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The annual Chreece hip-hop festival added a significant behind-the-scenes event in advance of performances scheduled Saturday at seven Fountain Square venues.
On Aug. 13, rappers and producers posed for photos and spoke with journalists during the first Chreece media day, filling two floors of a former flower shop in Irvington with camaraderie and pre-festival excitement.
Chreece co-founder Oreo Jones said the festival has grown in stature from its 2015 debut to warrant a get-to-know-you session with cameras and Q&As.
“Chreece is the Super Bowl, so we need to treat it as such,” Jones said.
Pinky, a duo featuring rappers Kid and Courtland Tunstill, earned its way onto the Chreece lineup by winning one of two “Last Shot” spots determined by online voting followed by an in-person competition at the Indianapolis Artsgarden. At media day, Pinky reveled in a carpe diem approach.
“We like to have a good time,” said Tunstill, who will join Kid and take the Atomic Bowl stage in the basement of the Fountain Square Theatre Building at 3:40 p.m. “We’re living life like every day is the last day. That’s what Pinky is about. You have to push it to the limit.”
Jones said the idea for a media day originated with Jane Sun Kim, the festival’s director.
“I think it’s important to just get everyone acquainted with each other,” Jones said. “It’s also chaotic as hell during the day of the fest, with everyone kind of all over the place. It’s cool to have one united front tonight.”
The eighth edition of Chreece is scheduled to run from 1 p.m. to midnight at Hi-Fi Annex, Hi-Fi, White Rabbit Cabaret, Square Cat Vinyl, Atomic Bowl, Wildfyre Tap and Fountain Square Plaza. The festival’s headliners include Smino, Mavi, Audrey Nuna and Indiana’s 81355 (a trio co-founded by Jones).
Attendees of past editions of Chreece are familiar with the festival’s strong emphasis on Indianapolis artists balanced with marquee headliners such as Talib Kweli, Currensy, Dem Franchize Boyz and 9th Wonder.
A decade before Chreece debuted in 2015, T.J. Reynolds organized the first Indianapolis hip-hop festival at bygone venue United States of Mind near the intersection of 40th Street and Boulevard Place.
Reynolds, who now lives in Boston, will return to Indianapolis to perform during Chreece with his sister, Teresa Reynolds. Their performance is set for 7:40 p.m. at White Rabbit Cabaret.
“I think that original hip-hop festival in Indianapolis as well as all the other stuff people were doing were the seeds being planted,” Reynolds said during a media day interview. “It’s such a treat to come back home and see everything just blooming. And it’s such a healthy and really connected scene. I walk around here and have no hesitation introducing myself to somebody and seeing who they are. It’s, ‘Oh, wow, I actually listen to you. I know your work, it’s nice to meet you.’ It’s a beautiful thing.”
Rapper and spoken-word artist Tony Styxx will serve as the host of Hi-Fi Annex performances during Chreece. Styxx describes the festival as a powerful calling card for the music community.
“Being an artist in this city—and not just a hip-hop artist, not just a singer, but a poet, a b-boy, whatever it is—Chreece brings all of that together and gives it an identity,” Styxx said. “It gives it an identity that cannot be denied. You can’t just shoo us off to [bygone venue] Locals Only. You can’t just keep us in a corner on the west side. You can’t just put it in the [all-ages venue] Hoosier Dome. We’re taking up an entire cultural district.”
Rapper Wxlf has appeared onstage as a guest of other artists at past editions of Chreece. On Saturday, he will make his debut as an official festival artist. What should attendees expect when he performs at 3:15 p.m. at Square Cat Vinyl?
“Crazy breath control, a lot of speed, a lot of honesty, a lot of emotion and a lot of pure love,” Wxlf said. “You’re going to feel love of music in that place, for sure.”
Jinx is a rapper who’s returning to Chreece after winning a “Last Shot” golden ticket to perform at the 2024 festival. At 6:40 p.m. at Atomic Bowl, she will showcase songs from her 2025 album titled “Losers.”
“The concept behind the name ‘Losers’ is that you don’t win every day,” Jinx said. “You just have to embrace it like it’s not a loss. It’s a lesson. I put a positive spin on losers, because a winner is just a loser who tried one more time.”
For more information about the festival, visit chreeceaf.com.
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The performers that were promoted here, all say Rappers. The festival says HipHop, and no performers in this article claimed to be HipHop artist. So, which is it?
Hip-hop is an art form made up of four elements: rapping, turntablism, graffiti and breakdancing.
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