Show Review: Leaders of the New Cool
Last night’s show featured six of hip hop’s emerging artists on stage, as well as a number of influential people in the crowd, such as the GFCNY family, Q-Tip, and DonWill of Tanya Morgan.
Needless to say, if you weren’t at 92Y Tribeca last night, you missed something special.
The event was part of a series of concerts taking place across the United States, which feature artists deemed “leaders” based off of the buzz they’ve created around themselves and their music.
Starting off the night was Sean Falyon, who currently resides in Atlanta by way of Philly. The graphic designer turned emcee performed a great set, and although half of my footage from the night is lost due to camera problems, I managed to save Sean’s performance.
Check out Sean Falyon’s “Big City Lights.”
The official video for “Big City Lights” was directed by Motion Family, who also brought us Pill’s “Trap Goin Ham,” arguably the best video of the year. If you wanna check out more of Sean’s set, here are clips of him performing “Gift of Gab,” and his latest single, “Inside Her.”
Following Sean were energy filled performances from Stalley, Monica Rush, Ms Brown, Spree Wilson, and Harlem’s Cash. Even though my footage of these artists tearing it up is lost, trust me when I say that they all made the event worthwhile.
The stand out performance of the night, however, belongs to Spree Wilson, who at several points put down the mic to jam out on his electric guitar in the crowd!
How many hip hop artists lay in the middle of the crowd while wailing on a guitar in the middle of their set? Photo via @JacquesMorels. If you are unfamiliar with Spree’s music, check out his videos for “Word” and “I Am.” Spree is ridiculously talented!
Closing out the night was the Grey Goose Rising Icon, and GFCNY’s own, Stalley. The Ohio bred emcee put on a great show for a crowd that had grown in size throughout the night, and were slowly gravitating toward the stage. My favorite moment of Stalley’s set was seeing Jesse Boykins III join him to perform “Stay.”
In lieu of a video, download Stalley’s latest mixtape, Mad Stalley: The Autobiography.
Stalley is an artist you will definitely want to keep an eye on.
The next “Leaders of the New Cool” show will be in LA on October 28th. Hit up @SunshineDBaby for details. Supporting these events, which create awareness around talented emerging hip hop artists, is essential in strengthening the hip hop community as a whole.
Big shout out to Hollywood East Ent, @SunshineDBaby, @JacquesMorels, and everyone involved in putting together such a great concert!
Artists Tagged
Sean Falyon
Sean Falyon
Label: Unsigned
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Don’t let the “Freeway” Ricky Ross beard fool you, Sean Falyon’s music is far from gangsta. Having said that, it’s a good thing that Sean embraces his personal rap style instead of spitting fabricated lines in an effort to fit into the stereotypical rap image.
Before heavily pursuing the rap game, Sean first made a name for himself with his clothing line, Soupy Jones. He's since put all of his focus into music, and although being the emcee’s third project, Sean Falyon “BE” Everywhere serves as a great introduction to his sound.
