Last year, Cincinnati’s DJ Rare Groove and local trio Patterns of Chaos introduced No Cool Kids Allowed, a monthly Hip Hop night at Revel OTR Urban Winery featuring up-and-coming talent from across the area.
This year, NCKA has returned with a “tribute” component, celebrating the legacies of some classic and influential artists. The event — which takes place at Revel every “Final Friday” of each month — is described as “bringing a ‘House Party’ aspect to the community, paying tribute to the music that makes us dance, sing and create.”
Last month, Cincy Hip Hop artist Devin Burgess paid tribute to Marvin Gaye at NCKA. This Friday’s February installment turns its sights to a pair of innovative producers who died at a young age and didn’t get to see the full impact their music would have — J Dilla and Nujabes.
Dilla is the better known of the two music makers, known for his work with Slum Village, Common, Talib Kweli, Madlib and many others, as well as his solo releases, including a number of collections issued after he died in 2006 from a heart attack when he was just 32.
Known for his jazzy, ambient soundscapes, Nujabes (who has been called the “J Dilla of Japan”) was a Japanese producer/DJ/record label founder who collaborated with American underground Hip Hop artists like CL Smooth and the Cincinnati-spawned Five Deez. Nujabes died in 2010 after a car accident when he was only 36.
Dilla and Nujabes would have turned 45 years old a couple of weeks ago — they were both born on Feb. 7, 1974.
Fittingly, a pair of Cincinnati producers/beatmakers — Blakhï Anu and SmokeFace — join Rare Groove and Patterns of Chaos Friday at Revel to pay tribute to Dilla and Nujabes.
No Cool Kids Allowed nights are free. This Friday’s event kicks off at 9 p.m. Click here for more info.