Local rapper Joey Batts‘ annual seasonal charity event, Hip Hop for the Homeless, which raises money for emergency shelters, turns 10 this month and continues to grow.
This year, there are three weekends of fundraising concert events that will include nine live shows plus a “secret” webcast. The concerts feature an array of local hip-hop acts. The Dec. 14 internet broadcast, live from Middletown, features some of the same artists and is in honor of a similar online event that Hip Hop for the Homeless arranged when the COVID-19 pandemic closed clubs in 2020.
“The first years, we did four or five shows,” Batts said. “This year, for the first time, it’s three weekends. It’s a testament to all the artists who’ve been a part of this.”
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One reason the number of shows continues to grow, he said, is the number of acts that want to participate. Besides the musicians, “there’s a ton of sound engineers and lighting designers coming out of the woodwork for these shows.”
Another highlight of this year’s schedule that celebrates the event’s illustrious history is a reunion of Batts’ well-remembered band Joey Batts & Them. The five-piece act was active in the early 2010s and hasn’t performed together since 2014.
Courtesy Mike Marques
Rapper/singer Ty Hookz is among the many performers included in the 2023 Hip Hop for the Homeless concerts. (Courtesy Mike Marques)
The reunion came about thanks to Keith Beaulieu, owner of The Main Pub in Manchester, where Joey Batts & Them often played in their heyday over a decade ago. When Batts approached The Main Pub about hosting a Hip Hop for the Homeless show, Beaulieu insisted that he wanted to see the band get back together.
Batts’ day job is teaching English literature at Manchester High School, but he continues to tour and record. He feels that hip hop is “still a small genre in Connecticut, trying to find its champions, artists it can call its own, and get a national stamp of approval.”
The complete 2023 Hip Hop for the Homeless schedule includes:
- Nov. 30 at Park City Music Hall in Bridgeport, hosted by Sketch the Cataclysm.
- Dec. 1 at Oasis Pub in New London.
- Dec. 2 at Hoops-N-Hops in Simsbury.
- Dec. 7 at the Divine Theatre in Holyoke, Massachusetts, with sets by Catalyst, Murf, Manny Maye, Crown.Quan and D.R.C.
- Dec. 8 at The Main Pub in Manchester featuring the Joey Batts & Them reunion.
- Dec. 9 at Strangebrew Pub in Norwich with Joey Batts, Stryfe & N.M.E. The Illest, White Cheddar & James Joyce The Squatch, AO Money Meech, Zitro The Great, Ty Hookz And Chris B. Amazing, Crooked Mindz & Dan Theory and BK Bad Wolf.
- Dec. 13 at Cafe Nine in New Haven with Nico Fuego, Ricky Swift, The 50X50s, Jules Baxter, FLOWlikeWATER, Mandy Moorehol and DJ Mo Niklz.
- Dec. 14 is the secret internet broadcast from Middletown. Details, including a log-in code, can be found closer to the event on the Hip Hop for the Homeless Facebook page.
- Dec. 15 at Anvil Place in New Britain.
- Dec. 16 at Black-Eyed Sally’s in Hartford.
Last year, the concerts collectively raised over $6,500. The organizers also collect donations of non-perishable food items and new clothing.
For more information on Hip Hop for the Homeless, go to facebook.com/HipHopfortheHomeless/.
