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Throughout the weekend, the Red Bull Music Academy brought a variety of polarizing acts into Movement 2010’s growing spotlight. On Sunday evening, as the heat subsided and the Detroit River sat calm and picturesque to the south of the stage, local emcees Guilty Simpson and Phat Kat took to the stage with 8-piece funk group Will Sessions (think Detroit’s Dap Kings) to rock the mic and rock the crowd. Running through a catalog of music — from Guilty Simpson’s recently released full-length OJ Simpson (produced by Madlib) to Phat Kat’s legendary hip-hop album Carte Blanche (including a guest cameo on “Cold Steel” by Slum Villages’ Elzhi) along a selection of classic cuts from legendary producer J Dilla — the two emcees set out to translate their rhymes from written lyric to live, fluid poetry while Will Sessions brought recorded sounds live to the stage. It didn’t take long for those unfamiliar in the crowd to wave their hands on command nor did it take long for Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Elzhi and Will Sessions’ Sam Beaubien to dish on the experience of performing together on one stage and the state of Detroit hip-hop while relaxing post-show in the Red Bull Lounge.

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For the past twenty years, Brian Gillespie has sat behind the decks serving up an educated selection of deep, melodic techno, funk and obscure jazz alongside his signature ghetto-tech blend to the Detroit scene. As part of the deejay duo Starski & Clutch (Gillespie as Starski, DJ and producer Todd Osborn as Clutch), has expanded his brand to a fresh audience after an eclectic set on the Red Bull Music Academy stage last Sunday afternoon. But as a representative for the Red Bull Music Academy in Detroit, many don’t realize that the same determination Gillespie puts into searching for records, he also piles into “helping give young, local talent the resources to [experience] the same exposure in a year that would normally take five, 10, 15 years.” Beginning in Berlin in 1998, The Red Bull Music Academy is built to cater to and foster budding talent. While burgeoning musicians, deejays, singers and producers attend, waves of established and often legendary artists come to visit and educate — think ?uestlove, Madlib, Melvin van Peebles, Chuck D, Carl Craig, Caribou and many more. Held at a mixture of exotic locations around the globe, the Red Bull Music Academy is an opportunity for young talent to get lost within their craft, to hone their skills live and begin building a name through one of the most accomplished music programs to date. But the reach doesn’t end there.

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It’s not easy to describe the sounds of Tokimonsta. An initial impression could you leave in a world as “melodic and sentimental” as the artist herself is cute (see above picture). And even though the 24-year-old Tokimonsta’s catalog is somewhat brief, that initial impression could leave you locked into the wrong idea. Within seconds, this Los Angeles-based, self-proclaimed “jack-of-all-genres” can pull a rough, rugged and hip-hop heavy dose of remixed beats out of her bag and no, she won’t hesitate to use ‘em. “I love listening to varied genres,” says Tokimonsta, “so I wanted something with guitars. I wanted something with soul. I wanted lots of hip-hop in it mixed with that electronic, sonic value. As you create, you realize that the years and years of listening to music expel themselves into whatever music your making.” Kicking things off on Monday afternoon, this is the sort of eclectic thrill that Tokimonsta brought to yet another unique weekend performance on the Red Bull Music Academy stage. ChinaShop caught up with the 2010 Red Bull Music Academy attendee to grab up all the details on how this young deejay came to hone her craft and gain some notoriety with some help from Flying Lotus, the adversity she faced early on in the LA hip-hop community and the broad musical tastes that help keep the audience always guessing.  We had a chance to catch up with Tokimonsta at this year’s Movement Festival and this is what she had to say:

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The culture of Detroit does not rest solely on the shoulders of the Movement festival. Like any major American city, Detroit hosts its annual beacons of pride and popularity — the lauded Detroit International Jazz Festival, downtown’s chilly Winter Blast, the prestigious North American International Auto Show. But often, the shadow cast by these behemoth weekend attractions hides a bustling culture that breeds year-round. Last Thursday evening, as the stages were being erected and the carnival food carts were still jockeying for position before the start of Movement 2010 in Hart Plaza, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) was offering a small sampling of such sophistication.

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