This weekend, Twin Cities artists will perform on Lake Harriet’s icebound stages and in the Como Park Conservatory garden. Bookstores will gather for a grown-up book fair in Minneapolis and starting Monday, youth can learn to DJ, rap, breakdance and paint through TruArtSpeak’s new hip-hop program. 

Hip-hop at the Children’s Museum

When McKinley West, also known as DJ Mickey Breeze, turned 21, he couldn’t go to the clubs he was finally old enough to play. It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the local music scene had come to a halt. 

“I got a bit of a late start,” said West, who started producing beats at age 8. “But I’ve noticed that the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.” 

Born in Minneapolis and raised in St. Paul, West began learning piano, trumpet and drums at age 5 and spent his school years immersed in classical and jazz music. 

His older brother — a former rapper known as AMG — introduced him to mixtapes and trap music, which inspired West to combine his instrumental training with electronic production. By age 10, he had found his lane in DJing, seeing it as the ultimate conduit to perform his original beats without needing to be at the front of the stage with a mic. 

When the Twin Cities’ nightlife opened its doors again, West began showing up at local shows just to support other artists, recording their sets and helping promote their work. 

“I wasn’t very social. I didn’t do a lot of sports as a kid. I didn’t really have a lot of friends growing up, so music was my outlet to reach my community,” he said. “Even if I didn’t have the resources of having a stage or a venue, I at least wanted to go and support somebody.” 

Today, he teaches DJ techniques at Slam Academy and performs with Generation Now, providing the soundtrack for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Twins. You can catch his sets at The Basement Bar every third Thursday of the month.

“I started DJing for the passion and my own innate creativity,” he said. “It’s another thing to go into a space, read who’s there and be able to mesh or integrate into that space as smoothly as possible.”

West is bringing his experience to the Minnesota Children’s Museum for the kick-off of TruArtSpeaks’ “Hands-On Hip Hop,” a six-week program designed to help youth deeply engage with the culture.

The event, which begins on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, will feature live music from West and breakdancing by University of Minnesota hip-hop dance instructor Herb Johnson. Every Saturday after, local artists, including muralist Jordan Malcolm Hamilton and hip-hop artist Desdamona, will teach kids one of the four core elements of hip-hop culture, including emceeing, break-dancing, DJing and graffiti. The series wraps up on Feb. 28 with a final workshop and performance where participants can showcase their skills and art to museum visitors.

Also this weekend, head to The Icehouse on Saturday, Jan. 17, for the debut of TruArtSpeaks’ Urgent Emergent Performance Art Series, a year-long monthly residency highlighting African diasporic music for the organization’s 20th anniversary. 

An arts village on ice

The Art Shanty Projects’ on-ice program returns to Lake Harriet on Saturday with artist-built shanties, live performances and interactive activities. Highlights this weekend include Native lacrosse, yoga and Taiko drumming on Saturday, along with square dancing and bike racing on Sunday. 

Future weekends feature a comedy hour with Comrade Tripp, Madi R.T. and Devohn Bland, and poetry readings by Minneapolis Poet Laureate Junauda Petrus. 

Book fair for grown-ups

If you miss the magic of the school book fair, bookstores across the Twin Cities will gather at Inbound BrewCo.’s taproom this Saturday for a Book Fair for Grown Ups with local food trucks and a makers market. 

Browse BIPOC-focused literature from Black Garnet Books, LGBTQ+ titles from Avant Garden, horror and poetry from Comma, a bookshop, mystery from Once Upon a Crime, vintage titles from Rokke Rare Books, and more. 

Live music at Como Conservatory

At the Como Zoo Conservatory on Sunday, live Congolese dance music will fill the Sunken Garden as part of the Music Under Glass series. Listeners can stroll along the garden paths while musician Siama Matuzungidi sings, beatboxes and plays guitar, alongside traditional African instruments including the mbira (thumb piano), lokole (drum) and balafon (marimba). 

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