SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/600882
After missing his scheduled keynote due to his tour bus being delayed, Willie Nelson made a surprise appearance at a Columbia Records showcase at Auditorium Shores. The total number of registrants surpassed 3,000. Remembered as the "Year of Johnny Cash," the Man in Black delivered the keynote address and played a show at Emo's that has become legend. In the process, he kickstarted a career resurgence that endured until his death in 2003. SXSW featured 512 artists on 27 stages. Rosanne Cash delivered the keynote with an introduction by then-Texas Governor Ann Richards, who returned as the main keynote in 1993. The SXSW offices were gutted by fire the day after the festival's end. After years moving among downtown hotels, SXSW estabished its event headquarters at the new Austin Convention Center, where it has remained ever since. If you're looking for one entire show that started the rapfire, Sonzala says it was the 2004 showcase at Aussie's featur- ing Bun B, Dizzee Rascal, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Michael 5000 Watts and more. "I pitched SXSW on a Murder Dog (magazine) showcase, with all the big Southern rappers," recalls Sonzala, and I got back an email from Craig Stewart (of SXSW) that included only the subject line, 'Do you really think you could do this?'" Although "Dirty South" hip hop, with its "chopped and screwed" remixes had exploded all over the world, there was no live tradition of the form. "These guys from Hous- ton never played on a real stage before," says Sonzala. "They might do a set at a car show or some shitty disco, but a music festival? What's that?" The crowd at Aussie's was about 50% white and about 20% badges – and the response was emphatic. Sonzala says the late addition of London "grime" pioneer Dizzee Rascal to the bill added a lot of heat and solidified hip hop's international status. "Dizzee's people didn't want him on a showcase with rock bands, so when they saw that there was a bill with Southern rappers, especially Bun B of UGK, that's where he wanted to be." Rascal met Bun B at a party Houston label owner Randall Jamail threw for Slim Thug that afternoon, and the pair became instant brothers. "Imagine" was the name of the two-minute spitfire recital that ended Rascal's set that night and ended up on the B- side of his next single "Dream." The show at Aussie's spiked Houston hip hop's imagina- tion. "It was, basically, on a beach volleyball court at a bar way off the beaten track," says Sonzala. "But Bun B has said that show opened up the whole world for him. I think it was the first time they saw what kind of impact their music was having." Written by Michael Corcoran 1 9 9 1 1 9 9 2 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 4 T O C E L E B R AT E S X S W ' S 3 0 T H Y E A R , U P C O M I N G S XSWo r l d I S S U E S W I L L R E M E M B E R S O M E O F E V E N T S F R O M S X S W ' S PA S T, A S P R E V I O U S LY P U B L I S H E D O N S X S W. C O M . T O S E E T H E F U L L A R C H I V E , V I S I T S X S W. C O M / 3 0 -Y E A R S . Willie Nelson Rosanne Cash Governor Ann Richards Beck M A R T H A G R E N O N G R E G S E L L S S X S W. C O M | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | S X S W o r l d 3 M A R T H A G R E N O N