The HomeSkillet Records Blog

Home Skillet Fest '08 - Friday

When pairing up an organization that has a history of nearly a hundred years with a genre that has been around for thirty years, one must tread carefully. The Sitka Moose Lodge was kind enough to let us use their facilities for something a little different than the norm, Home Skillet Fest and its hip-hop night. Admittedly, doing a hip-hop show on the second floor of a very old building, is a bit sketch.

For those who were there, you know exactly what I am talking about - the floor literally was bouncing up and down with all of the people - in carefully staying away from the heart of the crowd, I managed to play it safe.

We did sound checks all the way up until the last minute and open the doors a little after 7pm with D-Script, Howard the Duck, and The Love Child.

Home Skillet Records artist, Micelph, as always a good ambassador for the label, got the show started hot. When I walked in (late) and saw him rocking the new brown Home Skillet Fest tee, it became clear where I was again.

An up and coming emcee with a ton of talent is a dude by the name of Understatement who initially hailed from Anchorage, but now is immersed the Seattle scene. He came out the gate hyped as fuck - anyone that brings that kind of energy has a special place in our hearts - especially when playing to a rowdy Alaskan crowd. He played four to five tracks off of his new album which you should see in the store soon.

Last year was a lot like this year in some ways - I randomly roll into the Devilfish Gallery to talk about the festival and standing around looking at art is Jake Good, aka Konsept, aka A/V. And just like last year, it was good to see him in the shop and good to see him play. We can’t wait to drop his album properly - soon.  Of course he hyped up the crowd as he carefully walked through his whole set, of course he did.

Indefinate Etticate is a two turntables and two microphones act - they came up after A/V and went through a set. Both of these guys came down from Anchorage because they heard about the festival - we hope it was good for them - we’re just trying to connect dots on a map down here.  These guys definitely can play.

Home Skillet Records artist Phonetic (who also emceed the whole night) played directly after Indefinate Etticate.  Of course he came out hot - he is the hometown hero of emcees. Him and his crew, Feedus Productions, are hugely responsible for sewing the seeds of a generation of heads. So when Home Skillet Records goes to put on this festival, we do this night for Phonetic and those heads - this is an evolution of all those early shows when those guys were just getting started.

Macklemore came up after Phonetic, he hails from the same Seattle scene as Common Market, who had been at the previous to Home Skillet Fests. He took advantage of the continuing energy of the crowd and put on a really entertaining show - rabbit fur?

Every year we put on this show and we fly in artists from all over the country - but all of them put together don’t compare to the DJ known as Rhettmatic.  He is part of the The World Famous Beat Junkies crew and they’ve been on the scene since ‘92. What I am getting at is the crowd didn’t know who they were getting to see - this guy is a legend. Between the Thursday show being a little on the long side (the crowd isn’t quite in concert shape) and the lack of some proper turntables, we didn’t feel like he got a fair shot to show the crowd what scratching is really all about.  This was our bad - but he came with the kind of constructive criticism that we need to make the festival more pro in the coming years - so big up for that, Rhett.

He DJ’d for an emcee from Los Angeles, California named Medaphore, or MED. When we picked them up from the airport MED was smiling, when we dropped him off at the airport, MED was smiling - it’s how he rolls. I didn’t see him walk in the building when Macklemore had the show going off, but I am sure he was smiling. A hyped crowd ripe for the taking. He came on after a short intermission with Rhett on the tables and pulled together the TRUE fans of hip-hop music and rocked it.

We’re currently putting together the third night of the show - it’s going to be different than the first two nights in that it has a beer garden and is a bigger venue. Tickets will be available at the door - don’t forget to bring your ID.  Almost through - just kidding, we love it!!! We hope to slowly release video posts over the coming few weeks - please check back at this site or follow us on twitter.