SXSW was a different experience this year as the performances and exhibitions for the media and music festival went completely digital and took submissions from artists wanting to showcase their talents on the virtual stage.
However, one of those young artists claims he was 86’d from participating in the festival after his video did not meet the professional standards of those in charge and ultimately he was sidelined from the entire event.
Rapper Kake, who recently dropped a new single that was praised by The Game, tells The Blast he hired a video production company last year to produce a video and submit it to SXSW as a featured artist. Because of the time constraints with SXSW going virtual, artists had until the end of October 2020 to make their submissions.
Kake chose one of his newer tracks, “Hawaiian Punch,” to perform and conceptualized a minimalist video where he rapped in a dark room highlighted by a few accent lights (seen above).
We’re told Kake was happy with the way his video came out, and his producers did not provide any feedback that his performance and look weren’t up to standards.
However, Kake was shocked earlier this month when he was informed that his video would not be played among the chosen at SXSW, and his producers were giving him the runaround about what actually went down.
Kake claims he was told producers tried to submit his video, but were allegedly turned away by officials for not being “professional.” Specifically, Kake was told that his outfit looked like he “just jumped out of bed,” and that he needed to work on some “flyer gear” if he wanted to be taken seriously.
Although SXSW has come and gone, Kake is still upset and is also putting blame on SXSW for not giving clear enough directions on the guidelines for videos.
“I don’t think the festival gave any direction nor did the video people,” Kake tells The Blast.
According to the guidelines for music video submissions at SXSW, there was nothing listed about the type of dress that artists had to wear, but there was a line that officials were open to accepting “work-in-progress cuts.”
Kake, who has performed at other festivals, including Rolling Loud, is staying positive and not letting the rejection get him down.
As for next year, Kake is not worried about a video submission because he assures The Blast he will be on the stage … LIVE!
