Stanford is known for their labs, clinics, sports teams and ubiquitous sweatshirts—not hip-hop. And certainly not two huge West Coast rappers, the legendary E-40 and rookie-of-the-year lyricist, Kendrick Lamar. Bother perform at the university Sunday, May 20.
This year’s Stanford’s BlackFest Music Festival will be the largest yet, capping a long history that began as a family style picnic that started 20 years ago with activities that were centered around music, a 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, kids’ activities, dominoes and the like. It was fun and safe and simply grew as attendance multiplied. Through the years, it began fostering local acts and campus organizations as word spread beyond the campus.
In 2009, Day 26, an R&B group from Diddy’s reality show, Making the Band 4, headlined. The following year, rapper Wale headlined and both events drew crowds of approximately 1,500, respectively. Last year, Southern drawls and slumpy, keyboard beats boomed from the event as Big Sean and Travis Porter headlined. It was huge and, by then, a different monster.
The upcoming event, held at the Frost Amphitheater, features a balance of acts; veteran taste-maker and Vallejo icon E-40, known for verbose lyrics and his own lexicon of street slang is matched with Kendrick Lamar, Compton’s newest prodigal son; an MC with raps that skew more conscious than gangster. Both are heralded with huge followings. Local acts Black Greeks and Catch A Fyah will provide additional entertainment. Check out the newest (and most timely) collab between Kendrick and E-40 and Droop E (40’s son) “Catch A Fade”.
BlackFest is at Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater on May 20. Tickets are $20 and doors open at 1:30pm.
.Stanford to Host E-40 and Kendrick Lamar This Weekend
