip Hop scene. He helped to start one of the city's first independent Hip Hop radio shows and put his record collection to work, DJing regularly across the city. After meeting a hungry you

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DJ KEVIN BEACHAM

Kevin Beacham has been an MC, producer, artist manager, record promoter, journalist, DJ, radio show host, record label manager, and now back to radio show host. He first got his start in radio in April of 1995 on WNUR 89.3 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. His show Time Travel was a conceptual hip-hop show that used the music as a medium to educate listeners about the culture of hip hop, the artists and pioneers involved, and the many factors surrounding it. He moved to Minneapolis in 2002 to help manage the Rhymesayers Record Label.