While thousands of Irish-for-the-day revelers continued to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday, others rapped for a good cause. It was part of a week that also included shows by G. Love & Special Sauce, Jim Shaneberger, Parmalee, Big Dudee Roo and a Kalamazoo Strong event.
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The roster was impressive and Grand Rapids pitched in, too.
On Saturday night, some four dozen cities across the globe hosted Hip Hop 4 Flint benefit concerts aimed at raising funds to buy water filters for Flint homes affected by the lead-contamination problem.
From Toronto to Austin to New Orleans to Senegal to Detroit and Flint, rappers (including Nappy Roots, Mysonne and Rahzel the Beatboxer) rallied to support the cause launched by activist, emcee and writer YoNasDa Lonewolf.
At The Stache inside The Intersection, Grand Rapids’ hip hop community came out in full force with Dante Cope, Suport, Mike G., Finale, Bronze Nazareth, The Great Ones, Lady Ace Boogie, Biffy the Beatslayer, Shamar Alef, Manchild, Agylity and others helping pack the club for inspiring sets during this “national day of unity.”
Get more information about donating to the cause (which includes sales of the iTunes single, “Rise Up”) at hiphop4flint.com.
PHOTO GALLERY: Hip Hop 4 Flint (The Intersection in Grand Rapids)
Photos by Anthony Norkus
The week ended with a green-garbed bang (and we’re not talking about one of the biggest upsets in NCAA basketball tourney history) as upwards of 20,000 people jammed downtown Grand Rapids for Irish on Ionia on Saturday. Check out a separate wrap-up and photo gallery online here.
Before all that, the week of live music in West Michigan rolled out G. Love & Special Sauce at The Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids’ Jim Shaneberger Band for Local Spins Wednesday at SpeakEZ Lounge, Parmalee playing a show on St. Patrick’s Day at The Intersection, followed on Friday by Nick Carter in the main showroom and MC Chris in The Stache, Big Dudee Roo staging an EP-release show Friday at Louie’s Back Room in Kalamazoo with Steel Giant and DL Rossi opening, and Vancouver’s Geoff “StylustBeats” Reich and Freddy Todd revving up The Intersection’s main showroom on Saturday with DJ-powered dubstep and rap.
The weekend wrapped on Sunday in Kalamazoo with a special “Kalamazoo Strong” music and arts fundraiser organized to support the victims and families of the recent mass shooting in the Kalamazoo area. More than 150 people attended the event at Boatyard Brewery which featured silent auctions, art and live music, including sets by Out of Favor Boys, Double Strung, Lisa Can’t Sing and Megan Dooley with Jason Walker.
WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY (March 15-19, 2016)
G. Love & Special Sauce photos by Katy Batdorff
Jim Shaneberger photos by Anthony Norkus
Parmalee, Nick Carter, MC Chris photos by Eric Stoike
Big Dudee Roo, Steel Giant, DL Rossi photos by Derek Ketchum
StylustBeats, Freddy Todd photos by Eric Stoike
Kalamazoo Strong photos by Derek Ketchum
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC