To give context to my
THOPfest experience we’ll have to go back to 2014 when I discovered Pppaccee
& The Herbalistics’ Inland Empire area Sunny Days & Vibes
showcase. 60 East was just one of the many names I had seen big on the flyers.
Later that same year when I started writing for Jooseboxx and starting to bug
those very names I would see on those flyers for interviews and article
write-ups, I noticed 60 East, named for one of the Inland Empire’s most
frequently used freeways, was not someone I would just run into in the I.E. the
way I would with MC Lyfe, Epyk, Wonders Trillions, Greaseball, Hephty,
Calligraphy, Mando the DJ, Os One, Vision and others. I eventually heard word
that he was in Europe, touring and grinding. Over time I heard his music and
wrote about it here and had tried to keep my ear to the ground for his next
moves ever since.
So I
shouldn’t have been surprised when just a few years later his Happiness of
Pursuit Festival event was announced with flyers announcing dope hip-hop acts
from all over the country playing in the Inland Empire. Fast forward 3
years later and fresh off of losing a second consecutive “Who Got Next?”
Showcase626 to P the Emcee and Cam Archer, I see a THOPFest Launch Party
competition flyer. I hesitated for a moment, ‘do I want the IE’s dopest + co.
to see me lose two contests in a row?’ but ultimately I was hungry for a win so
I threw down the bill to enter and was stoked for the chance to finally meet
Mr. East in person.
The contest was at Firewater Bar in Ontario off of Holt which I was told
was where the festival itself would ALSO be. I had to do a double-take – this
was a standard sized bar with a big parking lot in Ontario but I was being told
they convert the lot into the fest! After I won the contest (peep my Instagram
for the highlights) I saw some social media sniping from some cats not from the
area who lost the contest saying the festival was a fraud for being at a normal
bar but I thought the exact opposite: in the wake of the Vibe in Riverside
closing, many have tried especially Lesa J, Noa James (of BTYF), Giliead 7 and
Phantom Thrett (of Serious Cartoons), to keep events cracking in the I.E. and
60 East was doing a great good along with his team in trying to make a full on
event happen at an easy to access spot in the Inland Empire. To build something
like this from the ground-up can be rewarding but also a thankless job along
the way and once I grasped what the event really was I was very proud to have
just won myself a slot at it.
So when I pulled up to Holt Street about 61 minutes before my scheduled
set time it was packed and the speakers from Firewater Cantina echoed down the
boulevard. I walked in and it was already cracking – graffiti artists on
multiple walls, hot fry vendors and young Latinas selling tall boys, various
stages, Cam Archer and Big Rob running up to me making sure I knew my set-time…
The red carpet and press gamut afterwards was fun, the food trucks
were legit. I'd walk into the bar itself and see Rawz DJing, or 2mex, Noa James, D'zyl 5k1 and other luminaries holding court, running panels. It was the best long day of hip-hop I’ve had in forever. Fresh
State was there, Showcase626, EOTR Network showed up Mid-day, and everyone was
blazin’, drinkin’, grubbin’, socializing. It usually takes several days over
several cities to see all those friends so to consolidate all the folks in one
place for a day was amazing. EOTR, 18Scales, Nemy, Thascool and Rane Raps were
some standout sets from the earlier part of the day. Cam Archer’s freestyles
while hosting were dope. Noa James and Cookbook’s banter was hilarious. Vel,
Gavlyn and Sa-Roc were probably my favorite sets of the night due to their
tight balance of originality and execution. 60 East’s set was fun as hell as he
busted out Thai sticks, Self-Provoked and Elzhi. I left before Sick Jacken took
the stage (I was there since like noon foos!) but I saw the Griselda crew rock
a bit and that was great stuff- they seemed genuinely surprised at how much love
and dedicated fandom they had in the I.E. My recap doesn’t do justice as to how
massive of a day this was but suffice to say, 60 East has built a young but
solid institution with this festival, it was as legit as any event I’ve
attended and easier to blaze at than most to boot. I truly look forward to
being involved next year. Peep Jooseboxx in the coming weeks as King Dice and
the team roll out video interview coverage and more!
Tristan "Tanjint
Wiggy" Acker is staff writer for JooseBoxx, a youth hip-hop and poetry
tutor, and member of the Inland Empire nerdcore hip-hop group the West Coast
Avengers. Catch more of their work at westcoastavengers.com, follow Tristan on
Twitter @Tanjint or e-mail him at tristanacker@gmail.com
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