The A3C happened practically a month ago. This three day festival of hot honeys, home grown entrepreneurship, and hip hop has been making waves as of late. In Atlanta, it is THE event for hip hop. Some liken it to being a “Hip Hop Disneyland”. Yet, this past A3C festival had its ups and downs.

 

The Good

As usual, the A3C kept having acts that were worth the moment of time and purchase. If one took time to watch performances by Raekwon, Chino XL, Ab-Soul, and even Twista, they know what I am referring to. They still had multiple stages to migrate to which lessens the intake of boredom. Plus, many of the artists were roaming around and enjoying the scene. Unsurprisingly, it still had its feel of a musical amusement park.

 

Another infused idea that actually worked is the inclusion of the “regional stage”. On the Chicago Stage, you could enjoy the sounds of GLC, King Louie, and Twista. Many supporters came strong for that one (even Scienze, whom is from Brooklyn). The Detroit Stage was just as live. With Jon Connor, Clear Soul Forces, and Slum Village doing their thing, it was an exciting time. In short, the regional stage allowed for familiarity on one stage at one time.

 

The Bad

The biggest takeaway from this is that there were too many concerts off-site. I understand that the A3C is expanding. Still, having so many artists caused an issue with housing them in one spot. So, they decided to expand off the site. While this allowed for more concerts, it also causes a disparity in seeing those artists. I recommend keeping everything at one place (The Masquerade) from here on out.

 

The Conclusion

The A3C was as good as expected. It gave the people of Atlanta time to check out their favorite artists performing their favorite music. However, spreading out to offsite places for performances was a headache for many concert goers. Preferably, they will keep every event at one spot for next year. In the end, the A3C was still a great time in the arena of celebrating hip hop.

 

Check out STACKS Magazine’s video montage of A3C 2012: