Acclaimed Hip Hop artist and filmmaker Sixman returned to his native Grand Rapids, MI in February 2022 for “Return of the Boom Bap”, a 3-day cultural event (Feb. 16- 18, 2022) that culminated with his headlining, homecoming performance at The Pyramid Scheme. Still riding high off the success of his album The Fix and The Fix Tour, the Atlanta resident couldn’t stop smiling if he wanted to.
We sat down with Sixman for THIS INTERVIEW before he took the stage. He was ready, elated, optimistic, and full of gratitude.
Sixman, Return of the Boom Bap, has been a tremendous 3-day event. How does it feel to be home in this capacity?
[With a huge smile on this face] It feels great! I feel wonderful! It feels so good, first, to start here, to travel where I’ve been, to learn what I’ve learned, to do it how I do it, now we’re here. It feels great to see people out there waiting and I feel 100% ready to go. My adrenaline is so high I don’t think anything can stop me tonight.
Let’s backtrack a bit to the first of the three days. You get off the plane and head over to Wedgwood Christian Services, an organization that helps children and teens deal with challenges they may be facing. How was that visit?
It was good! I did the podcast with them. It’s good to keep going back there because being there was an important portion of my life. I go back and I speak to [the youth], let them know I’m one of them still and let them see where you can go.
After that it was off to The Industry Mixer at Wasted Brand Clothing.
Man, the mixer… The energy was so good; the vibe, the DJs – Monk and Seven Eights, everybody that came networked, and I was thankful and appreciative for everybody!
Tell us about The Pop-Up at Vertigo Music on day 2. How was that?
It was cool! It was very intimate. People came and got things; bought some tickets, bought some merch, music was being played by Monk, it felt good. And we got music in the store again! The energy was 100.
We watched the live broadcast of WYCE’s The Listening Room, which is a tremendous platform. Watching you perform “Who Am I?”, your first single, on there was … a moment for us. How did it feel for you?
It felt natural, and it felt good. When it got to that track it kicked all the way in; that feeling from when I used to do it was there, and that energy, and…yo, it was the greatest, but I can’t wait to do it tonight! We’re going to really take’em there. We’re going to take our time, we’re not going to rush, and we’re going to do this.
How are you feeling about the performances you’ve seen here tonight?
I really like Sonny Ski. He’s dope, I listened to his music. Seeing his show, his energy is really dope. I’m hearing Alfie Da Great right now. He’s got the crowd into it! I’m liking that. I didn’t get a chance to see Early N Da Mornin, but I heard him. Everybody’s setting the tempo right now. Everybody’s doing good.
I’m glad these particular artists, with The Fist Coalition coming up next before me, are setting the tempo with me.
Twenty-two years ago there was an event called Hip Hop Explosion here in Grand Rapids at a spot called The Grotto. Your face was on the poster and your name was on the flyer, but the venue’s security wouldn’t let you in for your scheduled performance because you were too young. Fast forward, now you’re at The Pyramid Scheme, headlining in your hometown. Tell us about that journey after headlining shows all over the world, but never losing the desire to headline here.
Starting from that day when I was a young man, I wasn’t in the space of doing it how I’m doing now. Looking back on how I started, I still was good but I was in a beginners stage.
To travel, to do it on higher levels and to really learn how to do it as a top tier MC, it’s the most special thing for me to be able to do that here. It’s not a regular show!
It’s not just me holding the mic and grabbing my nuts the whole set! We’re really about to take them there! And that shit means so much to be at The Pyramid Scheme, to be able to do it in such a great venue, a real concert venue! I couldn’t ask for nothing more.
You’re here. One of the people who helped push you in the direction you’ve gone is not here to see you tonight, and that’s Nana the Illest. She was an incredibly influential and supportive person in the Grand Rapids Hip Hop community and across the region, and a true friend of yours. May she rest in peace. How bittersweet is that?
Very bittersweet because I would have loved for her to able to be here to see that growth from where we started from. She got behind me as a kid, but to see the growth, to see it on a level how we’re accustomed to seeing it from our predecessors and people we love in Hip Hop, I feel I do it on the same tempo but my way. You’re going to see a Sixman show. I wish she could have been here to be able to see that! Make sure we say something in her honor.
Once DJ Seven Eights is on stage behind the ones-and-twos and you’re standing here behind the curtain waiting to go out there, what do you anticipate will be in your head?
Transformation. My adrenaline is going so much that my head isn’t in any one place, which is a good thing. It’s nothing that’s going to stop what’s going to happen tonight. I’m sharp and ready to go. They need to see this. I need to do this.
What’s your outlook on “Return of the Boom Bap” next year and if should it happen?
I think it should happen again. I think we should try to go larger with it. We should do it here with bigger sponsors and bigger people attached with us. My goal is to get General Steel and Smiff-N-Wessen down here and involved. Get El De Sensei and them down here and involved. Shabaam Sahdeeq, I’d love for him to be incorporated into next year. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get it to that stage.
Lastly, what is your sentiment to the city of Grand Rapids?
This is where it all started from. It’s where the dream became a real dream. I say to the city, thank you! But we ain’t done yet. We’ve got so much more to go. Please, stay with me. |THIS ENT
[By Mr. Joe Walker]
