Over the weekend, New York City’s Randall’s Island was home to the inaugural two-day Catalpa Music Festival, headlined by The Black Keys and Snoop Dogg. The bill was packed with a slew of other performers representing a number of musical genres like A$AP Rocky, TV On the Radio, AraabMUZIK, Girl Talk, Matisyahu, Matt & Kim, The Dirty Heads, and many more.
While Saturday (July 28) played host to a more Rock-centric day, Sunday (July 29) had the Hip-Hop edge, beginning with vocalist and beatboxer Matisyahu, who blazed through a number of tracks off his newly released album Spark Seeker, and of course, played his biggest and most well-known hits like “One Day” and “King Without A Crown.”
The crowd warmly embraced Matisyahu, whose blend of Reggae, Rock, Hip-Hop, and beatboxing unified perfectly on stage to create a truly unique sound that was a welcome addition for one of the festival’s afternoon highlights.
AraabMUZIK, whose performance is truly something to behold, made his way to his setup on stage without saying a word and proceeded to let his fingers do the “talking” for 60 minutes straight. The producer and DJ blasted through Hip-Hop and Electronic beats while simultaneously creating his own Dubstep tracks in front of a crowd of 5,000 mesmerized on-lookers.
With the sun setting, A$AP Rocky and his A$AP Mob hit the stage. After letting members Ferg, Twelvy, and Ant perform verses from their own songs to warm the crowd up, Rocky hit the stage to the group’s new single “Bath Salt” and proceeded to rattle off verses from a number of his songs like “Pretty Flacko” and “Thuggin Noise.” Rocky then demanded a mic stand, and for the “f*cking lights to turn purple” as he went into “Wassup” and “Purple Swag” from LiveLoveA$AP.
“We don’t think about what we’re doing; we’re just subconsciously talented,” Rocky exclaimed to the swarm of fans who were watching him and his crew. The set continued with “Goldie,” the AraabMUZIK-assisted “Street Knock”, “Hands On the Wheel”, and “Peso”, the closing song of Rocky’s set.
Snoop’s headlining set began with hits such as “Next Episode,” “187” and “Ain’t Nuthing But A G Thang.” Snoop then proceeded to get into the album that he was being paid to play in its entirety, Doggystyle. With Lady of Rage, Kurupt, and members of Tha Dogg Pound on stage ready to rock with their man, Snoop stuck to his word and performed “Murder Was the Case”, “Serial Killa”, “What’s My Name”, “Ain’t No Fun”, “Gin and Juice”, and all the rest of his iconic album’s nearly 20 tracks.
Check out some pictures from the Catalpa Music Festival below:
Images by Michael B. Lawson for AllHipHop.com