Free Massive Block Party: Mad Decent

Hey guys, Z here! This past weekend...where to begin?! Oh man stacked weekend all around guys, I know all of you have epic stories on the mayhem that ensued at the annual Mad Decent Block Party in Williamsburg Park last Saturday instead of its last year location South Street Seaport. It was crazy event thrown for free by the amazing people at Mad Decent which I personally enjoyed the hell out of, torrential downpours and biblical lightening aside but we'll elaborate on THAT later. It was one hell of a scorching hot and humid day on asphalt with literally no shade whatsoever but all the free Vitamin Water and music kept everyone there hydrated and sane [lol]!

Looming-Dooming Clouds Will Not Separate Us

The Mad Decent block party returned to NYC this year in its long standing run since 2008 in Philly where it humbly started with a lot of (now) big names. This year other than NYC it has hit it's home again along with Toronto, and if you haven't caught it and are lucky enough run over to it in Chicago on the 18th and soon to be Los Angeles on the 25th. Never away from a festival setting have I seen a more dedicated and connected crowd, it seemed everyone had their own thing to add or experience to share with everyone and it was all just a great time. Lots of old friends and new ones and the collective mayhem that went down was something to be admired. For now though I'm gonna share with you my opinion on who put down the best shows at this years Mad Decent Block Party.

Zebra Katz

Zebra Katz was definitely a crowd bringer, literally hipster girls and guys from all over started running to the stage as soon as they were announced. It was quite the spectacle, with asses shaking everywhere to their signature song I'ma Read which they dropped every other song I'm certain was an I'ma Read remix. It didn't piss anyone off as most might think it actually got crowds going again, and again.

Baauer

Baauer KILLED IT, Best set of the whole day with Trap galore as we would all expect from the man.  I never seen a crowd wave so hard to bass in my life, and when Harlem Shake dropped, man I even went in. He played a relatively short set but MY GOD was it a banger and a half. His amount of energy was buzzing all around the crowd, literally when he was more into it, the crowd got more into it making a back and fourth twisting of energy that really got everyone noticing and excited as hell.

Riff Raff [if you see somebody hating point them out]

Riff Raff is a guy that nobody quite knows if he's serious or if he's kidding, and at Mad Decent it was incredibly apparent to me that this guy was hilarious. Rap skills aside, people say he's bad but if you look at it satirically it's genius. He blatantly on purpose decided to lip sync rap which is unheard of and kept showing it by talking to his DJ while his verses were up and joking around on stage. It was my personal introduction to him but honestly I loved the show and I'd see him again. Here's the crowd in Philly during his set:

One thing that kinda sucked was the intense storm that got the rest of the show cancelled during Erol Alkan's set leaving no appearances by Major Lazer which kinda got me angry but it wasn't their fault. Diplo himself came out and gave an apology and offered to play a longer set at the after party at the Music Hall of Willamsburg. It grinded at a lot of people since it was a 10 dollar show for 21+ when the block party itself was free and all ages, but I supposed there was nothing more that could have been done. I felt bad for Mad Decent since they did put together all the effort in the world for a great event for free and they were getting a lot of backlash, but their precautions proved to be true because right after the announcement came up riots in the street and chaos ensued as a torrential downpour came out of nowhere as if we all stepped into a shower. This is literal, no exaggeration. I watched as lightening stroke buildings right near where I was running with thousands of other people. In retrospect it was fun as hell, and a little bit dangerous but no harm done. I mean it gives for a great story doesn't it?

GET FOOTAGE!

OFFICIAL Mad Decent Block Party FB: SET
Youthful Expression: SET
FCKN TLNTD: SET

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