This hip-hop festival keeps getting better and better. Mars Ill and Psyche Origami brought top notch afternoon sets on a beautiful fall day in East Atlanta. I was lucky enough to catch them both.
First was Mars Ill. Nobody gets a crowd involved like Manchild. He had them eating from his hand within 2 songs, and once again validated his reputation as Atlanta’s best MC. DJ Dust backed him solidly in his own understated manner.
Psyche Origami, powered by the skillful DJ mastery of Synthesis and Dainja, also performed and sounded great. The way they work together, mixing their complex web of beats, is fascinating to behold. The scratching is amazing and it’s always a treat to hear real vinyl, of which this outfit is a devout supporter. The set was great. The DJs seamless stream of bangin’ beats, and the raps of Wyzsztyk made for a raw hip-hop set that the fans were loving.
Wyzsztyk has been blessing the Psyche O beats with his cunning flow for years. I caught up with him after the performance and asked him, what he does to prepare for a show. “I pace vigorously around the venue,” he says with a chuckle, “No, I actually try to separate myself from people and what’s going on and just try to zone out a little bit and concentrate on the set. I concentrate on the job, because it’s a job, ya know. Anybody that takes it seriously, realizes and appreciates the fact that it is a job, so I treat it as such.” I told Wyz that I had noticed him sitting quietly by the stage wedge as their start time approached. “I was feeling whatever is going on around me,” he said, “and sitting with my back toward the crowd, lookin’ at my DJs, making sure that they are all set, feeling the buzz going on in the back of me and just getting in the moment.”
Their new album “The Flagship”, he explained was “not a concept record” as was the case with their full service gas station themed “The Standard”. “We want to continue to pioneer and continue to be the ‘flagship’ act for the Atlanta independent hip-hop community and be that entity that’s out there going into the darkness of the troubled waters, with the beacon, taking on anything that is there to challenge us and carving out a path for those behind us.”
Tags: A3C, DJ Dainja, DJ Synthesis, East Atlanta, festival, hip hop, Manchild, Mars Ill, MC, music, Psyche Origami, rap, Wyzsztyk
