Hustle Simmons, Ethel Cee and Fel Sweetenberg highlighted a night of solid indie hip hop at Silk City as local record label, Bee Eater, took over the Northern Liberties venue for their first showcase.
The evening began with DJ sets form Bee Eater CEO Ultraviolet and DJ Akshun. Both are excellent DJs, and as usual, did an outstanding job of playing a great mix of old and new hip hop. As with most indie hip hop shows, things started a little later than expected; scheduled to begin at 9:00, the opening acts didn’t hit the stage until around 11:30 p.m.
LeahNicole, a group composed of b-girl Leah “Krazy K” Caesar and emcee Nikkie “Victorious” Harris, started things off with a very interesting set. Featuring two backup singers, one of which was the amazingly talented Selina Carrera, a drummer playing on post and pans and the rhyming and dancing of Victorious and Krazy K, their set was quite a bit different than the typical rapping to the crowd type of hip hop.
After a brief introduction from host Mars Five, New Castle, Delaware rhymer Keziah was up next. Keziah’s aggressive rhymes and punchlines drew a good number of “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd, and although she was an opening act, she gave one of the best performances of the night. She was briefly joined on stage by Hezekiah, who would also contribute to Hustle Simmons set later on in the show.
After the opening acts did their thing, it was time for the Bee Eaters to show the crowd what they were all about. Rather than have each of the label mates perform longer sets one after another, they mixed things up a bit, rotating twice through starting with a brief 10 minute set from each artsist and then a longer showing.
Fel Sweeteberg was the first Bee Eater to rock the mic, and the New Jersey emcee/producer’s excellent stage show made it pretty clear why he was the label’s first signee. As a producer, he has a pretty nice range with clear influences from mid 90s East Coast hip hop, and his rhymes serve as the perfect compliment for them. Ethel Cee followed Fel, and this Philly lyricist’s incredible stage presence turned quite a few heads with rhymes ranging from highly sexualized braggadocio to much more introspective and poignant topics. Hustle Simmons, a duo of Camden rhymer Dave Ghetto and Philly beatmaker The S Ence. Easily one of the best indie acts in the city, the two kept the crowd moving with arguably the best performance of the night. Throughout the various sets, the Bee Eater label mates would join each other on stage as well, and also received some help from their extended family.
Throughout the night, Hustle Simmons brought out guest after guest, keeping the crowd on its toes each time they took the stage. A.U.L.P.U.R.P.I.S and Fatnice of 84, U. City, Hezekiah, Reef The Lost Cauze and event host Mars Five all helped and added another nice touch to very good show. Similarly, the night ended with an impromptu cipher featuring Truck North and P.O.R.N., two local emcees who have recently gained some fame for their worth with The Roots.
The Bee Eater Showcase was not only a solid display of talent for the fledgling label, but also a stands a great symbol of what can happen when artists come out to support each other. On top of that, it was one of the few indie hip hop shows I’ve been to were the men didn’t vastly outnumber the women, both in terms of the audience and the performers. Diversity, inclusion and togetherness coupled with dope beats and dope rhymes is always a clear recipe for success; hip hop listeners in Philly can only hope they do shows like this more often.
