Whenever Flint rapper and artist Jeff Skigh puts together a lineup of performers, he starts with his own personal tastes, which tend to cover a lot of styles and genres of music and art. That usually results in an eclectic mix of musicians and artists sharing a stage and creating events that offer a little something for everyone.
“It’s very intentional to me because I like a wide variety of things, you know what I mean?,” Skigh said. “I like where you can throw in some live instruments or some a cappella and see some poetry. It’s just, this is me showcasing who I am to everybody else.”
This past weekend was a great example of what that leads to, with two events over the course of two days that showcased performers that cater to a wide range of tastes. Skigh’s Wine and Rhymes event at Queens’ Provisions June 25 featured names like Flint legends Mama Sōl and Bootleg of the Dayton Family joining artists like Baybro, Jontae Kemp, and more. Wine and Rhymes events also include an open mic component and take place in more intimate, laidback settings.
Then, on June 26, Skigh’s Carriage Town Live took over a stage on Mason Street in the heart of one of Flint’s most historic neighborhoods. That event featured performances by more than 40 artists throughout the afternoon and evening, surrounded by food, clothing vendors, visual artists, games and bounce houses, and a general spirit of love for the city and talent within it. This was Skigh’s third year hosting the event, and throughout the day thousands of people spent time passing through and enjoying music, food, and community.
“It’s amazing,” Skigh said. “It started off as something so small, and it grew pretty fast to this, so I’m just extremely happy that everybody is having a good time.”
Skigh’s vision for the event and goals have been pretty simple: he wants to activate a space within the city to create an annual tradition for people in Flint while also providing stage time for musicians of all experience levels to perform.
“I want to make this a place within the culture, a Flint culture, that everybody remembers,” Skigh said. “Something that we talk about and celebrate for years, like other spaces that we have around here.”
The show was headlined by Westside Boogie, a Compton, California, native who is signed to Eminem’s Shady Records label and who has toured globally. Other performers throughout the evening included a who’s who of Flint talent, including Jada Ali, Ace Gabbana, Taylor Tatum, Figga Da Kid, GS Tha Dream, King Cashes, Twicee, BayBro, and many more. Part of the beauty of the event is that it brings together performers of all experience levels and lets them share one stage and learn from each other.
“My main goal with this is to try to help give the smaller artists a platform,” Skigh said. “When I was coming up, we didn’t really have nobody that was doing stuff like this or trying to help or reach back out to us. We kind of had to just get it on our own. So any way I can try to help other artists get around these bigger artists or get around bigger crowds, I do it.”
It also allows him to bring together musicians of different ages and from different eras of music and connect them.
“That just feels so good just to see everybody come together,” Skigh said. “Especially with rap music, sometimes there’s a disconnect between younger and older artists where they feel like they don’t relate or they can’t come to the same spaces. I just kind of wanna eliminate that. I don’t think that should exist.”
Several sponsors also helped bring the event to life, including Randy Wise Chevrolet, South Flint Plaza Cannabis, Metropoulos Marketing, URB, 810 Cannabis Collective, Hyman, and Chill Medicated.
The next big event Skigh will be a part of is also in Carriage Town. The annual Porchfest celebration is July 17 from 5-10 p.m. Skigh’s Facebook and Instagram page also regularly promote performances and events featuring himself and many other Flint artists. Organizing events with so many components takes a lot of time and organization, but seeing the results and the community reaction is a heavy motivator for Skigh to continue building.
“Looking at everybody having a good time, talking, people seeing each other that ain’t seen each other in years, people’s faces together that usually would never even meet or be around each other, that’s the best part about it for me,” Skigh said. “That’s my motivation nowadays. Putting this stuff together pretty much by myself is extremely difficult. But once you see the results and you see all the happy people, you can’t help but want to keep going.”
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