Hip-Hop, family fun, boxing, marching bands, fashion, a heath pavilion, dancing and, yes, even cotton candy and double dutch all in one place? You may have seen these things before, but none have brought all these elements together quite the way we did this past weekend at our 5th Annual SOURCE360 Block Party!
The team here at The Source would like to give a special shoutout to not only the city of New York and the borough of Brooklyn especially for hosting us, but to everyone for coming out in droves to our annual celebration of family, fun and Hip-Hop culture from all angles. Whether you came from Atlanta, Detroit, Philly, North Carolina, LA or even further than that, we saw you and definitely appreciate the love — hope you all enjoyed the festivities!
The day turned out to be a special one, including good eats provided by the good people holding it down over at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, a NYFW-inspired fashion show for both kids and adults to enjoy and more than 20 show-stopping performances from the likes of DJ Self and Mariahlynn, Taylor Girlz, rising pop star Kyla Imani, rapper and Wild ‘N Out personality Yvng Swag, Baltimore collective LOWFi, plus many other known and emerging artists. Even with the impending rain threatening to wash us out, a good thing can never be stopped, and we were proud to push forward through the (light!) storm to deliver an amazing day of activities and give back to the community.
Here’s a quick recap of the event, with our girl Danteé being joined by some super fly young ladies from X Factory’s dance crew that hit the stage the killer moves:
So, what else went down at the SOURCE360 Block Party? Well…
We had performances from the aforementioned, but also from MCs like Harlem’s own ARNSTAR, Niko Brim hailing from Mount Vernon, and Sony signee Iman Nunez:
A boxing ring activation hosted by the one and only Zab Judah, who even got in the ring with NY State Senator Jesse Hamilton for playful spar that we’ll never forget:
….fly dance moves as seen earlier from Brickhouse NYC‘s X Factor crew — including Gen XS, GeNex and Gen X — plus the band and beautiful ladies of the Brooklyn United Dance Team:
We had a stage that, at no point, wasn’t rocking or cranking out fire tunes. If it wasn’t Jaquae or Mekka Don killing it on the stage, the man Spadez Dii Selectah was handling the DJ duties without breaking a sweat:
…love, support and protection from our friends at Brooklyn PD. We thank you guys for helping us keep the peace and all the kids safe!:
Health tips and CPR demonstrations courtesy of the American Heart Association. Promoting good health and wellness, and how to protect yourself and your family if things go wrong, is something we were so glad to have at the festival:
A bouncy house for the kids, but we’re sure a few adults wanted to try it out as well:
A fashion show for the kids, featuring brands Pinky Sez, Sophisticated Kidz and Victoria Rose, and an adult fashion show as well. We covered streetwear thanks to our friends over at Lafayette New York and OIA Brand, art-inspired fashion from Trucking Fly Wear and eclectic futurism by way of Y-Generation:
The night capped off with a special tribute performance at BRIC Arts Media Center to our beloved Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. R&B sensation Elle Varner and Hip-Hop legend Doug E. Fresh were just some of the standout voices that helped us remember an icon — music royalty! — and the musical gifts she gave us during her decades on this earth:
Stay tuned all this week as we recap our SOURCE360 Festival 2018 celebration. Until next year!
