This was my first year going to SXSW so I kinda went all out. 8 shows in 4 days makes Homer go crazy. But I was there with a bunch of friends so at least it was fun doing all these shows together, pushing the new label and the Dirty South Dance CD all at once. Add a couple of Tex-Mex meals to the mix and I’m good to go.

I arrived in Austin on that Thursday. The first thing on my agenda was getting a haircut. Now, I’ve been touring with Kanye for almost 3 years now and he travels with a barber, so it’s been the same guy grooming my coiffe this whole time. But action needed to be taken, so I hollered at the hometown homie Rapid Ric (the Mixtape Mechanic) and asked him where the best local spot was. He took me to this place around his way, and while I was waiting for my turn I saw a pig run across the street. Real talk, this pig ran from the parking lot, crossed the street, tried to hang a left, wiped out a little bit and had its little pig-legs kicking to the side, and finally made a break for it. It was my girl’s first day in Texas, or in the South for that matter. Welcome, I said. I love it down there. While I was getting my haircut the barber explained to me the many regional hairstyles of the South: how Tum Tum’s Dallas do, with the pom-pom in the back, is different from Webbie’s Bayou high-top. He also asked whether there are “any brothas in Canada” and by the time we were done, was seriously considering heading up to my native land for a vacation. This guy was good too, he cuts Michael “5000″ Watts’ hair when he’s in Austin.

Over the following couple of days I got to familiarize myself at length with Austin’s famous “strip”, as we’d constantly walk from an afternoon gig to a late lunch to an early evening gig to an interview to a quick cab to the hotel to a sound check to a gig to an afterparty to street hot dogs to do it all again the next day. It’s rare that your main, official show turns out to be the best one but in this case I think the Biz3/Kork showcase really was my fave (totes), because we turned a room fool of stiff industry folks into a real hoedown. I also loved playing at the Levi’s/Fader house. This was a big outdoor space behind a wooden maze of a building where a steady and eclectic stream of bands played during the whole afternoon, and Djs including myself played half hour sets in between them. So you could go and take each one of those little sets in a completely different direction and really have fun with it. As we got closer to the evening the crowd got more and more festive, and it eventually turned into a bonafied block party. The Rub tore the roof off in the evening too. Added bonus: free jeans! Aside from that I did shows for iheartcomix, this label Nasa that actually had guys dressed as astronauts at their event so I still don’t know if there’s a link with the real Nasa or not, Dimmak, Nylon, some internet radio station that had me play in a saloon… Diplo’s massive rave got shut down by the cops. Vice’s event had a roof crumble but thankfully no injuries. The city was plastered with URB posters of the Kid Sister and Floss cover. And everybody (I mean e-verr-y-bo-dy) wore Wayfarers..

Canadian cousin Cadence Weapon wrote a summary of sorts that I found pretty entertaining… maybe because it’s flattering, I don’t know. You can read it here. And there’s a cute little XLR8R video interview with Kid Sister and me at the luxurious Doubletree residence, which you can watch here.

Then just a few days later I was off to Miami for round 2 of March madness, the demented week of festivities known to many as the Winter Music Conference. I went earlier than most because Craze had his big party at Studio A on the very first day. As much as Austin was all about rolling with one big posse and being present everywhere, Miami on the other hand was like sampling a buffet of different scenes every day, different little worlds that I’ve been connected to one way or another. At Craze’s show we were playing with old friends like the Scratch Perverts and Z-Trip. The next day I went to see the Ed Banger guys play at this afternoon rooftop thing, and then went to do one show at a Heineken party with Stretch Armstrong, Steve Aoki and none other than Robin Thicke (I’m not connected to Robin Thicke, but it’s worth mentioning just because Star Jones was in the front row hanging on his every word); then later that night I did a party with the Turntable Lab guys. The next day I played at Stones Throw’s big pool party with Wolf, Madlib and them (my favorite set of the whole week). And that was just the first 3 days, jumping from planet to planet like dude in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. 

The weekend hadn’t even started yet. There were way more shows during the weekend which I don’t really feel like enumerating right now, and a sumptuous feast at this fancy Brazilian churrascaria with Craze, my brother and friends. And if you’ve ever been to one of those restaurants (be it by recommendation of an airline magazine or not), you know that they give you these little signs that say “Yes, More!” on one side and “No Thank You!” on the other. If I could do have waved the “No Thank You” sign at the gods of traveling after Miami, I would have. But alas, another long trek awaited me…

TO BE CONTINUED….