Monday, August 24, 2009

Pics and Recap: Leaders of the Cool at Lenny's



Aight so...

This past Saturday I fell through Lenny's to check out Leaders of the New Cool...a traveling artist showcase that made its debut in Atlanta about a month or so ago. I missed the last one and wasn't really sure of what to expect since I heard as much good as I did bad about it. I've been to quite a few showcases and the usual complaint is that there are too many opening acts, sets go too long and the shows start too late. While LOTNC didn't crank up until around 11pm I can say that I enjoyed all of the music...

{warning you now, this is a long ass post}



The first cat to hit the stage was Big Chad Famous (who insisted that I take this pic in efforts to get him some sponsorship from PBR). Dude looked very relaxed on the stage...like, I just got out the bed relaxed. But dude's music was pretty jamming. He rapped, sang, etc. His mypace page says his music is "Alternative/Hip Hop/Indie" and yeah, that pretty much describes it. I was pleasantly surprised. This was the first time I actually heard of dude, but evidently he's a star around these parts. The song that stood out to me was "Alone In Space" which come to find out seems to be one of the main songs he's pushing.









Next up was the homie Stanza. I was glad to see he was on the bill, because it kinda seemed like ever since he went on Wild Out Wednesdays on 106 & Park he kinda fell back on performing around the city. But he did his thing as usual. He's pretty much known for his song "A.T.L." which is pretty much everybody's city anthem that the "masses" haven't caught on to yet. But me personally, my favorite part of the show is when he does "A Million Dollars" which is probably my favorite song by him.


Stanza-"A Million Dollars"






After him the homie Haziq fell throught right quick and did a couple songs from his "Business Is Good" album. Ya'll should give it a listen. I've known dude for a minute but ya'll may know him from his affilation to Tabi Bonney. But Haziq is truly on some real "get money" shit. But not the illegal way, all legit. My favorite song from him is "Hussla."




One artist in particular I wanted to check out was Ms. Brown. For whatever reasons I've never been able to make it to any of her performances or events. I did listen to her music a couple times and thought it was cool. But after seeing her perform and look like she meant what she was saying, I dug it more. Her's some video of her doing her song "No Strings Attatched":



You can peep her Under The Influence mixtape here.

{still going}



The show was also somewhat of a homecoming for the homie Spree Wilson as he was performing in Atlanta for the first time since he moved up to NYC a couple months ago. I told him that he done messed around and learned some new tricks since he left. He was playing guitar behind his head, on the ground...



standing on chairs and shit, hahah. But for real he did his thing and you can tell the change in environment has rejuvinated him. Here's some footage of him playing guitar and performing "Word."






The headliners for the show were Jeff B. and Mr. DJ better known as Mama's Mustache. I've been hep to their music for some months and this was my second time seeing them perform. Me personally, I think the shit is jamming. I dig how they are going from the ground up too. I mean, both of these dudes have been doing their thing for a minute and could easily shuffle into the music industry door from the top floor, but they're hitting all the spots where independent music flourishes first, so kudos to them.



Overall, the Leaders of the New Cool show was pretty good. Don't really have any complaints. I didn't realize how long I was in there until I left. Probably because I enjoyed all of the artists and they kept their sets short and to the point. The show was genuienly all about the music. But yeah, I took a gang of photos and would love for you to check them out and let me know what you think of them. Peace.








2 comments:

FireBrand said...

I miss all the great shit. Had to be up at the radio station. lol. Nice.

Big Tah said...

Great review Maurice you really summed the whole show up accurately.

Just so you know Stanza had to slow up on the shows after the 1st appearance on 106 & Park to work on some more music but look for him this month at I Do Music (Sept 3rd, The Loft), The Slaughter House show (Sept 19th, The Loft) and Tru Skool Tues (Sept 29th, Apache Cafe) . . . Then A3C in Oct

Once again thank you for the great coverage of the show.