Published: Wednesday - July 18, 2007
Words by Bear Frazer
(Disclaimer: Sorry teeny boppers, but there will be no references to Kevin Federline. If you want to look for journalism concerning that scumbag, please go to StarMagazine.com. They're good at making pieces of shit look like even bigger pieces of shit.)
I don't know about you guys, but I'm fucking stoked. I'm driving to Charlotte, North Carolina to hit the Van's Warped Tour on Monday and once again, I'm fucking stoked. So many great bands are on the bill like New Found Glory, Sum 41, Killswitch Engage and Bad Religion. That's only a handful of the headliners.
You're probably sitting there thinking, "I don't give a shit. What does this have to do with hip-hop?"
Quite a bit actually. Most people get the Warped Tour twisted, usually referring to it as "that punk rock tour where emo kids sweat all day and watch even sweater bands sing on stage."
Well, that's apart of it. Yeah, there are going to be vendors there, people trying to turn kids into vegetarians and all that other shit too. But Warped Tour is like a well-defined summer extravaganza and yes, while most of the bands will be variations of punk, Warped has made an effort in the past to include hip-hop. Really, it gave an opportunity for artists to cross over to different audience.
Some of you may be surprised to hear that Ice-T and Eminem were on the tour back in 1999. In 2001, D12 and Jurassic 5 hit the stage. Those freaks in Twiztid added some hardcore clown flavor in 2003. And throughout 2005 and 2006, the Gym Class Heroes, Immortal Technique and Talib Kweli flashed their verbal skills. That's not even including the randomness of local rappers playing select dates in their cities.
I'll be truthful though. As stoked as I am about attending Warped Tour, there is a total lack of representation on the hip-hop side. In fact, from what I've read, there's none.
Maybe there will be some local emcees making their way out during the Charlotte date, but I won't hold my breath.
Editorials & Columns Hustle Harder: Travel Arrangements Recently I traveled down to Washington D.C. to participate in an event called the "Million DJ March," and I realized ... full story
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