Hip-hop Took Over Festival Calle Orange

Orlando is a great city, with several events and activities going on at all times, you just have to do a little research. As a music fan, I am always looking for music activities to attend. Festival Calle Orange is an event held every year in late October, to celebrate Hispanic heritage. More than 40 artists from different music genres get up on 4 stages to perform live. Around 10 streets from downtown Orlando are closed off, so thousands of people can have a fun day with live music all around.

I had the great opportunity of being back stage to cover the event this year. Big name rap and hip-hop artists were the main acts, such as Ja Rule, B.o.B, and T-Pain. The weather was great, the event was packed and everybody was having fun, including me. Backstage, the production team was doing an excellent job making sure every artist was on time for their performance. Power 95.3 FM, the radio station that was sponsoring that stage, installed a set where all the artists were interviewed.

The first one to take the stage was Ja Rule. Fresh out of prison, he took the time to encourage his followers to buy his upcoming album.  He had a vast popularity between 2000 and 2005, with massive hits such as “Mesmerize” and “Always on Time," which both featured Ashanti. With a lot of attitude and confidence, Ja Rule got the party started and had the very energetic public chanting most of the words to his songs. Next on stage to perform was B.o.B, the singer of popular songs like “Nothing On You” and “Airplanes”. He impressed the crowd with an unquestionable talent and style during his presentation. B.o.B performed “Nothing On You” and the show reached the climax. The vibe was unbelievable. Close to the end of his performance, T-Pain jumped on stage and they performed “Up Down”, a hip-hop song with a catchy chorus. The crowd gave them a very positive response. The transition between B.o.B and T-Pain was very smooth at the end and they ended up together on stage most of T-Pain’s set. The joint performances of these two artists made the crowd go crazy. Even though T-Pain has a few extra pounds, he is famous for making very nice moves and steps, and he showed those attributes on stage.

               

In general, the event was pretty fun and very well organized. These kinds of activities held in the Orlando area make the city more interesting and help get more visitors and tourists. The locals also attend events like this to hang out, listen to live music, and relax. Festival Calle Orange was a great learning experience. I had the opportunity to watch mainstream artists backstage and see up close how the event was produced and organized.