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Third annual Queens Hip Hop Festival to return to Long Island City at the end of the month

Tickets are now available for the third annual Queens Hip Hop Festival, which will take place Sept. 28-30.

“The goal is celebrate Queens as a diverse place and give homage to the hip-hop artists that came from here,” said Ashley Dean, a spokesperson for the festival. Dean mentioned that the event is also meant to serve as a platform for new and emerging artists since the borough has produced some of the genre’s top artists like Nicki Minaj, 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Nas and Salt-N-Pepa.

Opening night art exhibition will take place at Colorwerx, a multi-purpose creative space, in Long Island City from 7 to 10 p.m. The exhibit will honor Queensbridge contributors to hip-hop and will be free to the public and open to all ages. Music will be performed by DJ Ray BLK.

According to Dean, Colorwerx has been an influential player in providing space for the festival and hip-hop performances in the borough since the genre still suffers from musical discrimination.

“A lot of venues won’t work with people performing hip-hop,” Dean said. She attributes the genre’s lack of acceptance to an old-school mentality and segregation.

Panel discussions and workshops will fill the three-day-long festival. Topics like women in hip-hop, hip-hop in Latin America, NYC graffiti culture and even journalism and its relationship to the music and industry will be discussed.

Workshops will include breakdancing taught by Ray “Jiggz” Silverio and a producers networking event featuring the NYC-based remix king DJ Tedsmooth and producer and entertainment manager Oscar Peña. All panels and workshops will be help in conjunction with LaGuardia Community College on Sept. 29 from noon to 6 p.m.

A concert at Colorwerx will also take place on Sept. 29 featuring performances by Remy Banks (World’s Fair), UFO Fev, Dori Gold, Audry Funk & DJ Loup Rouge, Jam Young, Red Inf and DebonAir.

A screening of the film Menace II Society  at 4 p.m.will be the main event of the festival’s third night at the Museum of the Moving Image.

Tickets for the film are $12. The concert is 21+ with tickets costing $15 presale. Check out www.queenshiphopfestival.com/festival for more information about specific panel and workshop times.

 

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