The four-day festival, held on the Northside of Minneapolis, was very successful and well attended, even with Saturday’s very punishing heat index. The ole-school hip hop showcase on Saturday featured rap legend, Kool Moe Dee who took the stage at 6 pm. He possessed the power and ability to cool the North High School football field down.
Born Mohandes Dewese in 1952, it was immediately apparent at the top of his performance that this 52-year-old rap legend has barely slowed down. He continues to fascinate the hip hop world, showing why he was the first rapper to perform at the Grammy Awards.
Originally a member of The Treacherous Three, which began in New York City, he continues to perform with T3 member DJ Easy Lee, and during their performance on Saturday they did not miss a step. They put on a fabulous show that lasted more than an hour, with plenty of audience participation and dancing, and paying tribute to the many entertainers we have recently lost, including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Left Eye and, Heavy D, reminiscing on their huge contributions to the hip hop industry.
Opening for Kool Mo Dee was ole skool hip hop rap legend, Roxanne Shante, who did a great job getting the audience into an 80’s hip hop feel. The Northside Arts Crawl, FLOW event, highlighted many community artists, and the major business district of North Minneapolis. Among them were Truthmaze performing with Roxanne Shante, young Twin Cities’ vocal performer Kalageh Jones, aged 13, and Dellan, age 12, who did a dance impersonation of the late great Michael Jackson. There was also ballet and modern dance performances by Diane Elliot and members of the Hollywood Studio of Dance.
Raymond Jackson welcomes reader responses to rayjack49@yahoo.com.
See more photos below by Raymond Jackson.
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