SXSW | Manicures and KFC With Snoop D-O-Double G

The moment Mick Jenkins stepped on stage, we realized how ironic yet appropriate his sample of "I Can't Stand The Rain" on his hit "Rain" was. Needless to say, the day started off in a miserable flurry of neon orange ponchos (or "Mexican raincoats"....DARK) and soggy hot dogs buns. While we did literally have cold, sopping feet for upwards of ten hours, we managed to brace the storm and still see some great music. With pleasure often comes pain, right?

First up was the Keynote speech from non-other than Snoop Dogg. Lion cleans up pretty nice - coming out on stage in a Ralph polo, a bowtie and sporting some very hip gold wayfarer-esqe frames. That wasn't the most striking thing about him though. What caught our immediate attention was his perfectly manicured, 20 inch long fingers. Were his nails painted nude? They were certainly filed and well moisturized. Never have we considered encouraging our males friends to get a mani, but we're now reconsidering. Following our immediate judgements we enjoyed an hour of good laughs and wise words from the wildly underrated patriarch and business man. His interview was hosted by his manager Jeff Kawatinez so it came across as pretty well rehearsed in the beginning - we couldn't decide if that was because he was feeling awkward or stoned out of his mind, but after not long at all the conversation was flowing.

Here are a few things that we learned from Snoop:

1. His inspiration came from guys like Jimmy Spice and the Sugarhill Gang.

2. His first stage name was Snoop Rock Ski (Snoop Rockski?)

3. His inner city football club U Snoop has put 21 kids into University this year.

4. He's proud that he doesn't (overly) defame women in his music, despite how much the ladies love him (love you Snoop).

5. That he and Willie Nelson have an incredible amount in common including, but not limited to, "animals, music and grass".

6. One of the greatet moments of his life occured when he and Willie got stoned and went through the KFC drive-thru in Amsterdam, only to simultaneously reach for the exact same piece of fried chicken. Love at first grab.

7. The proudest moment of his life was sending his son to UCLA on a full football scholarship.

8. You need to have an "ear to the street and feet on the pavement" to survive and keep up with the music industry.

We left the keynote speech feeling like we had just spent and hour with an old friend, or as he put it, "Uncle Snoop". After enjoying the shelter of the Austin Convention Centre we then decided (and somewhat regretfully) to head to the Fader Fort presented by Fader magazine and Converse. And here comes Mistake #1 of the day: always check what line you're in. We optimistically got the the back of the expedited line for badge holders, but expedited it was not. It wasn't until about two and a half hours later that we realized there existed a press line. A press line that had filtered through 4 or 5 times over. We were wet. We were cold. We were hungry. And it was all unnescessary. Figurative gun to the figurative head svp.

Who did we see when we finally when we got inside you may wonder? Our anticipation was mounting in hopes that we'd see someone who stacked up next to Miley and Mike Will, but alas, it was Big Sean. Big Sean energetically led us through a 40 minute series of tracks he had been featured on in the past like, "Clique", "Mercy", and "All Me", deviating once or twice to play his own material including "Blessings" and his monstrous radio hit "I Don't F With You". In case you can't feel the disdain dripping off of these words let us seal the deal and discuss his language. There was one point in his set where he had the entire crowd shouting, "LITTLE B***H!" over and over again. And you don't have to be a bra-burning feminist to understand how demeaning and disgusting that truly is.

After Big Sean, Migos came on stage - an exceptionally angry group of young guys from Georgia. They ran right alongside Big Sean when it came to chanting and screaming "F*** You!" on repeat. We swiftly carried onward. Whether we regret our departure is TBD. As I'm sure many of you have heard, T-Pain came out after and played a record breaking 42 song set performing practically every song he had ever made. Instead we opted for Mick Jenkins - an up and coming rapper from Chicago that has perviously been featured on EWM. Rather than being at the back of an enormous 2000+ tent we were one foot away from Mick Jenkins. We think we made the right decision. The majority of his set featured songs from his EP "The Water[s]"

After a not-so-quick pitstop to thaw our freezing limbs, we parted ways to cover more ground. First up: a 15 minute Lido set that was underwhelming, followed by Raury, a rock-rap Michael Jackson wannabe. The most entertaining thing about Raury was his choregraphed guitarist, bassist and KEYTARIST. The had some funky two-stepping going on. Needless to say, it was back to the other venue to catch all of Run The Jewels, and despite the extremely high security after their first SXSW incident, it was the HYPEST crowd we have witnessed.

Meanwhile, EWM also reached the glorious BBQ hub of Stubb's to catch the last song of Clean Bandit and ultimately the "moment-inducing" Bleachers. Led by the astonishly quirky Jack Antonoff, Bleachers owned the stage with nerdy dance moves, taking the crowd on a journey that could be a scene from Girls. After the soaking set, EWM met up at the Austin Music Hall to catch Chance The Rapper - and what a show did he put on. Playing classics from Acid Rap and bringing out some "friends" including SZA, Chance turned the AMH into the place to be and was the complete opposite of Big Sean in terms of musicality and showmanship. Chance will definitely remain in our hearts as one of the best of the week - a great end to a long and interesting day. ONE DAY LEFT!