S. Samuel
With the South By Southwest festivities coming to an end, SOHH reached out to rap newcomer Future and hip-hop veteran, Ras Kass, for their take on the annual gathering.
Slated to perform at SXSW, Future detailed how much of an honor it is to grace the Austin, Texas stage.
“I’m just really excited to be going out there and doing all of the interviews and media,” Future told SOHH about SXSW. “I really want to make sure I go out there and leave something for people to remember. I’m looking forward to the fans because it’s such an honor and a privilege to go out there.” (SOHH)
Ras Kass said while he has yet to make it out there in recent years, he respects the annual gathering.
“I was supposed to go to South By Southwest, I don’t have anything against it, but I was supposed to go for the past few years,” Ras told SOHH. “It used to be a bit more indie. It was embracing to dubstep and stuff like that. I’ve just watched it grow with hip-hop and rap. Once again, I was supposed to go this year but there’s always something which comes up. I was supposed to be there last year but I had a paid show to do so I couldn’t make it out there. It’s a great reason to be out there in Austin, Texas, network, and it’s great to get some new music. You can see your people perform and hang out with them without it being a packed club.” (SOHH)
This week, Texas-bred rapper Paul Wall offered his take on the SXSW hype.
“It’s amazing to see how far it’s come,” Paul Wall told SOHH. “I remember performing my first show out there with me and Chamillionaire. As a matter of fact, even my wife was there, she’s in a singing group but she performed a show at South By Southwest. To see how far it’s come, now you have Kanye West and Jay-Z performing there, so to see how far it’s come is amazing. Especially in terms of hip-hop, and music in general, it’s the biggest live music event. Worldwide its huge but for hip-hop to be a part of it with as big as its become, it’s amazing. And it’s great because it takes place right in our backyard, in Austin, Texas.” (SOHH)
A few days ago, renowned rap veteran Tech N9ne shared a different stance toward SXSW, varying greatly from Paul’s more positive recollections.
“Sorry man. I probably don’t say the things that are politically correct, but f*ck South by Southwest,” Tech told SOHH. “I feel that way. I don’t give a f*ck! You know why? Because my fans speak and it’s about money. I’m just saying, they could say they won’t ever have me perform again, I wouldn’t give a f*ck. N*gga, we’d create our ‘own’ festival and fill the f*ckin’ stands. Tech N9ne can say what the f*ck he wanna say, blackball me. We are our own machine. I’mma shutup, man. And I hope they get some feedback from this.” (SOHH)
