From The Road – Geneseo and The Highline Ballroom

Badi — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:53:05 +0000

What’s good people!

Badi here, blogging to you live from the brand new Next Movement Records website! As you can see we’re just getting started, so not everything is in place but I’m happy to be writing my very first blog on here!

Ok onto my actual blog… As some of you may know, I’m a full time college student.. so I don’t get the chance to perform as much as I’d like, but this past September I had the opportunity to light up a few venues. DJ Vidd Kidd (The Mixtape Show) and I hit the road to rock 2 spots, SUNY Geneseo in NY state, and the Highline Ballroom in NYC.

My longtime partner-in-rhyme Nabil is a student at SUNY Geneseo and he hooked that first gig up. Nabil and I have a group called East Bound and have been working on some material together… so in addition to performing my songs off the album we did some of the new group material… and I gotta say we ripped it! Now given the fact that we don’t get to perform together very often, and that it was our first time with DJ Vidd Kidd backing us.. the chemistry was just there and we put on one crazy show!! The vibe was real laid back being on a college campus so you know we had a good time there. Nabil’s last name is Vargha right.. so we jsut had to flip Lil Weezy’s Mr Carter…except it was Heyy Mr Vargha! Tell me where have you been!! The crowd went kinda nuts haha. Shout out to Nabil!!

The next day DJ Vidd Kidd and I packed our bags and headed down to the City (NYC for you non-eastcoasters). Once we got to the venue we hooked up with my man Marcus “The Bellringer” Bell… He was there promoting his own new material which I hadn’t heard before this show but it was sounding real fresh! I also ran into my good friend Ian Rafalak who is an insanely talented musician out of Philly and who produced some tracks on my album. The event was a fundraiser event with a bunch of different acts and I was going on first. My dude Rajai came down from Boston to hype and we definitely killed it.. The energy on stage was crazy and I had a lot of fun being up there with DJ Vidd Kidd on the tables and Rajai on the vocals. I stuck around to watch a couple of the other acts but it soon came time for us to hit the road and head back up to good old MA… Hopefully I’ll be able to do more shows in the near future but for now I’m real happy that I get as many opportunities to perform as I get with my busy school schedule.. But there is nothing i’d rather be doing than sharing my craft with the people in a live setting and making connections through my music.. that’s what’s real to me.

So that’s about it.. I wanna say thank you to whoever is reading this blog and supporting my work! It’s the Next Movement and we can’t do it without you, the Movers and Shakers… real talk!!

Until next time… Peace.

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Geneseo Show Review

Next Movement — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:52:17 +0000

Check out the review of the show Badi got from his performance with Nabil @ Geneseo College….

Home > Arts & Entertainment
Hip-hop performers blast covers, original music

The Knight Spot hosted a hip-hop performance Friday, featuring two up-and-coming young artists, Geneseo’s own Nabil Vargha, a senior, and long-time MC Badi Meccouri.

The duo covered songs of well-known rap and hip-hop artists, as well as showcasing some original material produced by their new group, Eastbound. DJ LJS provided background spinning and scratching, though his role seemed minimal compared to the powerful singing abilities of the two rappers.

Though a half hour delay took away some of the audience’s initial eagerness, the show’s powerful opening helped to make up for the wait. Vargha and Meccouri opened with a rendition of Jay-Z and T.I.’s “Swagger Like Us,” which got students off of their feet and dancing. The choice opener attracted the crowd’s attention and set the mood for the rest of the night.

“Swagger Like Us” quickly led into the crowd favorite “Paper Planes,” originally by M.I.A. During the choruses, the audience sang along with Vargha and Meccouri. Other familiar covers included Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli” and Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne’s “Mr. Carter,” the lyrics of which Nabil humorously changed to “Mr. Vargha” to personalize the song.

Although the duo attracted listeners with covers, Vargha and Meccouri’s original work offered the audience a better understanding of their style and creative talent.

Halfway through the show, Vargha took a break from hip-hop classics to discuss the recent creation of Eastbound. “The concept of our group is that we both have roots spiritually and physically in the Middle East,” he said.

He emphasized Eastbound’s desire to infuse Eastern and religious influences with the Western phenomenon of hip-hop, which allows them to pursue their musical passions while staying true to their heritages and faith.

Songs like “Fly Back,” a poetic dedication to Vargha’s hometown, and “Sidewalkin’,” a song about alienation and connection in the city streets, contributed to this socially-conscious and culturally-celebratory image of Eastbound.

Rounds of applause by the impressed audience followed the completion of the hip-hop show as Vargha and Meccouri took their final bows. The performance went over well with students and was a welcome change of pace with the usual solo independent rock/pop singer/songwriters which GLK tends to book.

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From The Road – Geneseo and The Highline Ballroom

Geneseo Show Review