Kristoff Krane showcases poetic hip-hop at Weingart Patio

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Author: Emma Lodes

Last Saturday night a small crowd of around fifty hip hop enthusiasts stood on Weingart patio to watch Kristoff Krane perform. As he walked on stage, Krane turned his intense gaze at the crowd and asked, “Can you guys see the stars in Los Angeles?” That night, the audience couldn’t. But icicle lights strung between the patio arches illuminated everyone’s faces and created an intimate, aesthetic atmosphere. Those who attended the concert did not yet realize they were in for a treat.

Intimacy and audience interaction remained strong currents throughout Krane’s show. Krane, who worked with indie rap artists such as Atmosphere, Sage Francis and Sadistik, kept the tone casual and improvisational. A rising hip-hop artist from Minneapolis, Krane generates a strong, positive message in his lyrics and a passion for youth. He performed after a couple Occidental student openers: the Spoken Word club, who presented original slam poetry pieces, and Aaron Gallagher, a student rap artist who performs under the name Airborne.

Krane’s unique style is a combination of rap, poetry, freestyle, singing and acting. It’s thoughtful, lyrical, melodic and poetic. His words are at one moment hilarious, then shocking, then moving. When he performs, he weaves through the crowd and stares each audience member in the eye with his wide-eyed, almost maniacal stare. He’s a little guy with big energy.

Krane started off his set with “This Will Work for Now,” “Got High,” and a handful of other album songs, then followed up with a slew of spontaneous freestyle raps and original guitar songs. The beats changed in tempo throughout the show, going from melodic and chill to intense and fast-paced.

Towards the middle of the concert, Krane mixed up his style and played a few acoustic guitar songs and energy waned.

“Ok, what should we do now, guys?” He put down the guitar. “Not this. Not this. I don’t want to clear out this entire space with my cosmic angst. I’m just gonna put on a beat, stand here, and rap really, really fast,” Krane said.

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And so he did. Krane’s capacity for verbal speed is impressive. His last pieces were freestyles. He asked for topics from the crowd: Christmas consumerism, space, vegetarianism, Face Candy and holidays.

“Oh shit! That’s a lot!” But he went for it. “This is going to be good. This is going to be really fucking good,” said Krane. For his last freestyle, he collaborated with a friend from the audience on road trips, Obama and pizza.

And then Krane said, “I can either play another deep guitar song, or we can just hang out, kick it.”

The audience wanted another song. But Krane’s mind was made. “Naw, let’s just hang out. I’ve done some singing, now let’s just hang out,” Krane said .

It would make sense that Krane wanted to “just hang out” with a crowd of students passionate about hip hop and his message. In Minnesota, he works in schools and youth-based programs implementing creative-writing and performance based workshops. He is currently a Youth Advocate at Youthlink, a drop-in center for youth currently experiencing homelessness.

ECLS major Lindsay Palmer (senior), the events manager for KOXY, chose Kristoff Krane to perform at Occidental because of his strong message.

“It’s very positive; it’s all about love and friendship and defining yourself,” Palmer said.

In the week leading up to the concert, Occidental’s Spoken Word club hosted a series of hip hop workshops. The club used these workshops to inspire creativity in slam poetry.

“It was to inspire interest in the coming together of poetry and hip hop,” Palmer said. Palmer emphasized the growing similarities between hip hop and poetry, especially slam poetry.

“They are both very lyrically based and kind of structured similarly,” Palmer said. “I find spoken word and rap to be one in the same in a lot of ways. They accentuate the vibe of lyricism. In spoken word and rap, everyone has their message.”

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