Curren$y shines at Chicago leg of Mad Decent Block Party

The Mad Decent Block Party came to Chicago Aug. 13, and while it didn’t exactly knock my socks off — it was still, well, mad decent — and all for the non-existent price of $FREE.99.

An estimated 5,000 people flipped the bird to crummy weather and flocked to Bucktown Saturday to see performances from Curren$y, Congorock, Dillon Francis, Lunice, BBU and others.  The event was low on big names, but most of the crowd seemed content to wait in the rain for Curren$y. Personally, I thought Lunice and Curren$y had the hottest sets, with the latter artist topping all.

“I kinda feel like I just won the super bowl,” he told me behind the stage after the performance, when I approached him for a quick interview. This was shortly after I was stiff-armed in the chest by one of his bodyguards/weed handlers.

I’m aiight.

The New Orleans emcee also took time to compliment Chicago for its delectable fried chicken and herbal delights.

“Harold’s Chicken is fucking crazy,” Curren$y said. “Irene is the fucking craziest strain of weed in the world, and you can only find it in Chicago — so this place was really blessed by the weed gods.”

Curren$y asked me if it was okay for him to talk about that.  Beaming, I nodded “YES,” and he said “Well, that’s my quote then,” before hopping in the backseat of a tinted luxury car parked behind the stage. I assumed he was getting a little face time with Lady Irene (not the storm...awkward). I’m sure he wasn’t the only one.

Bosco Delrey enjoying a brewski.

“You come, drink a little bit, smoke a little weed and have some fun,” said 20-year-old Kenzi Benloucif, 21, of Oak Park, describing the block party. Boy was he right on mark. Cheap beer was in full effect, and you couldn’t walk 20 feet in any direction without seeing or smelling a blunt or spliff.


Nothing wrong with that.


Attendees came to the party, which stretched along Milwaukee Avenue from Western to Oakley, armed with water shooters and an unnecessary (and annoying) abundance of beach balls.  Steady showers did not deter the crowd, and the sort of festive summer time Chi vibes rapper Kanye West shouted out in “Good Life” prevailed.

That’s what Chicago is all about, said DJ Esquire of local hip-hop collective BBU.

“Rain, sleet or snow, we’re gonna come out and juke,” he said.

His BBU comrade Illekt praised the event for not being downtown or at some other upscale venue on “some ultra-swag type shit.” 


I agree. But being swag-deficient, I’m a bit biased.