Style Factory 4 @ The Knitting Factory

Pure energy. Over the past handful of months the Style Factory shows have morphed into what can only be described as pure energy. There are no slow acts, no chances to catch one’s breath, no downtime whatsoever. Attending a Style Factory show is like attending a Nascar race, everyone’s going at full speed the entire time. This past weekend at The Knitting Factory the Style Factory folks were at it again and every act had the crowd nodding their head. Need evidence? I honestly had a sore neck the next day.

The night started out with DJ Halo cutting and scratching as people came in. Halo’s “mix anything” style went over well with the eclectic crowd who could easily get into his mixing of underground Hip-Hop with artists such as Rage Against The Machine. I even spied C.O.N.C.E.P.T. of the Mindspray crew especially happy at Halo’s song selection. At a little after 10pm Dyalekt and EuphAmism took the stage to host the show.

The first group up was Divine Profitz, a Virginia based team of MC's that were looking forward to tearing a New York stage up. After they did just that New York’s own Conscious was ready show the crowd his unique brand of Hip-Hop. I had heard Conscious’ work before and had him on my radio show a few times, but this was the first time I had ever seen him perform and let me say he’s a monster on stage. Conscious is one of those artists where his music truly comes to life during performances and after seeing him live I realized it was no wonder he had so many shows booked for the month, everyone needed him to rock their stages.

Arcane rocked the stage next clad in all red Break Down shirts, and then after another installment of Who’s Rhyme Is It Anyway, which Bisc1 won for the third month in a row, the Mindspray crew was ready to rock the crowd. Mindspray is a collective of nine MC’s, but with Broke and Domer on tour together they were a few men down. The good news is that with so many artists in the group they could simply perform songs that Broke and Domer weren’t on and the Mindspray crew didn’t miss a beat.

Style Factory 4’s headliner was Def Jux’s Hanger 18, a duo that would bring the crowd to its pinnacle of hypeness. Dyalekt of the Mindspray crew turned to me at one point during Hanger 18’s performance and noted “how many other acts do you know that can get a crowd of girls dancing to a song about baking soda?” Not only was their stage show impressive but the way they interacted with the crowd afterwards was great, as well. Being on Def Jux Hanger 18 was the biggest act there on Saturday night but they still mingled with the people, sold their own stuff, and all in all had a great time.

Sightings: Once again Style Factory was the place where the underground came out to play as Rack-Lo, Rob Sonic, Creature and Thinker were all in the house.

Liks: The normal affordable (for NYC) drink list was in effect making at least one girl in the crowd very happy, actually a little too happy judging by the headlock she put on DJ Halo.

Verdict: I always have a good time at Style Factory shows. This review is a little lighter than past reviews, but there’s a very good reason for this, I spent a good chunk of the night politicking with some artists, as well as some of the lovely ladies in the crowd. Hey, can’t blame a man for workin! I left the show with three new CD’s, a new t-shirt, and quite a few artists left with my business card. Great music AND great networking, now that’s an event I can get down with!

For pictures from Style Factory 4 click here: Style Factory 4 Pics