SUMMER SCHOOL - INTERVIEW AND CONCERT PREVIEW

Honey will be hosting Summer School, a hip-hop concert series, June 4, 11, 18, and 26. I chatted with Ackronem about how the series came about and what sets this series apart from other concerts. Make sure to check out the full line-ups and a playlist of all the artists involved at the bottom of the interview.

(Melodic Noise) How's your day going?
(Ackronem) Just went and picked up my kids from grandma's house that's why it took me a min. How about you?
(MN) I'm doing good. Crazy busy, but chipping away at projects.
(Ack) Good to hear. I've been ridiculously busy as well. Lots of things going down

(MN) Can you give me a bit of background on your self and Summer School?
(Ack) So I've been playing shows out here for about 10 years. I have 3 studio albums out my last one being Live Fast Die Never. Since that release I've put out a few singles, which have done fairly well. I'm just now gearing up for my next album. I got my career started with a crew called RapFam, which has since disbanded, but we did some fairly major stuff back in the day.
The series Summer School started two summers ago and began when I wanted to do something yearly that would potentially become a big event. I started out doing it at honey because I go way back with the venue and it's one of my favorites. Being in summer school alot as a kid and wanting to push an event that taught people how to book and promote well I decided to call it Summer School. I skipped a year and here we are.

(MN) There are definitely some familiar names on the poster, what does the current landscape of hip-hop in the Twin Cities look like?
(Ack) It's huge I've seen so many artist come and go in my years on the scene. These days I see a lot of everything from trap and mainstream stuff to underground boom bap stuff. A lot of different groups and cliques are doing well it's really awesome to see. I think there's been a huge push in the last few years with a couple of artists from MN doing huge successful things. Some cats are now out in LA getting major placements and record deals it shows people still out here in MN that there's a lane for major success. It's cool to see so many people working so hard

(MN) Following up with that, since Hip-hop is thriving in the Twin Cities, how did you narrow it down to just these artists?
(Ack) Mostly these are just my favorite artists and a lot of them are good friends of mine. I just wanted to curate an event that I would like to see and go to. There are definitely artists I wanted to get involved that couldn't make the dates or just didn't fit into the specific nights. Also I have a monthly event in lower town called Fresh Hop that I tried not to book to many of the same acts for. But these acts are amazing and some of my favorite.

(MN) What else sets this series apart from Fresh Hop or other concerts in general?
(Ack) This is 100% my event so I am able to pick most of my favorite acts in the city. And the budget is totally on me so I'm a little less nervous to blow my own budget out of the water vs. someone else's budget. I'd rather loose my own money on a dope show that someone else's. I don’t ever plan on loosing money tho. Also being in two different cities is a big difference. Even tho they are very close it's hard to draw people across the river either direction. This event stands out from others because it's all put together by a performing artist not a venue or a media outlet. It's built up from the floor, by one of the cities own artists, to put on other artists instead of myself.

(MN) What are some of the things that make Honey such a great venue for this type of concert series?
(Ack) It's basically where I started my career. The first show I ever threw was there, way back before they had a stage and a good sound system. To me it's like a second home. Apart from that it's perfect. It's down in a basement with plenty of space for vendors to set up artist booths on top of that the food and drinks are amazing.

June 4
-Mixie
-Rey Gordo
-Mickey Breeze
-Vinny Crooks
-Ackronem

June 11
-Longevity
-!ntell!gent Des!gn
-Lvndscapes
-Juice Lord
-Rich Garvey

June 18 (Ackronem Birthday Show)
-Andre Mariette (production set)
-Lifted Mindz
-CMJ
-Knucky
-Ackronem

June 26
-Asia Devine
-No Good Neighbors
-Will Robinson
-Longshot
-AquaFresh

Check out the Summer School 2 playlist and from more information check out Honey’s events page.

Interview by: Andrew Perrizo