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Cardi B, Migos, Miguel & More to Headline DC’s Broccoli City Fest This Weekend

Daniel Brickhouse | April 26, 2018

Topics: Broccoli City Fest, DC, hip hop, music, R&B

Back for their sixth year, Washington D.C.’s  Broccoli City Festival this weekend, brings a stacked musical lineup, a two-conference, and a slew of programs that highlight its original purpose of building thriving urban communities and engaging millennials to get involved in their communities through social impact campaigns and events. 

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people standing, child, outdoor and nature

Started out in 2013 to draw attention to Earth Day, it has blossomed into a three-day festival of a variety of events from city runs, to community action events, to an all-night art escape, culminating with the all-day music fest to highlight environmental justice, economic sustainability, and education in underserved communities.

“You know, it’s crazy thinking about how our first show was in 2010 in LA and then seeing where we’ve gotten to now, it’s great,” said co-founder Brandon McEachern.

The lineup for this year’s Broccoli City Festival is spectacular, with headlining rap sensation Cardi B, along with Georgia rap group Migos, R&B crooner Miguel, along with Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., Nipsey Hussle, and Rich The Kid rounding out the bill.

“Even in the past we were smacking people in the face with the lineups, we’ve always been having artists before they blew up,” he said. Like in 2010, we had Kendrick Lamar and SZA before they even blew up. That’s where we came from, having the huge artists before they blow up, yet now, we have the hottest names out right now.”

Hip hop trio Migos has been dropping tracks all year, gaining traction from their most recent album, Culture II. The group’s two biggest hits “Bad and Boujee” and their other track, “Stir Fry” have been soaring up the charts since coming out. Collaborating with big names like Lil Uzi Vert, Gucci Mane, Travis Scott, and Nicki Manaj, Migos is quickly becoming one of the biggest names in hip hop right now. 

Fellow headliner Cardi B, a former reality television star turned rapper, burst onto the scene last year making a huge impact with her hit “Bodak Yellow”, making her the second female rapper to get a top spot on the Billboard Top 100 with a solo album. With her stage presence and antics, she will surely put on one hell of a show.

Canadian, Grammy-nominated soul singer/songwriter Daniel Caesar launched his musical career in 2015 with Pilgrim’s Paradise and captivated fans with his hugely successful single “Get You” featuring Kali Uchis. Since then, he’s dropped Freudian that earned him nominations for Best R&B album and Best R&B Performance. His melodic vocals and smooth voice will be sure to win over the Broccoli Festival crowd.

Image may contain: 6 people, people smiling, night

H.E.R, a mysterious R&B singer that first came onto the scene in 2016 with her debut album, H.E.R Vol 1, saw swift success, thus launching her into the mainstream market. This album landed at #28 on the Billboard top 100 R&B album chart. After her second album, H.E.R Vol 2, which dropped in June 2017, the RCA Records signee finally revealed herself to be singer/songwriter, Gabi Wilson. 

Besides the great lineup, the Broccoli City Festival will host a two-day interactive conference, Broccoli Con, co-hosted by GOOGLE DC, which leads up to the festival on Saturday. 

“There will be many organizations there to answer questions and network and build connections,” said McEachern.Featuring professionals Jasmine Crowe, the founder of Goodr, Jerri Evans, the CEO of Turning National, Gilbert Campbell, the founder of Volt-Energy, the conference will include over 20 speakers holding sessions on topics ranging from environmental gentrification to startup funding along with hands-on workshops and more. See the entire programming schedule here. Tickets for this conference are being sold online for $35, and the conference takes place April 26th-27th from 12 pm to 7 pm.

In addition to music and the conference, the festival will also have a 5k run.

“This year, we’ve also partnered with Nike to do a 5k Run, where you can either walk or run. We took over Anacostia Park where there will be music and games to participate in as well,” added McEachern. “Really, it’s all about the city and giving back. That’s why the show is where it’s at in D.C. We were looking to really get involved with the community this year. The show is really going up, it’s going to be great.”

