New Boyz at Genesee Valley

Genesee Valley mall sounds a lot more exciting than it was back in the eighties when the biggest attraction was the giant frog and the chance to buy Smiths tickets.

The Flint Journal reports:

Police from five departments responded to the mall’s J.C. Penney wing just after 4 p.m. Sunday to control an unruly crowd of about 1,500 that had gathered for a free concert by the Los Angeles-based hip-hop duo New Boyz. The event was arranged by Club 93.7 in conjunction with a CD signing at FYE.

The act, known for racy and misogynistic lyrics, was slated to rap “Tie Me Down” and “You’re a Jerk” before signing autographs after the show, but fights broke out, there were medical emergencies and people started climbing on the stage causing promoters to pull the plug on the act halfway through the second song.

Police shut down the mall at 4:30 that day, an hour and a half before its normal closing time.

Things got so out of control some stores pulled down their gates even before police orders.

Flint's Hip Hop Pioneer Dies

Flint's MC Breed is dead at 37.

Vibe reports: "Never fully reaching mainstream status, Breed rhymed proudly about the desolate town of Flint, an urban area usually masked under the wide belly of Detroit. His hit 1991 song, "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'” sampled Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce" and the Ohio Players' "Funky Worm.”

Flint Hip Hop

JMack at HoodHype remembers Flint hip hop back in the day:

"Any time I get a chance to listen to some old Flint hip-hop joints, I think about rolling down I-69 at dusk, chillin’ with a few old coworkers over on DuPont St. (what up Antwan and Charles!?) and driving up and down the streets with nasty ass Buick City in the background churning out smoke and kicking out cars you rarely saw in the city that actually produced them. Long nights of ball with friends (my boy D and our other friends would school the shit outta me religiously) and the summer. Rollin’ up and down James P. Cole Ave when the “Cruise” was lit up in my 84′Cutlass Supreme....Cars with dayton and LA wires and neon lights were the hot shit of the moment. Summer nights like that people would park and pop their trunks on the side of the road and just chill. Everyone would crowd around who was bumpin’ the hottest shit at the moment...damn I miss being a kid."