Chicago Action Sports & Hip-Hop Weekend!

Jeff Baraka, NBC Chicago Street Team

“Yes, yes y’all!” This weekend, Chicago is the first stop for two major, national festivals featuring hometown hip-hop heroes:

First up, the Dew Tour, the first ever action sports tour (skateboarding/BMX/Motocross), now in its 5th season. It’s made up of 5 major events that take place in 5 different cities over the course of 5 months (June-Oct.). The Chicago event happens during the day in Grant Park, Friday (6/26) and Saturday (6/27), and features some of the top BMX athletes in the world.

The Dew Tour Music Series concert takes place on that Friday at The Chicago Theatre (8pm). Lupe Fiasco is the headliner, Lady Sovereign is the opener, DJ Flipside (of B96) will be spinnin’ and yours truly is the host (yay!).

Also on Saturday (6/27), the 11-city Rock The Bells Festival rolls into town, so you may need to flip a coin or consult a psychic to decide which event to choose. It’s happening at The First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.

RTBs is the nation’s premier hip-hop music & culture fest, featuring some of the biggest names in the game. Nas, The Roots, Busta Rhymes and Big Boi of OutKast are all on the bill. Common will represent for Chicago, as will Chali 2na, who rose to fame with LA acts Ozomatli and Jurassic 5, and is now embarking on a solo career. He’ll also rock the House Of Blues around 9pm.

Later that night (10pm), The Roots’ Questlove spins an afterparty at The Marmon Grand Loft, 2230 S. Michigan Ave (props to the homey Mark Fullaflava for puttin’ that together). With so much action-sports and hip-hop royalty in town, no tellin’ who might fall thru.

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Parties, Celebs, Gossip And More!

LaShonda Matlock, NBC5 Street Team

Socialite and Ralph Lauren fashion ambassador Bunky Cushing is featured in this month’s CHICAGO Magazine!! Congrats!

The “Coca-Cola Refresh Your Flow Tour” will star rapper Lupe Fiasco at a private event Sunday (8/17) at the Park West .

Designer Maria Pinto (Ste 300 2211 N Elston Ave) celebrated the grand opening of her first boutique on Tuesday night. The store features designer originals, fine jewelry and the latest must have items for any true fashionista! And Maria being the wonderful person that she is already giving back! The boutique will donate 15% of all proceeds to the Women’s Board of the Museum of Contemporary Art through August 16th. True fashion with a cause!!  

N.E.R.D will be at the HOB on Sept. 2nd presented by Converse with a special guest…get tickets NOW!

Rapper/Actor Ice Cube will be in town on Monday premiering his new movie “The Longshots“  with star KeKe Palmer at the ICE Chatham Theater on the South-Side.

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Lupe Fiasco Glows in the Dark

Chasity Chaos, NBC5 Street Team Video

As most of you know, two of Chicago’s most illuminating rappers graced the city with their presence last week when they rolled through with their critically acclaimed ‘Glow In The Dark’ tour.

Kanye West aka “the Louis Vuitton Don” and Lupe Fiasco aka “Hip Hop’s Whiz Kid,” radiated the stage at the United Center along with N-E-R-D and Rihanna during the Glow in the Dark show… or so I heard. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the show. Tickets were sold out before I could “Kick, Push” and go buy some. My hookups at the label didn’t even have any extra tickets lying around! But fortunately, I found a way to finagle my way backstage with a camera crew to sit down with Mr. Fiasco himself to ask him a few questions that have been lingering in my mind.

With interruptions from Chris Brown and Pharrell Williams, along with Fiasco’s occasional departure to tell his crew and N-E-R-D to quiet down while we were talking, this was a Q&A that I’ll never forget.

Check it out for yourself.

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The Cool Kids: Cookin’ up somethin’ fresh…

Liz Holland, NBC5 Street Team

A couple weeks ago I went to see one of Chicago’s up and coming rap duos, The Cool Kids at Underground. Today they release their debut EP, The Bake Sale (C.A.K.E./Chocolate Industries) featuring their hit song “Black Mags”, a tribute to BMX-biking. If you like hip hop, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy.

Mickey Rocks (aka Antoine Reed), 20, and Chuck Inglish (aka Evan Ingersoll), 23, rocked the crowd at Underground with their signature sound, a contemporary version of throwback 80′s with prominent beats and catchy commentary similar to the likes of the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC with a touch of Pharrell. Their sound has been praised by the Chicago Reader for “a Chicago specific hip-hop sound rivaling that of the Dirty South, or Bay Area”.

The duo met in 2005 through Myspace after Mickey came across Chuck’s beats online. Thanks to the internet, their music has quickly spread from the underground scene to landing major creds booking notable music festivals including the upcoming Lollapalooza and Rock the Bells, touring with rap star M.I.A, and callabos with A-trac (Kanye West’s DJ), Flosstradamus, and Lil’ Wayne on “Gettin’ It”. Not to mention, they were featured in Rolling Stone as one of the “Top 10 Artists to Watch in 2008”.

In my opinion, part of what makes them “the whole package” is their down to earth swagger and “tell it like it is” attitude. Most impressively, they have their style down to a T with a fresh take on vintage street wear.

Mark my words — this duo is soon to be added to the Chicago hip-hop hotlist of Kanye, Common, Lupe — just you wait.

Besides checking out The Bake Sale, you can catch them for a performance at the Abbey Pub, this Wednesday, May 21^st at 9 p.m. for a Darfur Now Benefit (suggested donation at the door).

The Abbey Pub

3420 W. Grace

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