This year’s Broccoli City Festival is definitely a show you will not want to miss. The conference is underway, and the official festival kicks off thsi Sat., April 28 It’s Saturday, April 28 at the RFK Stadium Festival Grounds Lot 8 located at 2400 E. Capitol St.  Tickets start at $198 and can be purchased here. 

Photos By: Broccoli City

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

DC hip hop artist Chaz French on Broccoli City Fest, upcoming projects & more

Tico Noise | May 16, 2017

Topics: Broccoli City Fest, Chaz French, hip hop

From collaborations in Richmond, to signing joint record deals, rising DC hip hop artist Chaz French is the next artist to watch.

He first came on to the scene with his mixtape Happy Belated in 2014 and has been gaining popularity ever since with collaborations with smaller local artists like RVA rapper Dr. Millionaire, to bigger names like Wale. Most recently, French signed a joint record deal with Motown/Capitol Records and 368 Music Group, a label started by DC-native Raheem Davaughn.

RVA Mag had the chance to catch the young emcee after a performance at DC’s Broccoli City Fest to find out the rapper’s next moves. Broccoli City Festival is based in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast DC and this year’s bill included a slew of hip hop and R&B acts such as Solange, 21 Savage and Lil Yachty.

Read on below for RVA MAgazine’s interview with Chaz French:

Where are you originally from in DC?

Northeast, rich part. Up-top.

And you moved to Richmond, when?

I moved to Richmond when I came back from Texas. I had got a job up there and I just liked the scene out there- the culture: real small with a lot of people from DC. So you know it was cool, it gave me more of a down-south vibe.

Would you say it was slower or pokier? What were some key differences between DC and Richmond’s scenes?

It’s either lit or it’s not. It’s no in-between. You know? Like when it’s lit, its lit. I just like the people out there too, it’s almost like southern hospitality out there. The people are nice and it’s a love state too. I love… love, so like I- mean that’s where I had my first child.

Expand on some of the success and pitfalls you’ve seen while traveling, leading up to inking your record deal.

Success, it just depends on what you consider success. You know like, success for me is being able to wake up and go to the studio every day. Success for me is being able to be booked for shows. Pitfalls is just behind the scenes shit. For me, a pitfall is being hard on yourself. In my mind, I’m at a certain level and in other’s people’s mind I’m at another level. It’s perception. So its balance for me with everything.

So would you say you’ve had more pitfalls than successes?

I’m still alive so I’ve had more success. I’m still living.

Do you have a traveling studio?

Fuck no, when I’m not in the studio, when I’m traveling, that’s when I be going through withdrawals. Like if I’m on tour, I be like ‘Fuck, man. I need to get in the studio, somebody got something I can record?’. But now, being in a different position, when I do tour next time, I’ll be able to [be in the] studio because I’ll just bring it with me.

Who are some of your favorite producers to work with?

My own producers. Super Miles, YG Money, SK, Jah G, you know just like- I like the niggas who… we got that sound together. Kyle Banks, Christopher Minor, Da Vinci.

Do you find that now, with your elevated platform, you have pressure to switch people in and out? How do you navigate something like that?

The pressure is keeping it. That’s the pressure. The pressure is staying in that position. The pressure is not getting the record deal. The pressure is keeping the record deal. That’s the pressure. That’s where the pressure is. I ain’t worried about my folks around me. They going to be around me if I rap rhymes or I rap bits.

Did you have issues at the start of your career stating your worth or your price

That comes with timing, that comes with patience. You know, that comes with learning, rather than dwelling. A lot of people have bad shit happen to them and they don’t take it as something that can be turned into positivity. They just continue to dwell on a fucked up situation. That just comes with going through shit, knowing your worth comes with being in a fucked up situation. Knowing your worth comes with creating opportunity. Knowing your worth comes with people telling you what you ain’t worth. Knowing your worth comes with seeing shit that you possibly can end up in and straying away from it, you know? But at the end of the day, it’s all up to you.

What is your goal? What is your number one and how do you know you got there? Or are you someone that is going to continue to push the buck?

