OnStage-DC

JC Live!

 It's always a pleasure to visit B-More, our Charm City neighbor, and doubly so when the reason is to catch our favorite acoustic duo JC performing at the Canal Street Festival. We made it just in time for the start of their set and in addition to hearing them at the top of their game we also snapped a few pics for the Everyday Style section. JC is comprised of Jenee Bevett on vocals and guitar impressario Cornell Pearce providing string accompaniment. We call Jenee our DMV Diva and his contemporaries call Cornell one of the best guitarists in the area, hands down. We added a video of JC performing live at the festival to the OnStage Video Showcase and you can find 15 photos of what folks were styling in our Everyday Style Photo Showcase.   

Hipco's OnStage

Hipco music is Hip Hop with a Liberian flavor, a combination of Hip Hop beats and raps delivered in Colloqua, a mixture of English and native Liberian tongues. Right now it’s the hottest sound on the African continent and in keeping with the OnStage pledge to bring you the hottest music it’s a sound we’ll be sharing more of in the weeks to come. We started with the best, Takun J, pictured on the right,  who is kind of the Jay Z of Hipco, and posted one of his videos “You Meaning Me” in the OnStage Video Showcase a few weeks ago. Then we followed up with “Ghetto Inspiration” by Nasty, a video with a theme that connects Hip Hop storytelling and “My Hood” scene setting. In Ghetto Inspiration it’s the streets of Monrovia but we see a lot of that same theme in DMV videos from Erie Ave to Boog Wonderland to Young Sir and Yung Richie P.

Check out our most recent Hipco entry “Talk It Like Me” by TruStorry. It’s not coincidental at all to us that Hipco should have so much in common with the music coming out of the urban streets of the US. After all, out of the many nations in Africa, Liberia is the one with which we share a preponderance of DNA. Family ties that stretch across the Atlantic may have been lost over the years but a lot of black folk in America have cousins they never knew existed in Liberia. How cool is it when you meet a cousin you’ve never known and discover you have the same outlook, like the same kind of weather, have the same style, and bang the same music? We want to use Hipco to start the reunion. Youtube is full of Hipco videos if you check for them. Guaranteed you’ll find something you like, and also check out a nice mixtape from US based Liberian DJ and producer Chief Boima.

After you’ve gotten the full flavor of Hipco, imagine with us what it would be like if a group of DMV rappers and DJs and producers and Blog writers and videographers took a trip to Monrovia to meet our cousins. What you’d get is a great documentary and an even greater soundtrack! It would be difficult to make it happen, but not impossible. We’ve got a lot of assets and a ton of creative thinking in our town. Might just be a matter of folks contributing ideas, suggesting sources, and keeping the conversation alive. Like they say in radio, "The lines are open..."

 

We Recommend! - DJ Big Gus

 If you’re planning a big event this spring or summer and need the perfect sound as a backdrop We Recommend  DJ Big Gus. Over the past 5 years DJ Big Gus has become one of the more highly sought after music mixers in the DMV area. From formal receptions to parties, cookouts, graduations and weddings, he’s well known for getting the heads bopping and the crowd on its feet. When OnStage’s favorite DJ rolls in with his full compliment of equipment a few guarantees roll in with him; an extensive music library, great sound quality, and an instinctive feel for what the people want to hear.

DJ Big Gus spins the latest in Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae and Go-Go. He’s been behind the table at Summer Breeze at Nationals Stadium, at Love, the Convention Center, and most recently at one of the WHCD post parties at the Grand Hyatt. If you haven’t caught one of his events the next best thing is ordering one of his specialty cd’s. Contact him through his Facebook page, or drop him an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Just For The Style Of It...

That’s the DMV DIVA Jenee in the first picture and the great band The Rising Suns in the second, a contestant from one of our EveryDay Style photo contests in the third, and the hot DMV band Nu-Era in the fourth thumbnail. We say this everyday… DC may not be the fashion capital of the world, but no doubt it’s the Capital of Style!