What better way to kick off Red Bull Big Tune 2010 than in the middle of SXSW? An increasing amount of hip-hop showcases means more hip-hoppers hanging around 6th St. during the festival than ever. The bonus was that a few people who walked into the narrow confines of The Belmont’s outdoor performance space had no idea about the Red Bull Big Tune battle. So the turn out was both impressive and diverse for the return of the longest running producer competition around.
Considering the longevity of Red Bull Big Tune, I ask one of the event’s curators, Jake One, if he ever thought the battle would run this long. “After awhile, I believed it would last because of how much fun people have,” he tells me.
By fun, he’s not only referencing the crowd, but the beat-makers themselves. Lately participants have been seen getting more animated, hyping up their beats with wild arm and body movement. “It seemed like last year the antics were stepped up,” adds Jake.
As Red Bull Big Tune kicked off in Austin on a breezy night, there weren’t too many outlandish stage antics, but the talent was solid among the competitors. Ironically, the final two producers are both from outside of Texas: Michigan’s 14KT and Seattle’s Budo.
14KT, of the Athletic Mic League arguably had the harder-hitting beats while still maintaining a sometime left-leaning vibe. But Budo showed he had soul too with his classic-meets-alternative sounds and won the crowd’s support in the end—just barely getting more cheers than 14KT in the final audience verdict.
Coming off stage Budo was greeted with a barrage of hugs and pounds from his collaborator Grieves and the rest of his friends. When I caught up with him he says, “it feels incredible to be down here with the event that started in Seattle.”
On top of the great battle, appearances by numerous West Coast hip-hop acts, including rising MC Fashawn, true school trio Dilated Peoples and producer-on-the mic The Alchemist, made this is a first class kick off to another year of Red Bull Big Tune.
Words by Max Herman, Photos by Dustin Downing and Max Herman