I won’t know yet until I get there. Now I have an idea of what I want to be, you know? I want to be top five, I want to be number one. I want to be the guy that kids look up to and say, ‘Man, that’s who I want to be when I get older,’. I want people to look at my career and say ‘Man, if he can do it, I can do it,’. I want Grammies, I want Coachella. I want Broccoli Cities, I want sold-out tours, I want arenas. I want everything. If I got this far, I know I’m capable of it.

This isn’t your first run at Broccoli City right

No it’s my second. I’m going to headline next time.

What was some of your favorite parts of the day?

My favorite part is getting off stage, walking around and people saying, ‘hey!’ My favorite part is looking in the crowd and connecting with a person eye-to-eye and they singing word-for-word. That’s my favorite part. My favorite part is looking to this side of the crowd and that side of the crowd and this person doesn’t know who I am but they are into it. This person knows who I am and they may not be giving me that they know who I am, but I know. Me looking [at a person and seeing] they know the words and they singing every word. That’s my favorite part.

How are you using your platform to elevate Black art coming out of your city?

I feel like, I’m Black. So with anything I do, the Black community is looking at it, especially in this area and thinking ‘Wow if this guy, can do it, I can do it,’. The other day we just brought 150 New Balance {shoes} to schools in Southeast,[Southeast D.C.]. I won’t stop there; we will continue to do that. To uplift the Black community as much as we can. Whether it be giving out shoes, whether it be giving out food, whether it be t-shirts or a free concert-we’re going to show our peers that it’s possible. I can do it; you can do it. Cliché but it means the most. I was the guy getting shoes, back in the day in school. I’ve been in the same position and predicaments that the younger generation is in. It is all about me letting them know that, the only way to do it, is to just fucking do it.

What does it mean to you to share the stage with so many other Black artists?

It’s beautiful, it’s amazing like- it’s good to see that we’re all on the right path and we’re all promoting the same thing with different messages, or different sounds or different ways of doing it.

It’s not monolithic out there at all.

Yeah, it’s just we got a Smino, then we got a 21 Savage. We got a Solange, then we got an Aluna George and Nick Grant, Chaz French and Lil Yachty. You know what I’m saying? But we’re all showing people that anything is possible, we’re all showing people that the same motherfuckers that is watching us could be performing next year. That’s what it’s about.

What’s next for Chaz French?

We’ll tour. We’re working on the fourth or fifth album. Might be in the studio with Goldlink.

Check out French’s latest single, “Way Out” below and be on the lookout on RVA Mag for more on the up and coming artist.

Top image credit: @nicorefused.

Body image credit: @ShaughCooper

Broccoli City Festival brings massive hip hop and R&B acts to DC to spotlight urban blight

Tico Noise | March 21, 2017

Topics: Broccoli City Fest, hip hop

Problems of urban blight, food deserts and ultimately gentrification plague poorer neighborhoods of color at disproportionate rates. Simply put, lower-income city neighborhoods put more precedence on surviving urban-ills than living sustainably, as a trend. To address that issue in our Nation’s Capital, two young visionaries set out to change how urban communities looked at solutions to the aforementioned problems. Brandon McEchern and Marcus Allen, both from South Central, LA, started as a t-shirt company with a message and what they’ve turned their empire into is quite impressive.

Since their t-shirt days, they have successfully organized dual food and music festivals in Washington D.C., .

“The current concept didn’t take shape until I moved to Los Angeles shortly after,” said McEchern in an interview with Ebony. “For the first few months, I was living in Santa Monica and traveling to the South Central (Crenshaw District) for my haircuts. During those trips, I’d observe the contrast between the way in which residents of Santa Monica and Compton engaged health and social responsibility. At that point, I realized that Broccoli City had more to offer the world than just organic T-shirts. We needed to leverage our platform to build healthier communities of color.”

Since choosing DC as a host city, the organization has had several big name artists perform from Joey Bada$$ to Erykah Badu and even Solange for this year’s event. Also new this year is the conference and lecture aspect of Broccoli City Fest. There will be a diverse panel of professionals speaking, ranging from companies and corporations like Roc Nation to Beats By Dre. This extension of the festival is surely in line with the original purpose (reported to the D.C. community via NBC 4: “[to] use music to bring people together while promoting an accessible, environmentally sustainable lifestyle.”

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