SPACE CAMP Death Squad

"And make no mistake: The fact that the first three performing groups (-topic, Space Camp Death Squad and Fat Tony) all hailed from Texas -- and pulled large crowds throughout the night -- reiterated our belief that the local underground hip-hop scene really has its shit together these days.

But, really, there was nothing ordinary about last night's show, which was filled with fun-sized bags of Doritos, a fierce trio of bizarre rappers and, in an extremely bizarre turn, a cat.

The night started out easy-going enough. Unlike the scene at Rubber Gloves, there seemed to be no worry about capacity issues at Hailey's. Still, a steady audience formed when Dallas' -topic took to the stage. Partnered with Kool Quise, -topic easily awakened the crowd, and, almost immediately, had a few fans singing along to his poetic raps. And, although he seemed to be randomly picking and choosing songs to perform, mixing in with requests from the audience, -topic's performance at this show was perhaps best to date. During his fan-loved "I Just Wanna Chill," he and his fellow Team From Nowhere comrades launched free fun-sized bags of chips into the audience. It was awesome. But there also just seemed something new -- something more -- to this showcase.

Next up was Austin's Space Camp Death Squad, which features three emcees (P-Tek, Doc Brown and Secret Levels), a drummer and a DJ. Com[pare them a bit to the Beastie Boys -- with a little of Kid Cudi's style thrown in along with the best bits of a beloved hip-hop mixtape. Their energy was ridiculously hyper; during their set, all three emcees bounced around the stage -- sometimes shirtless, always engaging, and trading mics throughout. They cracked jokes. They got real. The audience was in love. At one point, they asked their audience to suggest a word or phrase that the group could use to start off a freestyle. The chosen phrase was "blue-green jizz," and, honestly, the freestyle was one of the smoothest and well-delivered any rap fan's likely to ever hear.

Sometimes, a festival is about seeing an act that's well known and sought after, but other times, it's about discovering a new one. And, if Space Camp Death Squad was somewhat a lesser known act before, they certainly became well-known -- and respected -- in Denton last night. The trio was feverish in their delivery, and the rapid speed at which the emcees could spit their rhymes (while remaining audible, at that) kept the crowd fired up. There was never a dull moment." - Central Track

"And make no mistake: The fact that the first three performing groups (-topic, Space Camp Death Squad and Fat Tony) all hailed from Texas -- and pulled large crowds throughout the night -- reiterated our belief that the local underground hip-hop scene really has its shit together these days.

But, really, there was nothing ordinary about last night's show, which was filled with fun-sized bags of Doritos, a fierce trio of bizarre rappers and, in an extremely bizarre turn, a cat.

The night started out easy-going enough. Unlike the scene at Rubber Gloves, there seemed to be no worry about capacity issues at Hailey's. Still, a steady audience formed when Dallas' -topic took to the stage. Partnered with Kool Quise, -topic easily awakened the crowd, and, almost immediately, had a few fans singing along to his poetic raps. And, although he seemed to be randomly picking and choosing songs to perform, mixing in with requests from the audience, -topic's performance at this show was perhaps best to date. During his fan-loved "I Just Wanna Chill," he and his fellow Team From Nowhere comrades launched free fun-sized bags of chips into the audience. It was awesome. But there also just seemed something new -- something more -- to this showcase.

Next up was Austin's Space Camp Death Squad, which features three emcees (P-Tek, Doc Brown and Secret Levels), a drummer and a DJ. Com[pare them a bit to the Beastie Boys -- with a little of Kid Cudi's style thrown in along with the best bits of a beloved hip-hop mixtape. Their energy was ridiculously hyper; during their set, all three emcees bounced around the stage -- sometimes shirtless, always engaging, and trading mics throughout. They cracked jokes. They got real. The audience was in love. At one point, they asked their audience to suggest a word or phrase that the group could use to start off a freestyle. The chosen phrase was "blue-green jizz," and, honestly, the freestyle was one of the smoothest and well-delivered any rap fan's likely to ever hear.

