Chicagoans were treated to a once in a lifetime concert hosted by The Roots and Q-Tip when Hennessy kicked off their 2010 Artistry series at the Blackhawk Building this past Saturday. The invite only event brought out a whose who of Chicago to celebrate H
Chicagoans were treated to a once in a lifetime concert hosted by The Roots and Q-Tip when Hennessy kicked off their 2010 Artistry series at the Blackhawk Building this past Saturday. The invite only event brought out a whose who of Chicago to celebrate Hennessy’s approach to blending different cultural, artistic, and musical styles while celebrating the importance of the arts. In its 5th year, Hennessy celebrates its Artistry series while introducing a new element, Artistry GIVES, in which they partnered with the nations leading nonprofit organization, Americans for the Arts, that is geared towards advancing and preserving the arts throughout local communities across the country. The Hennessy Artistry series also gives local upcoming artists an opportunity to display their work while promoting arts education. Hennessy solely hosted the event with the Grammy Award winning band The Roots and Q-Tip who are serving as this years curators. The five city tour kicked off in Chicago featuring scintillating performances from a range of upcoming artists including Curren$y, Yahzarah, and Chicago’s own, Kid Sister. Before the concert kicked off, the audience had the opportunity to mingle and enjoy an amazing spread of food and Hennessy’s signature cocktails to the sounds of the legendary DJ D-Nice. There were also photography stills of The Roots and Q-Tip throughout the venue chronicling their visit to Cognac, France where they actually learned the process for making the number one selling Cognac in the world. After all the invited guests filled the Blackhawk Building, The Roots and Q-Tip hit the stage performing a series of Hip Hop classics from the likes of NWA and Main Source before belting out their own memorable tracks. Yahzarah, Curren$y, and Kid Sister also had amazing performances that took the event to another level. However, concertgoers went into a complete frenzy when Erykah Badu, the events mystery guest, hit the stage. The Grammy Award winning singer performed her latest single, “Window Seat” before belting out several other tracks including her collaboration, “You Got Me” with The Roots, which the audience loved. After each artist performed their set, backed completely by The Roots, they all came together and performed together closing out the night truly making it an unforgettable night. The Hennessy Artistry Series ticket was indeed the hottest and one of the most difficult to obtain but all wasn’t lost for those unable to attend. Hennessy offered a live stream of the concert through UStream while several artists and guests gave a play-by-play on Twitter, including Badu herself who tweeted, “Surprise Chicago!” The Hennessy Artistry series will make appearances in Miami and Detroit before concluding in New York. It will also include additional performances from Jay Electronica, Marsha Ambrosious, Mike Posner, and a host of others as well as surprise guests. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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