2010 International Hip Hop Festival

Okay, so I have not responded from my first post in over a year but I would like to start my adventures with my first encounter of my series of events, adventures, and travels. My journey starts with the The 5th annual 2010 International Hip Hop Festival held at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. This is my second year filming the 3 day event and I must say that this year was alot more busier and challenging, but worth the experience. I remember filming the 4th annual Hip Hop Festival my freshman year as I solely filmed the 2-night concerts at the Austin Arts Center. Each night the concerts ran from 9PM to 1AM, but Saturdays are usually more packed since the festival featured the main act of the festival. 2009 was the year K'naan took the stage and wowed the Trinity crowd with his hits such as TIA (This is Africa, woot) and Wavin' Flag. I was lucky to grab an autograph from K'naan and talked with him for a sec after his tour bus broke down. I have no clue where I placed my autographs like many of the autographs I got from artists. (I put a list of artists I met/vs I would like to meet next time)

Fast-forward to 2010 Hip Hop Festival, shall we? This was a bigger task at hand since I was not only assigned to film the 2-night concert, but also in-class lectures, official b-boy battles, and talks from International artists. I had a pleasure with the opportunity meeting and working with Magee Mcilvaine, one of the pioneers of the International Hip Hop Festival. Usually, he works with people who are at least are upperclassmen from what I was told from people working at the Hip Hop festival, but as an underclassman I guess I prove to be reliable person in terms of doing videos properly. I guess, I was an exception? I never forget my weekend (April 2nd and 3rd of 2011) and it was such a dedication of putting some kind of effort in getting as much footage of everything festival-related as I could. However, I did not do this task alone. I had help from my best friend and partner in crime, George, Chris, and Malcolm, especially since both Malcolm and Chris was involved in the festival a lot more longer than I have been. Although filming the lectures, discussions, and talks was not that difficult, doing this the entire Friday (from morning to concert time) with little time to relax was daunting.

With fatigue, filming the b-boy rounds was alot more difficult since I was close enough to get my jaw and camera shattered and I had to be more careful. The contestants were spinning and break dancing at very rapid speeds. I did got slightly injured when one of the b-boys foot did hit my arm that was filming the event, so I jokingly pretended that I was missing a tooth (Note: I lost a tooth a long time ago) because a b-boy kicked my face. I was only kidding. Throughout the lugging the heavy camera equipment from one end of campus to another, running back and forth for tapes, stuffing any kinds of food I could get, it was all worth it in the end. The second night of the concerts playing was well worth it. I had the chance of filming the finales of the b-boy battle, until I was asked by one of the event organizers to interview the main act himself, KRS-ONE. It was a good thing that George followed me to the press room since I can not speak on camera if I were to interview him. The press room interview conversation was quite long, but it was so worth it! I was given his new book: "The Gospel of Hip Hop" and signed my new copy, although he took my sharpie marker and never gave it back. I never forget George gave the last question to ask KRS-ONE, his idol or the pats on the back for filming on stage. I guess this is my start to my adventures afterall.