SXSW report: Mystikal, Lil Wayne, Big Star and Springsteen

As both I and the rather more widely read Associated Press have pointed out, SXSW has amped up its hip-hop footprint massively over the past few years.

Whereas in 2003 the first year I attended the fest - urban offerings consisted of a few conscious backpackers straining to be heard over all the roots-rock and indie guitars, 2009, 10, 11, and this weekend have brought top rappers like Kanye West, Jay-Z, T.I., 50 Cent, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Wale and the like. Besides the aforementioned, 2012 also drew Louisiana acts like Katey Red and Nicky da B, Juvenile, Mannie Fresh, Mia X, Truth Universal, Lyrikill, Lil Dee, G-Eazy and many more to the still-newly urban-friendly event. Tastemaking Hip-hop publications like Vibe, The Source, Ozone and others are sending multiple reporters to cover the event.

COURTESY CHAMBER GROUP
Young Money/ Cash Money hosted a hot-ticket showcase at SXSW 2012.

This year, the siren song of SXSW (plus a giant marketing partnership with Mountain Dew, in service of which he blanketed downtown Austin with #DEWeezy posters) lured New Orleans own Lil Wayne to Austin. His Young Money/Cash Money showcase at the Austin Music Hall Thursday night was hush-hush until almost the very last minute; it was announced Tuesday, the day before the official start of the fests dedicated music weekend. (Is it really a weekend if it lasts for 5 days?)

I noted the fests diversity in an earlier post from Austin. Indicative of that Thursday was t! he fact that the nights three hot tickets were Wayne and Young Money/Cash Money, Bruce Springsteen (who gave the fest keynote speech earlier in the day; watch it and read excellent commentary over at NPRs site) and a work-in-progress screening of the documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, followed by a Big Star tribute concert.

(In 2010, Big Star frontman and longtime New Orleanian Alex Chilton passed away during the SXSW weekend. He had been scheduled to perform at a reunion show that was a highlight of the weekend.)

I saw the Big Star film screening, and though fest film organizers asked that no reviews be filed due to its technically being unfinished, I will say that the three friends I attended with all of whom knew Chilton wept.

Then, trying to mentally shift gears as quickly as possible, I scooted out of the theater (missing the Big Star Third all-star tribute) and headed over to whatever YMCMB had to offer.

The 4600-capacity Austin Music Hall sold out to ticket buyers by 9 p.m. Thursday night, though it never filled to capacity. (Prepaid badge and wristband holders had priority access.) Springsteens show at the ACL Live stage appeared to have beaten Weezy out as the nights hot ticket as I listened to dubstep and Southern hip-hop from the opening DJs, I scrolled through constant Springsteen tweets from pretty much every major national music writer in attendance but the Music Hall was in no way a weak place to be, and though we waited for Weezy till nearly 1 am, he more than delivered.

My Wayne experience goes back a few years. Ive seen him twice at the New Orleans Arena, once at Voodoo, once at a secret show at One Eyed Jacks, and possibly most me! morably at the Lafayette CajunDome with Lil Boosie opening, before Tha Carter III enacted a sea change for pop music. Hes always different; hes always good.

Most notably Thursday night, he was relaxed. Wayne has nothing to prove. Young Moneys newer artists Drake and Nicki Minaj have more sizzle and glitter to them lately, but that seems copacetic with Weezy.

Not yet 30, hes settled into the role of godfather; making very fine music and performing, but happy to let the new blood run the It Kid gauntlet while he chills, and develops his empire. His show was marked by comfort and humor; even when he was making a brief speech, which was apparently being recorded for his inuagural Mountain Dew commercial, he treated it with humor. (Did that! he shouted. Everybody say f-ing nailed it!)

He doffed his shirt (a Trukfit piece, natch his new clothing line, its name inspired by bootleg gear sold off the truck in New Orleans, sparred with the Dew for pride of branding place) early, slid back and forth across the stage on a skateboard, and hosted a stream of guests. Birdman turned up for a quick Still Fly; Shanell shouted out the ladies and added a much-needed dose of XX-chromosome seduction to the bro-heavy night. Mack Maine and Lil Chuckee turned out for cameos. His full band he seems to be slowly mastering the rock thing added metallic muscle to hits like A Milli, How to Love, 6 Foot 7 Foot and Every Girl. And between each track, he joked, bantered and chatted as easily as any elder statesman to whom the stage is a second home. At the end of his set, James Brown-style, an attendant tossed a robe over his shoulders as he faded into the wings.

So Wayne who we in New Orleans have watched since before puberty has grown up. But it should be noted th! at the m ost compelling show of the YMCMB showcase came from another New Orleans artist, and the labels latest signee Mystikal.

COURTESY CHAMBER GROUPMystikal, Young Money/Cash Money's newest signee, delivered an electrifying set at the Austin Music Hall.

Mike Tyler wasnt allotted the best slot of the night, but he arguably delivered the best set. He hit the stage early, between opener G-Eazy and the Wayne revue around 10:30 - and electrified the crowd. He was without the full funk band thats been backing him for his most recent New Orleans shows, but happily with his longtime DJ and producer KLC, who spun and offered backing vocals on classics like Black Prince of the South, Danger and The Man Right Chea. Even without his band, he proved yet again that hes a consummate entertainer in the old-school Apollo mode; song, dance, a little joke-telling, coiled-spring energy that its impossible to take your eyes off of.

In Roni Sarigs 2009 Southern hip-hop history Third Coast, he dedicated separate chapters to the big two of New Orleans hip-hop labels: Cash Money and No Limit. No Limit (founded in California and based in Baton Rouge), he declaimed, made contact with the world at large. And Cash Money, he said, looked inward, as the sound of the streets. Twenty-plus years after Cash Moneys founding, its taken over No Limits market share and then some, but also absorbed the other label's ideological position into its own: it reaches the world with the sound of the New Orleans streets, plus more.

And Mike Tyler a former NL star, of course - may be its greatest asset. His first Young Money album is on the way for summer 2012, and his first new video is out; watch his second coming closely, because it will be big.