Media mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs who is CEO of Revolt joined forces with AT&T to kick off the first of three events in different US cities featuring moderated discussions with prominent hip hop industry figures deemed Revolt Summit on Wednesday (July 24th) in Brooklyn, New York at the Kings Theatre.
Combs was joined by A$AP Ferg, Brooklyn Johnny, Andre Harrell, Charlamagne tha God, Joe Budden, Remy Ma, Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins, DC Young Fly, Chris Matic, Tierra Whack and Queen Naija at the kickoff event which specifically focused on examining the current state of hip hop culture and entrepreneurship. Actor, comedian and recording artist DC Young Fly, served as MC for the night and also performed for the audience.
Hours before the event, news of Meek Mill launching his Dreamchasers record label made waves, and being important to the culture some of the industry tastemakers gave their opinions on Meek’s entrepreneurial endeavor. REVOLT’s The Breakfast Club co-host and radio personality Charlemagne tha God said, “I thought it was great for Meek. The reason I thought it was great for Meek is because a lot of times you’ll have an artist of Jay Z’s caliber and a lot of artist don’t want to be with him because you’ll have the white man in the artist’s ear saying why you want to be with Jay Z when you can be bigger than Jay Z, when the truth to the matter is Jay Z can help you be just as big as him or bigger because he has all the information, he got all the tools. So why would you go sign with some white executive who’s really not of the culture, instead of signing to a brotha who’s really of the culture and who’s really done it. So I thought that was really a power move on Meek’s part. He’s got the greatest sensei, you know why not partner with him?”, while A$AP Ferg who just released his latest song “Floor Seats” said, “I love it. Man like I remember when he first started The Chasers, and you know it’s dope to see it come to to this level. I just left a comment on his Instagram saying that he deserves everything that’s coming to him. And I always commend him for everything that he’s doing, he deserves everything, every last bit of it, because I know he’s been through a lot of trials and tribulations over the time and I feel like he’s getting his blessings.”
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – JULY 24: (L-R) Joe Budden, A$AP Ferg, Brandon Jinx Jenkins, Casanova, and Remy Ma speak onstage during the REVOLT Summit Kickoff Event hosted by Sean Diddy Combs, REVOLT, and AT&T at the Kings Theatre on July 24, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for Revolt)
Prior to Remy Ma, Joe Budden, and Jinx taking the stage for a live presentation of their hit Revolt show State of the Culture joined by special guest A$AP Ferg and Cassanova to discuss what has impacted hip hop culture since the conclusion of season one in April, addressing topics such as A$AP Rocky’s imprisonment in Sweden, and Jermaine Dupri’s controversial commentary on the current female rappers, Young Paris, and Chris Matic spoke to The Knockturnal about what they feel has had the biggest impact on hip hop culture this year. “I love seeing artists being celebrated for who they are originally. I think Cardi B changed the game. I think she was a personality that became the biggest star in the world, and like what she also brought was an organic perspective of being who you are. I think being who I am I like those kinds of stories and I think we’re all telling stories here. I think culture transcends when we shape and create new ways of living the lifestyle,” said Young Paris, while Chris Matic said, “For the state of the culture, I think Nas album just dropping, Lost Tapes 2 is one of the biggest things seen in the culture this year for me personally as an artist.” Young Paris who has Congolese heritage and is known for his infusion of EDM with Afrobeat, spoke about Beyonce celebrating and introducing Afrobeat to the culture at large with her recent Lion King: The Gift album saying, “It’s beautiful a lot of those are my peers. I know all of artist on the record. I just love seeing that she’s helping push the conversation of African music. You see Reggaton has an outlet, you see a lot of different continental groups coming into American culture, and African music really set a tone for a lot of what music sounds like today. So I think it’s beautiful to see that she’s giving her time and energy to giving back.”
The Knockturnal also caught up with Remy Ma who released her own version of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” via Instagram earlier this week, spoke about potential collaboration with Lil Nas X and releasing her remix telling us, “That would be dope, he’s like super hot right now. But It was actually something that I was doing for fun. I’m so excited I finally get off parole in another week and a half. So any song that comes on I try to incorporate how I’m finally gonna be able to be free, I got my passport I touch it everyday on my nightstand, waiting to use it. And it’s just so crazy because when I did it, everyone just thought it was so dope, but I’m like I was just kidding, it’s just jokes.”
Following the live State of The Culture discussion, Charlemagne Tha God took the stage for one on one interviews music industry expert and CEO of District 18 Entertainment label, Brooklyn Johnny (who discussed being an A&R and working with Cardi B), and Sean “Diddy” Combs who discussed the importance of entrepreneurship.
“This whole event is full circle. I started my dream in Harlem, and just growing up in Harlem, moved up to Mount Vernon, and then I’m in Hollywood right now, so I had to bring my a– home to New York to Brooklyn to really set this off the right way. But I’m like any audience member that’s out there that had that dream to be somebody and wanting to make this culture a career to understand that when I started it was probably a 100 million dollar business now it’s probably a 10 billion dollar business,” Combs told those in attendance.
The night concluded with performances from Chris Matic, Tierra Whack, and Queen Naija.
While the New York Revolt Summit served as a preview in which AT&T provided free tickets to attendees, the official REVOLT Summit series, will take place in Atlanta from September 12-14 and Los Angeles October 24-26, and will allow attendees the opportunity to learn from and network with influential members of the Hip Hop community. AT&T will continue their partnership with Revolt to provide tickets for both summits in Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Headliners for the Atlanta and Los Angeles summits will be revealed in the coming weeks, and both summits will include performances from major label artists, as well as spotlight new emerging artists, showcase local talents. Tickets for both Atlanta & Los Angeles Revolt Summits are now available on RevoltSummit.com
