A3C Hip Hop Festival Blog

We made some big changes in 2017

Written by Mike Walbert | Jan 10

A3C's 13th annual Festival & Conference hosted 1,257 Artists and 316 Speakers in Atlanta between October 4-8... and Nas ended the week with a performance that we're still thinking about. 

The A3C Festival & Conference has evolved dramatically over the years, but 2017 was an exceptionally big year for change.

We launched the Action Summit for Social Justice at the Auburn Ave Research Library and awarded $10,000 to 5 deserving non-profits using art, music and hip-hop culture for social justice in their communities.

Judges at A3C Action Pitch Competition

We developed the Creator Complex at GSU's Creative Media Industries Institute where over 550 artists and producers worked with creative professionals to create digital assets for free. They got head shots, built websites, recorded podcasts, wrote bios, flipped samples, made beats, mastered music and spit freestyles... thanks to iStandard Producers, Akai, Serato Sample, Sqaurespace, LANDR, Cam Kirk Studios, In The Lab w/ A-King, Wish Creative Media and FitzCo.

Serato Sample Session at Creator Complex

We introduced 5 educational tracks at the Conference Center to improve the networking and learning experience:

  • Artist Accelerator - Artists & Managers
  • Beatstars Summit - Producers & Beatmakers
  • Labelx - Entrepreneurs, Record Labels and Music Companies
  • Music Tech - Music Tech Startups, Music Makers and Investors
  • Action Summit - Activists, Academic and Artists

Zaytoven Keys Kamp at Beatstars Summit 

We moved the A3C Festival to the Georgia Freight Depot and produced one of the first major hip-hop festivals in Downtown Atlanta.

We proudly showcased hip-hop's diversity, creativity, and talent with performances from Nas, Playboi Carti, A-Trak, Dave East, AZ, G Herbo, Rich Homie Quan, DJ Drama & Don Cannon, Project Pat, Kap G, Joyner Lucas, Saba, IDK, Kodie Shane, Dead Prez, Just Blaze, Buckshot & Smif N Wessun, Statik Selektah, Kirk Knight, Masta Ace, Kool Keith and dozens more. 

Kirk Knight at A3C Festival

We're working on 2018, and have a lot in the works...