Sometimes, a festival is about seeing an act that's well known and sought after, but other times, it's about discovering a new one. And, if Space Camp Death Squad was somewhat a lesser known act before, they certainly became well-known -- and respected -- in Denton last night. The trio was feverish in their delivery, and the rapid speed at which the emcees could spit their rhymes (while remaining audible, at that) kept the crowd fired up. There was never a dull moment." - Central Track

"While the festival was heavy on Denton and DFW area bands, Austin had a great showing as well. On Friday, I caught a set by local rappers Space Camp Death Squad, which alternated between hard, intense verses and lighter fare like reading from Goosebumps books. They had the crowd bouncing the entire time. Excellent hip-hop continued with Astronautalis, whose tight freestyle combined crowd shout-outs for the phrases “couchsurfingdotcom,” “crunchy peanut butter,” “rooster claw,” “hologram Hugo Chavez,” “cuties tangerines,” and “Germany.”" - Austin Chronicle

"While the festival was heavy on Denton and DFW area bands, Austin had a great showing as well. On Friday, I caught a set by local rappers Space Camp Death Squad, which alternated between hard, intense verses and lighter fare like reading from Goosebumps books. They had the crowd bouncing the entire time. Excellent hip-hop continued with Astronautalis, whose tight freestyle combined crowd shout-outs for the phrases “couchsurfingdotcom,” “crunchy peanut butter,” “rooster claw,” “hologram Hugo Chavez,” “cuties tangerines,” and “Germany.”" - Austin Chronicle

"From The Hive, we went to Hailey’s to check out our friends in Space Camp Death Squad. As I tweeted once they got started, if you missed this show, you’re doing the festival wrong. I’ve seen Space Camp before and was impressed from the get go but these guys upped their performance last night, which, I was unaware was possible. Anyone who knows me knows that I am as white as they come but Space Camp’s brand of nerdcore hip hop will bring out the dancer in even me. Their songs and lyrical content are silly, one tune in particular titled “Big Peach” (yes, like the soda, Big Peach) but it’s executed in such a way that you feel more like you’re listening to the most intense and intelligent form of rap. The band is comprised of a three front guys, I guess you could call them, a DJ and a drummer. Front man Ryan Darbonne took out and read from an old Goosebumps book at one point but his reading was anything but soft. I was on stage but kept out of view to the side but other ladies danced, literally, like no one was watching in front of the stage. One in particular even made her way up, I’m fairly certain uninvited, many times and added to the hype. I’ve told these guys before that I would happily pay damn good money for their record and last night only added to that sentiment. Space Camp Death Squad puts on a show but has the music and the talent to make seeing them more than just live performance." - Megan Radke Has a Music Blog

"From The Hive, we went to Hailey’s to check out our friends in Space Camp Death Squad. As I tweeted once they got started, if you missed this show, you’re doing the festival wrong. I’ve seen Space Camp before and was impressed from the get go but these guys upped their performance last night, which, I was unaware was possible. Anyone who knows me knows that I am as white as they come but Space Camp’s brand of nerdcore hip hop will bring out the dancer in even me. Their songs and lyrical content are silly, one tune in particular titled “Big Peach” (yes, like the soda, Big Peach) but it’s executed in such a way that you feel more like you’re listening to the most intense and intelligent form of rap. The band is comprised of a three front guys, I guess you could call them, a DJ and a drummer. Front man Ryan Darbonne took out and read from an old Goosebumps book at one point but his reading was anything but soft. I was on stage but kept out of view to the side but other ladies danced, literally, like no one was watching in front of the stage. One in particular even made her way up, I’m fairly certain uninvited, many times and added to the hype. I’ve told these guys before that I would happily pay damn good money for their record and last night only added to that sentiment. Space Camp Death Squad puts on a show but has the music and the talent to make seeing them more than just live performance." - Megan Radke Has a Music Blog