You Missed Out If You Missed This Year's A3C

The annual A3C Hip Hop Festival and Conference staged this past week in Atlanta Georgia was in my opinion the best yet in the 11 year history of the event. As the Festival has grown massive the calibre of artists and participants has evolved annually. This year they built on that energy in a major way to say the least. There was a very diverse lineup of artists on deck this year for the festivities. Some old school, some now school, some next school. At the main festival grounds in the Edgewood District it was a shuffle back and forth between the Main Stage and the Artist Project Stage which featured performances this year by veterans De La Soul, Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim, The Jungle Brothers, Beanie Sigel, Tha Alkaholiks, and Cam’ron. Now schoolers Wiz Khalifa, Taylor Gang, Curren$y, Stalley, and Mike Will Made It. And new schoolers who put it down like Dej Loaf, Raury, Audio Push, Key! and Kap G, The Artist Project Stage didn’t disappoint either. Over on that side there were sets by Atlanta natives OG Maco, Young Dro, Big Gipp of Goodie Mob and 21 Savage who flooded the stage with his 30 deep entourage. This year coincided with the live taping of the B.E.T Hip Hop Awards on October 9th so there was an abundance of celeb sightings and surprise performances at off site venues as well. Fabolous and Travis Scott did Pop-Up shows. Even Silkk The Shocker Came out of hibernation and performed at Department Store Friday night. Another highlight was the Good Hearts Win showcase Thursday night. AxJ absolutely killed it with his live band performance. He got the crowd involved from the start and even hopped off stage into the crowd at one point to dance with the audience. 2 Chains took the stage to close out the weekend Sunday night capping off a major weekend for Hip Hop Culture. There were a lot of diverse offerings including some awesome panels as well as a very diverse and peaceful crowd in attendance. A3C has definitely become one of if not the premiere Festival/Conference that caters to the Hip Hop and Streetwear Culture. This one just ended and I am already looking forward to next year. You never know who might be the Headliner or who may be speaking on a panel. I can only imagine after the success of this years outing what the organizers are cooking up next.