III Urban Fest at Torrejón

The third annual Urban Fest was celebrated in the Madrid municipality of Torrejón de Ardoz. The venue, "Recinto Ferial", held various activities related to the hip hop culture like breakdancing, freestyle battles and a couple of rap acts. As the event was totally free it was full of youngsters and rappers from the entire Madrid community. The weather was a bit cold for our taste making a weird atmosphere of the Sunday afternoon.

It began with the b-boys making their stage antics to a crowd of clueless youngsters who only cheered the "windmills" or the "flares". The crews did not have any organization or coordinated pieces like all b-boy crews have. Any of the b-boys stand out that much and the majority were very sloppy. But the winners were a crew called "Madrid King Vandals". After that, the mc freestyle battle who was a little wackness. The only one with inventive, flow and punchlines that did not seem previously written was the winner, a chubby mc which name I can remember.

Then came the rap acts starting by Primizia, who played a lot of time and I did not like at all. After that, Torrejón local mc, Artes, enter the stage to sang some tunes from his last album "La Banda Sonora de Nuestra Vidas". He was accompanied by Frank T and Rob Vendetta in a couple of songs. After that, we left because the event was getting monotonous and the weather didn't help. We missed Rapsusklei, Xhelazz and Falsalarma, the latter two we have seen them live before so its no big deal.

Hip Hop contra el Olvido

Hip Hop Contra el Olvido was a benefit concert celebrated in the madrilean Sala Heineken to remember the murdered video reporter, Jose Couso, in hands of several US soldiers back in 2003. The host for the evening was Doble Ache from Hip Hop Nation's fame. The first two acts were totally forgettable, Menteguerra and Acqua Toffana, and didn't do any notable songs. Then came the legendary madrilean hip hop outfit, Duo Kie, to cheer up the crowd with their tunes "Nosotros lo hicimos", "Yeah" and "No me cogereis vivo". After this great and short set, Frank T arrived in stage to sing his hymns "Exito en un tomo", "Optimista y Soñador", among others.

In between acts, some family members of the dead reporter like his mother and brother (Javier Couso, the ex-drummer of madrilean anarko punk band, Sin Dios) talked to the crowd about how the money from the benefit was going to be used and criticized the spanish government for not accusing the soldiers who killed Couso. Kamikaze, ex-member of pioneer spanish rap group CPV, came next to sang a couple of tunes, one featuring Kase-O. The headliners, Rap Solo rapper's Doble V, Xhelazz and Sr. Rojo, was the reason why it was so packed the venue. The highlights were"Solo importa el rap" (Xhelazz with Doble V), "Una Mirada" (Xhelazz) and "Vicios y Virtudes" (Doble V). It was a good show but was too crowded and some of the sets were too short, but just seeing Duo Kie, Frank T, Xhelazz and Doble V in one night was worth it.

Pictures courtesy of MCJ Photography.

Xhelazz invades Madrid City

Xhelazz presented in the spanish capital his latest album called "El Soñador Elegido". The venue, Sala Heineken, was tight packed. El Sr. Rojo from Madrid (also in Doble V's Rap Solo label) was the opening act for the show. He is an ok mc, not catchy and neither has a good stage presence. The highlight was the song "Amarga Bilis" with Kase-O. He also sang various songs featuring Aaron from Hermanos Herméticos and other madrilean mc's. His act, almost an hour long, became boring after a while.

Then came the main act, Zaragoza's own, Xhelazz. The stage presence is one of the best between all of Spain's hip hop acts. His interaction with the crowd was pretty good as he was stoked by seeing the place full and every soul there sing-alonging his songs. He played "Hijos del orgasmo", "Solo son vidas", "La soledad comienza", "Confesionario de papel", just to name a few. In the song "Alas Rotas", he throwed to the crowd some copies of Khalil Gibran's book of the same name. Also he sang his verses acapella in "Estamos Rayados" and "Algo más que recuerdos" (both songs are originally recorded featuring sevillian hip hopper Tote King). He played "Son cosas del Rap" from his previous group Cloaka Company and sang a song with his old bandmate, Fran Fuethefirst. The highlight of the evening was definitely when Kase-O and Lírico from Violadores del Verso came up to the stage to sang the hit "Solo importa el rap" with Xhelazz; the crowd went crazy as Kase rapped perfectly his verses. At the end, Xhelazz, Fran Fuethefirst, Lírico and Aaron freestyled some rhymes for the crowd. Two thumbs up, for this great hip hop show.