The Trinity International Hip Hop Festival is a free music festival that brings together Hip Hop artists from around the world. It has been held annually at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Hartford, CT since 2006. "The festival was designed to promote international understanding and community development through hip-hop." It is "the first and only free global Hip-Hop festival dedicated to educating and exposing the public to Hip-Hop from around the world." The festival was co-founded by Trinity College students Jason Azevedo and Magee McIlvaine and

Nomadic Wax Nomadic Wax is an international music, film, and events production company specializing in hip-hop and underground music. Background Ben Henson founded Nomadic Wax in 1999, while living in Brooklyn, New York. In the summer of 1999, Henson discove ...

founder Ben Herson to "combat the disunity, segregation, and violence of Hartford, CT and Trinity College using the historically education-oriented and politically revolutionary medium — Hip Hop – and focusing on its global potency and proliferation to unify Trinity College, the city of Hartford, and the Globe." The concert portion of the 2009 festival was headlined by Somalian Hip Hop artist

K'Naan Keinan Abdi Warsame (born 1 February 1978) ( so, Keynaan Cabdi Warsame, ar, كَينَان عَبدِ وَرسَمَ ''Kaynān ʿAbdi Warsama''), better known by his stage name K'naan (), is a Somali Canadians, Somali-Canadian musician. He ...

and featured performances by many artists, including BeatBurgerBand from the

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, Poetic Pilgrimage from the

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, Blitz the Ambassador from

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, and Game Rebellion from Brooklyn, NY. In 2018, many international opening acts were scheduled. Because of increased visa restrictions under the Trump administration, many visas were delayed, and organizers couldn't be certain which artists would be attending until a week before the event. The festival does not focus solely on the musical aspect of Hip Hop; B-boy battles,

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

art sessions, panel discussions about pressing issues in Hip Hop, and film screenings have been incorporated into the festival each year. As part of a class taught in Fall 2017 by Seth Markle, a professor of History and International Studies at Trinity College, 15 students created short films profiling Hip Hop pioneers from Hartford for the Hartford History Center. Peng, Lucy. "Short Documentary Films by Trinity Students Tell Stories of Local Hip Hop Pioneers." February 28, 2018. https://www.trincoll.edu/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/pages/HartfordHipHopDigitalStoriesSpring2018.aspx

References

{{Hip hop festival Music festivals in Connecticut Hip hop music festivals in the United States Music festivals established in 2006

See also

References