The energy of old-school hip-hop comes to Cedar Riverside this weekend, while a Bloomington music festival spotlights emerging R&B, Afrobeat and hip-hop artists. St. Paul’s India Fest celebrates Indian traditions through dance, music and martial arts, and the Japanese Obon Festival at Como Park honors ancestral spirits with lanterns, drumming and ritual performances.

Summer Cypher revives street-style hip-hop at Cedar Fest

When Prince began gaining national attention in the 1980s with the release of “Purple Rain,” Minneapolis’ underground hip-hop scene was already thriving. DJs, breakdancers and artists created alternative spaces — through parties, dance battles and independent radio — to develop a culture centered on creativity and connection, even as many venues across the city limited or banned hip-hop. 

Continuing that tradition, Summer Cypher, a Minneapolis-based hip-hop collective, will bring emcees, breakdancers and graffiti artists to Cedar Plaza as part of West Bank Minneapolis’ Open Streets Cedar Fest this Sunday. 

“In many ways, I feel like hip-hop is the only thing that eventually pulled me out of many toxic environments,” said south Minneapolis native Teddy Grimes, co-founder of Summer Cypher. “Coming from a community that was drowning from addiction, and so many people that aren’t here anymore, I often wonder why I made it through when others didn’t. This is what gives me the drive to continue doing the things I do.”

Grimes and co-founder Kimani Beard met in 2015 outside of a music studio in Uptown, when Grimes photographed Beard alongside hip-hop artists Marisa Isa and OG Grip. Beard, who is 21 years older, connected with Grimes through their shared love of hip-hop. 

Summer Cypher began in 2017 “with a sheet of linoleum, a boom box and two hip-hop heads” at Powderhorn Park, Grimes said. “I was thinking about park jams in the early 1970s and 1980s in New York. Hip-hop is the universal language that connects everything together.” 

The duo brought that energy to Uptown Porch Fest, Open Streets Northside and the former Northern Spark arts festival. In  2018, they began hosting monthly events at Modus Locus in south Minneapolis.

“This allowed us to not have to move from spot to spot. We could focus on one area and build from there,” Grimes said. “Everyone was showing up for free off the strength of us organizing, but we didn’t promote ourselves. We promoted the Summer Cypher. No one even knew that it was us organizing for a while. We just showed up and did it.”

The COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd in 2020 temporarily paused events as Grimes and Beard had to focus on safety. 

“We had no idea what we were about to witness in Minneapolis,” Grimes said. “In the middle of a pandemic, with the murder of George Floyd on the corner of 38th and Chicago, just blocks away from where we were holding space.”

In 2021, the collective returned with a pop-up model in St. Paul parks, eventually securing a permanent lot at Chicago and Lake Street through the Graves Foundation. Grants totalling more than $100,000 from 2022 to 2025 helped build infrastructure, compensate organizers, and support local creatives. 

For Summer Cypher events, musical lineups are kept secret, encouraging audiences to experience the culture organically, much like Minneapolis’ street-style hip-hop of the 1980s. 

“We hoped this would bring to the community an unadulterated space on the block to explore the raw culture of hip-hop in an interracial, intercultural and international healing environment,” he said. “Hip-hop was always the inspiration. It is our lifestyle.”

At Cedar Fest, Summer Cypher joins a broader lineup: Afrobeat performances at Tamu Grill and Catering, featuring Afrocontigbo Dance Company, rapper Fanaka Nation, and Bakarii and friends; and reggae and hip-hop at The Red Sea Ethiopian Restaurant, featuring Twin Cities DJs, Innocent Reggae Band, and Shalita Band.

The festival will include dozens of local artists, free camel rides, roller skating, access to a Somali hut, a dunk tank, face painting and henna art. Restaurants in Cedar-Riverside will serve Chinese, Ethiopian, Kenyan, Persian and Somali dishes.

India Fest showcases regional dances at the State Capitol

The India Association of Minnesota will host India Fest at the Capitol Grounds on Saturday, celebrating India Day with food, cultural exhibits, bazaars, and a diverse lineup of traditional dance.

Audiences can experience the harvest-inspired folk dance of Punjab, the rhythmic circle social dance of Gujarat, the quick-footed Indigenous dance of Assam, a ceremonial folk tradition from South India, and a dance often performed at the weddings and cultural celebrations of Kerala’s Muslim community. 

The festival will feature local groups Nritya Kalakshetra Academy, Natyakala Dance School, Kala Vandanam Dance Company, Ragmala Dance Company, Utkalaa Dance Academy, Minnesota Tamil Sangam, and musician Ananth Vikram. At 6 p.m., the Raga Rewired show will showcase young musicians performing popular Bollywood songs.

Music festival spotlights local stars Nur-D and Fanaka Nation

The fourth annual On the One Music Festival will bring live R&B, neo-soul, reggae, Afrobeats, hip-hop and poetry to Blooming Central Station Park this Saturday. 

This year’s lineup features rising Twin Cities acts, including hip-hop artist Nur-D, the sibling neo-soul band Nunnabove, SoulFlower, Fanaka Nation and more. 

Food trucks will serve soul food, eggrolls, and Afro-Italian cuisine, while local vendors offer skin care products, culinary sauces and seasonings, upcycled clothing, plants, jewelry, and T-shirts. 

Lantern-lighting at Como Park honors Japanese ancestors

The Japanese Obon Festival returns to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory this Sunday, filling the grounds with taiko drumming, Japanese cuisine, and the glow of hundreds of lanterns. Rooted in a centuries-old Buddhist tradition, Japan’s Obon holiday is a time when ancestral spirits are believed to return home for a brief visit. Families honor their loved ones by tending graves, offering food and drink at home altars, and lighting lanterns to guide the spirits on their journey. 

In addition to drumming groups, this year’s festival features traditional and contemporary dancers, singers and martial artists. More than 20 exhibitors will showcase Japanese-inspired sculptures, bamboo art, origami jewelry, kimonos, games, books and lanterns on sticks. Twenty food vendors will serve Japanese dishes, drinks and desserts. 

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