“Hip Hop is my heartbeat.”
These were the words that Andre Wright spoke multiple times during this hour and a half discussion/performance/tasting. The event started with Wright, Sepehr Sadrzadeh, and The Cubist sitting on stage and discussing the history of Hip-hop. Icon Amarie gave a short performance before joining the rest of the guys on stage.
Wright made sure to remind people multiple times that people needed to give them energy in order for them to return it back 10 times. Wright also made sure to state that in order for the audience to get fed they needed to participate. Either by talking or by rapping.
Andre made sure to let the audience know that this was an “Adult Only Party” and no kids were allowed because of cussing. Cussing wasn’t as bountiful as I thought it was going to be but kids not being there was a good thing.
The feel for the entire event was very natural and charismatic. After Wright had gone through the history of Hip-Hop, The Cubist and Chef PZ aka Sepeher Sadrzadeh aka the chef at Pullman Bar & Diner introduced themselves. After that, Chef PZ gave a freestyle. They then invited people to rap and a guy and a girl both went up and free-styled. They were really good.
After Chef PZ freestyled, he started cooking. He cooked while The Cubist played some tracks and talked about the production that went into them. The Cubist and Chef PZ compared music to cooking by the example of layering.
Once Chef PZ finished cooking, Andre Wright said, “You gotta work to eat.” Which meant that he wanted “brave souls” to get up and freestyle. He then asked for people to come up and those who did would be able to get some of the food that Chef PZ had made. 16 people stood up but only 2 guys rapped. Everybody but one person got food because he didn’t want any. This prompted Andre Wright to say that those who didn’t want food shouldn’t be in line. Those who didn’t rap said their top 5 rap artists and still got food.
After everybody that was in line got their food, the MC walked around and handed out the rest. I got one and it was really good. I approved. Chef PZ then rapped to “Iranian Soul”. Finishing up the event, the guys brought up Wu Fei who played on her instrument and Chef PZ, Icon Amarie, and a friend of theirs then freestyled to Wu Fei’s and The Cubist’s talent of music.
The event was not what I expected. It was really fun and great. I got to listen to some great freestyle and taste some great food. It was fun experience that should definitely happen again because I will definitely be there.
