We drove 4 hours to see a couple of my favorite Minneapolis hip hop artists. I worked 7 morning shifts in a row to make it happen, and one day (in the middle of making a latte) I even burst into tears from stress (my angst at work had been building up). So I went, squirmed my way up close, screamed out the lyrics to my favorite songs, and got soaked from water being thrown at up from plastic coke bottles. It was exactly what I needed.
When we got into the venue I went over to the merchandise table and started looking at the CD's. And realized I was talking to Brother Ali himself (well, at least I thought so). I bought his CD and then stood a little way away saying, "I think it's him, it has to be him...ummm..." Finally I went back and had him autograph his CD. Then we found a spot to sit and after a few minutes Slug from Atmosphere came over and had a smoke a few feet away while staring off into space. Again, I wavered, unsure it was him...I was just so surprised that they were hanging out in the crowd, but really they aren't that well known in Europe yet. So for those of us who were fans it was a huge treat! And after all we were at a festival that was billed as "Muenster's first hip-hop fest."
My pic with Brother Ali!
How Slug looked most of the time. I finally walked up to him and said, "Hi, I'm Linda, I'm a big fan." Then we visit a few minutes and I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, looking for something to buy to have him sign. Then I looked at Brother Ali and with a big grin said, "I'M JUST SO EXCITED!" We talked a little about being homesick and then I wandered off.
Then I noticed Ant, who is a an awesome producer and doesn't always tour with Atmosphere. So I walked up and told him that, "I think you're a fucking genius." Got a picture and he gave me a Nelson laugh for discovering last week that they are performing again a lot closer to where we live. My friends think he looks like a cross between Quentin Tarantino and Antonio Banderas.
Ant getting ready to DJ.
The skater park/concert hall.
Not a great pic, but it shows that it was just Slug, Brother Ali and Ant on stage.
"God loves ugly. Scream if you're ugly! Scream you ugly motherfucking Germans!"And we all screamed.
Some German group headlined, but the sound quality was so bad that we didn't stick around. Mick had tried with futile to get tipsy since this isn't his music, and really I gotten what I came for. I went up to Slug and Brother Ali afterwards and said, "Thankyousomuch! That was exactly what I needed, I screamed my head off." And Brother Ali said, "Thanks Linda, I really appreciate it." What an awesome, genuine guy! Well I did keep going over to the merchandise table and he was always there, so I kept saying, "I'm baaack." I'm such a dork.
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