SXSW 2015 Friday Hip-Hop and R&B Highlights: Snoop Dogg, Big Sean, Rae Sremmurd, T-Pain
Day four of the Music portion of SXSW definitely brought out some of hip-hop’s biggest acts. See what we uncovered when checking out Snoop Dogg’s keynote address and Big Sean’s headlining set for the mtvU Woodie Awards.
Snoop Says Helping Kids Get in College Feels Better Than Winning a Grammy
Snoop Dogg opened up about a lot of things during his keynote address Friday morning. In the interview conducted by his manager Ted Chung, Snoop covered everything from the music he grew up listening to, teaming up with Dr. Dre, and working with HBO on a forthcoming series. One of the most compelling stories he shared was about the impact of his Snoop Youth Football League.
"The purpose of starting the league was I wanted to see some kids from the inner city have an opportunity to play some great football and because something special one day," he said. "This year we put 21 kids in division one. Last year we had 20. The year before we had 17 that went to division one colleges."
Snoop added that the achievement has a personal affect on his immediate family. “The thrill to me is that my son is one of them,” he explained. “He didn’t get what you think. Snoop Dogg got money. I could have paid for him to go to school. He was brought up in the Snoop Youth Football League so he earned a four-year scholarship to UCLA. He’s the first person in my family to actually go to college.”
Snoop said these accolades are more significant that his wins in music. “I been nominated for 17 Grammys, and I never won one. I said, ‘OK. Let me look at my football league. 21, 20, 17.’ That’s better than a Grammy right there.”
The Rain Can’t Stop Big Sean From Killing mtvU Woodie Awards Performance
Big Sean is at the top of his game. He got the loudest applause by far at the mtvU Woodie Awards, which also featured Years & Years, Fall Out Boy, and James Bay, not to mention the pre-show performers. The rain left concertgoers muddy and soaking wet, but did not deter anyone from viewing the show.
When the announcer said Big Sean’s name and the stage lights came on, everyone in the house went wild. He opened with “Blessings,” but quickly turned things up with his middle-finger anthem “I Don’t F*** With You.” After the Woodies went off, he continued to play for the crowd for another 21 minutes, closing with an explicit encore of “I Don’t F*** With You.”
Rae Sremmurd Strictly Enforced Their ‘No Flex Zone’ Policy
It was a bold move for the Tupelo, Mississippi rappers to open up their mtvU Woodie Awards pre-show performance with their breakthrough hit, “No Flex Zone.” But it worked perfectly. It got the audience hyped from the minute they took the stage. However, these newcomers have a solid arsenal of hits and a wild stage show. Their background dancers jumped around holding oversized cutout photos of their faces. The kept the audience cheering and they were actually louder when they wrapped with their second single, “No Type.”
T-Pain Performs 70 Songs in 45 Minutes
We hope the Guinness Book of World Records was at T-Pain’s headlining show at the Fader Fort Friday. He set out to perform 70 of his songs in 45 minutes. When Yahoo Music spoke to T-Pain earlier in the day, he said he wanted to make a statement. “This would really be the time to just show everybody,” he noted. “People just got real short memories. Just real vague concepts of what T-Pain is and what he was. So this is just a reminder for everybody.”
He also said it would not be difficult remembering all of the songs. “The thing is, I don’t write anything. Even when I’m recording. It’s pretty much locked into my memory the minute I record it.” This is great promo for his new mixtape, Iron Way, which drops Friday, March 27.
