An all-star lineup of local hip-hop acts came out Saturday for the second show of the 13th annual Double Barrel Benefit at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. A crowd of 300 people attended the event. All ticket and merchandise sales, plus donations, went to support the daily operations of NC State’s student-run radio station 88.1 WKNC.
For WKNC, it was a culmination of months of planning. For the artists, it was another stage to help them reach fans of North Carolina hip-hop. All of the performers were based out of North Carolina.
Opening was Earthly, an electronic DJ-duo from Durham, who lit up the stage with computers mounted on ironing boards.
Following Earthly was SkyBlew, whose soulful flows carried themes of disconnection in the digital age and overcoming hardships of life on the streets. SkyBlew, whose is real name Mario Farrow, grew up an orphan in Alabama before moving to Chapel Hill in 2008.
After a few years performing solo over prerecorded beats, Farrow added a band, including a drummer, guitarist, keyboardist, saxophonist and two backup singers, which added depth to his music. Farrow said that early on, his sound drew comparisons to A Tribe Called Quest, but with “an added degree of soul.”
“When I first was doing my music, I always had a soulful slash jazzy sound… It was a matter of time before I got the band, and it just compliments what I do,” Farrow said. “The sound is very big, it’s very jazzy, it’s like painting — I say, ‘I don’t rap I paint the sky [blew]’ — that’s my slogan, so I knew [jazz elements] had to accompany my message. The band takes the show to a whole other level. It’s exciting. We’re jamming out. I’m not devoted to the beat, so I can just free flow — that’s what a band does [for the music].”
Farrow got emotional on stage and let the crowd know that his musical journey almost came to an end last month by his own choice after feelings of being overlooked in favor of bigger names, but support from committed fans encouraged him to keep performing and making music.
“I don’t have the biggest fan base but I do have a couple thousand fans, and they’ve been telling me how my music helped them not kill themselves and all that, so I gotta keep going for them even if everybody is trying to overlook me — it’s the message, that’s what it is,” Farrow said after his set. “They can’t deny good music. We’re making good music. There’s only so long they can deny that, man. We doing something bigger — we touching lives. I gotta keep going; that’s what I’m supposed to do. That’s why I’m still doing it.”
Up next was Professor Toon, who transformed the venue into a bounce house with high-energy beats and hardcore lyrics.
Toon, raised in Baltimore before moving to Durham, used the entire stage for his performance, in which he talked about the struggle of growing up in an abusive household in Baltimore and providing for his daughter through his music and hard work.
Professor Toon, who calls himself the “professor of things” opened for De La Soul at the fifth annual Hopscotch Music Festival and recently released a new album titled “Take Notes.”
The headliner for the evening was Deniro Farrar, based out of Charlotte, who made the crowd a part of his performance by pulling a crowd-surfing fan on stage and going a cappella to rap directly to members of the crowd. Farrar repeatedly stopped the music to make sure that everyone was sufficiently engaged, and not on their phones, before dropping the beat again.
Farrar, whose mother was in the crowd, decided the best way to close his show was to jump in the crowd and give everyone in attendance a sweat-drenched hug.
On a night where local talent was on display, Farrar reminded the crowd that the fans are who matter, not the man on stage, recalling a time when a friend called him his “idol” to which Farrar responded, “Kill your idol.”
After the performances, the artists were informed that some of their tires had been slashed and valuables had been stolen.
Despite the crimes, Farrar said that the relationship with WKNC has been “beautiful.”
“It’s been beautiful, somebody just slashed our tires, but it’s still been beautiful,” Farrar said. “I deserved it, man, it’s the universe payin’ ya’ boy back for all the s— I put out in the world. Did you see how many hugs I gave out tonight?”
Professor Toon, Durham Native, performs Saturday night at Cat's Cradle for the second night of WKNC's 13th Annual Double Barrel Benefit. The second night of theDouble Barrel Benefit featured only North Carolina native Rappers.
