When dozens of scantily clad girls start frolicking near the water fountain in the local park, it can only mean one thing. Another summer of free Hip-Hop shows around NYC. Get your mind out of the gutter. The two shows I’m looking forward to the most is going down in Queensbridge Park: Sugar Hill Gang and Lovebug Starski & Friends. Raekwon performing in Staten Island should be a great one too. Big ups to City Parks Foundation. Peep the original emcee DJ Hollywood getting down last summer @ Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. link

Bronx
St. Mary’s Park
146 St. & St. Ann’s Ave.
Tuesday, July 7th: Hector Tricoche y Su Orquesta
Tuesday, July 14th: Paquito Guzman y Su Orquestra
Tuesday, July 21st: N’Klabe

Crotona Park
173 St. & Crotona Park East
Wednesday, July 8th: Soulsonic Force
Wednesday, July 15th: George Lamond / Judy Torres
Wednesday, July 22nd: KRS-One

Brooklyn
Red Hook
Bay St. btwn. Henry St. & Clinton St.
Tuesday, August 4th: Frankie Negron
Tuesday, August 11th: Lisa Lisa
Tuesday, August 18th: DJ Premier vs. Pete Rock hosted by Danny Castro of Lyricist Lounge

Von King Park
Tompkins Ave. btwn. Lafayette Ave. & Greene Ave.
Thursday, July 2nd: Kiki Sheard / Keith Wonderboy Johnson
Thursday, July 9th: MC Lyte
Thursday, July 16th: Chico DeBarge

Brower Park
Brooklyn Ave. & Prospect Park Pl.
Wednesday, July 29th: Wayne Wonder
Wednesday, August 5th: CaRiMi
Wednesday, August 12th: Tribute to the Classics: Black Moon and Smif n Wessun w/ Live Band

Manhattan
East River Park
At the Band Shell along the East River
Between Grand & Jackson Sts.
Thursday, July 16th: Man Man
Thursday, July 23rd: Slick Rick
Thursday, July 30th: Ismael Miranda

Highbridge Park
174 St. & Amsterdam Ave.
Tuesday, August 11th: Andy Andy
Tuesday, August 18th: Xtreme
Tuesday, August 25th: Bachata Heightz / Watata

Marcus Garvey Park
124 St. & Mt. Morris Park
Thursday, August 6th: Jon B
Thursday, August 13th: Joe
Thursday, August 20th: Hezekiah Walker

Queens
Queensbridge Park
41 Ave., Bridge Plaza, Vernon Blvd. & East River
Tuesday, July 14th: Sugar Hill Gang
July 21st: Lovebug Starski & Friends
Tuesday, July 28th: Rhythm Review with Felix Hernandez

Springfield Park
184 St. & 147 Ave.
Thursday, July 30th: Chrisette Michele
Thursday, August 6th: Heather Headley
Thursday, August 13th: James Fortune & Trin-i-tree 57 hosted by Hezekiah Walker

Rochdale Park
Guy R. Brewer Blvd. at 134th Ave.
Thursday, August 20th: The Persuasions

Staten Island
Mahoney Playground
Beechwood Ave., Crescent Ave., Cleveland St. & Jersey St.
Wednesday, August 12th: Raekwon
Wednesday, August 19th: Naughty by Nature

Tappen Park
106 Water St. between Bay St. and Wright St.
Wednesday, August 26th: Rhythm Review with Felix Hernandez

As I said previously, this was the livest part of the whole night. Link

More videos at youtube.com/grandgood

see also:
Grandmaster Caz Performs with Sugar Hill Gang, Video Music Box 25th Anniversary Show Is A Night To Remember

The Video Music Box 25th Anniversary Show was a historic event. The artists either performing or in attendance was a virtual who’s who of Hip-Hop aristocracy (partial list below). The whole concert lasted about three hours with 10-15 minute sets for each act, which meant a steady stream of classic material. If you couldn’t make it to the show and want to get a sense of what tracks were performed, just throw on your best of 80s and 90s hip-hop mixtapes.

I gotta give props to Ralph McDaniels and crew for a few things that added to the show’s success. One is keeping the event so organized. Even with the hustle and bustle of artists continuously going on and off stage, everything ran smoothly. Also, the set lengths. There was always enough entertainment throughout the night to keep the crowd involved and on their toes. Of course, major props are due for the line up. Honestly, when was the last time you heard Spoonie Gee, Schoolly D or Milk Dee rock the mic? Let alone at the same free event! Throw on the fact that none of the artists who hit the stage got paid a cent. They all did it out of love and respect for Uncle Ralph and Video Music Box. Hip-Hop unity at its finest.

Obviously, there are plenty of highlights I could run through like Ralph showing off his DJ Clark Kent designed Air Force One’s made specifically for the anniversary. Or July 18th being officially declared Video Music Box Day by Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson. However, the livest part of the whole show was when the Sugar Hill Gang hit the stage to the tune of Rapper’s Delight. By now, most of us should know the back story behind Big Hank’s verse. After Wonder Mike finished up, I wondered how the crowd would react to Hank’s part of the song. The answer was that they didn’t get a chance to because Grandmaster Caz suddenly ran onto the stage and started spitting the rhymes! The icing on the cake was when Rahiem and Mele Mel of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five joined everybody up there. Amazing.

Big ups to Ralph for being the first and putting in 25 years of hard work. And here’s to another 25+! I got video footage for most of the sets but until those are edited and uploaded onto our youtube channel, check out some pictures I snapped in between recordings (after the jump).

Sugar Hill Gang
Grandmaster Caz
Rahiem
Mele Mel
Lovebug Starski
Crash Crew
Chubb Rock
Naughty By Nature
Nice & Smooth
Special Ed
Milk Dee
Spoonie Gee
Schoolly D
Dana Dane
DJ Jazzy Joyce
O.C.
A.G.
Fab 5 Freddy
Kool Herc
Awesome 2
Mr. Cheeks
Kool DJ Red Alert
Large Professor
Dres
Hakim (of Channel Live)

Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Caz, Rahiem and Mele Mel

Special K

Smooth B

Ralph McDaniels and Kool Herc

Ralph McDaniels

Rahiem

Naughty By Nature

Mele Mel

Kool DJ Red Alert

Greg Nice

Greg Nice

Grandmaster Caz and Rahiem

DJ Jazzy Joyce

Dana Dane

Chubb Rock

What a ridiculous lineup! Wonder how long it would take me to drive there…

buy tickets, more info

The Pioneers of Hip Hop
KRS-One
Whodini
Doug E. Fresh
MC Lyte
Big Daddy Kane
Biz Markie
Sugar Hill Gang
Kurtis Blow

Sat, May 3, 2008 @ 08:00 PM

Fox Theatre
Detroit, MI