Kingdom Rave reunites Bone Thugs-n-Harmony for Halloween hip-hop/EDM bash

?For many, Halloween is a time to wear masks and explore parts of our psyches that are otherwise kept in check the rest of the year. At Kingdom Rave, costumes and partying are the norm, especially when the event falls on Halloween weekend. Having celebrated its third anniversary last month with an event headlined by Waka Flaka Flame and HXV, the Kingdom returns to its new home at the Imperial Ballroom in Norcross’ Live Oak Plaza this Friday (Oct. 30) with an eclectic lineup including hip-hop legends Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, drum ‘n’ bass mainstay Dieselboy, local bass music favorite Vorheez, and others.
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?“From the first Kingdom to this one, you wouldn’t recognize it even though they’re the same show,” says promoter MJ Lee, who has been involved with Kingdom since its third event. “We used to do five stages. Since we moved to this venue we’ve consolidated it all. We have a main room stage, a secondary stage, and a pop-up stage. This one will be two stages and in December it will be three stages.
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?”At the end of the day, it’s a costume party,” he adds. “It’s based on the video game Kingdom Hearts and the show was originally about coming out in your craziest costumes.”
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?Catering to longtime ravers as well as a constant new crop of young fans just discovering EDM, Kingdom has grown to become a festival-like event headlined by established electronic and hip-hop acts with support from DJs setting new dance music trends. “What we try to do is evolve Kingdom to where there’s something for everybody,” says promoter George Williams, better known as hip-hop/EDM performer Sporty-O. “It’s not like going to a club, seeing the opener, then seeing the headliner and hearing the same BPM all the way through. Atlanta is one of the major EDM markets in America, so it’s a challenge to stay current. We’re just trying to put on a show where there’s something for everybody. With EDM, new people become part of the family with each event.”
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?Celebrating the 20th anniversary of its 1999 Eternal album, the reunited Bone Thugs-n-Harmony lineup will be part of this Halloween family for its first Atlanta-area performance in many years.
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????“We haven’t done a show in Atlanta in a while, period,” says Krayzie Bone. “Our fans have been asking us why we haven’t been back, so when this opportunity came up we thought it would be good for us. We have a lot of support in Atlanta, so we wanted to get back down there for the fans. I’m quite sure there’s going to be quite a few people that we’ve worked with coming through to check out the show.”
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?Dieselboy, who has maintained a strong following in Atlanta’s EDM scene despite drum ‘n’ bass’ waning popularity, makes his Kingdom debut following Bones’ set. Having a longstanding professional relationship with Lee, however, Dieselboy already feels like part of the family. “Atlanta’s been one of my better markets and has stayed pretty consistent,” says the artist also known as Damian Higgins. “The energy is always really good and Atlanta can handle some of the heavier stuff. I think that’s why it’s been a better scene for me there. Whenever I show up, I try to play the most banging, hard-hitting stuff that I can, and I blend the new stuff with the old stuff. I know this party drives a lot of hardcore kids out to have a good time, so I’m stoked to play it.”
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?With a lineup that also includes breakbeat duo DJ Fixx and Keith MacKenzie, trap trio Smookie Illson and a Hidden Kingdom stage curated by Atlanta house duo Ralph & Louie (as well as an audience costume contest), this Halloween party is one of Kingdom’s most diverse events yet. And that’s exactly the type of magic this Kingdom is looking to create. “You’re never going to see this lineup anywhere else in the world, no matter what,” says Lee. “To me it’s always been about legacies and legends and doing something different than what anybody else is doing. Atlanta’s a hip-hop town, but we haven’t seen anyone from the promotion side cross that bridge on a big scale. Hip-hop guys have been playing at dance music parties since the dawn of dance music. Dance music comes from hip-hop, hip-hop comes from Kraftwerk and Afrika Bambaattaa, so it’s all tied together anyway.
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?$30-$87.50. 10 p.m. Imperial Ballroom, 6100 Live Oak Pkwy, Norcross, GA