Art, Beats + Lyrics Makes Anticipated Return to Charlotte
The touring hip-hop art exhibition returns March 28 at Blume Studios
The sound of the crowd hums in rhythm with the hip-hop beats permeating the space. The transformed nectar of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey whiskey teases the taste buds of patrons who roam the room to see wall upon wall of artwork.
This is not your ordinary art exhibition; it’s a multisensory overload of contemporary art and hip-hop culture. This is Jack Honey Art, Beats + Lyrics (AB+L) — an art and music exhibition where the gallery meets the concert while libations of Tennessee Honey whiskey flow, and for one night in March, it’s back in Charlotte.
It’s been 7 years since AB+L touched down in the Queen City. Jack Honey AB+L founder Jabari Graham recalled that the last time he brought the event to Charlotte was during NBA All-Star Weekend in 2019, the pre-COVID era.
Launched in Atlanta more than two decades ago before hitting the road to tour nationally, Graham calls Charlotte a “cornerstone for AB+L since day one,” adding that the hiatus from our city only occurred so he and other organizers could “spread the love” to multiple markets.
“We try to spread it out,” Graham told Queen City Nerve. “We go to some markets and then some markets we don’t go to for the next three or so years. We try to spread the love the best way we can. And I think COVID had something to do with [the hiatus], too.”
The return of Jack Honey AB+L to Charlotte is scheduled for March 28 at Blume Studios, the immersive venue opened by Blumenthal Arts in September 2024. The event will usher in the spring with music from headliner Premo Rice and artwork compiled by AB+L curator Dwayne “Dubelyoo” Wright.
“You can expect new, innovative installations with artists leveraging their creative talents to showcase not only the intersection between hip-hop music and visual art, but also using their craft to highlight ‘The New Art History,’” Wright said in a release announcing the event’s anticipated return to Charlotte.
Why Art, Beats + Lyrics matters to Charlotte’s creative community
Jack Honey AB+L holds a special place in the hearts of the Black creative class of Charlotteans. For Dammit Wesley, artist, entertainer and owner of BLKMRKTCLT, attending AB+L was the first time he had ever been in an art space where everyone looked like him and the art looked like something he would create.
“It exposed a lot of people in our community to what has been missing from museums and galleries,” he shared.
“They were on the forefront of promoting and presenting Black art and Black artists in a way that was not seen in the academic and collegiate spaces … It just sort of rewired my brain with how I would engage with the arts in general.”
You can see and hear the influence of Jack Honey AB+L in Dammit Wesley’s BLKMRKTCLT art studio in Camp North End. Bold colors underscore images of Black faces and bodies covering every inch of the wall. R&B music from the 1990s played in the background on a recent visit, warmly greeted by both Wesley and a neon sign that boldly states “Colored Only.”
Wesley has displayed artwork at past AB+L exhibits, but this year he’s been recruited to bring sonic art through music selection as one of the DJs scheduled to perform, which he called a “full-circle moment.”
“I did not consider engaging with DJ culture until I went to Art, Beats + Lyrics,” he recalled. “Not too long after that I was able to see DJ Jazzy Jeff in a Red Bull Freestyle Experience. That’s when I pivoted from traditional fine art into finding ways I could incorporate fine art into nightlife.”
If Charlotte’s Black creatives have a special appreciation for AB+L, the feeling from its organizers is mutual. Graham shared that Charlotte was the first spot outside of Atlanta where they took the show.
The event was held at CenterStage on North Davidson Street, now home to Urban District Market.
“The reception that we got was amazing,” he recalled. “Being away from Atlanta, and doing it outside of Atlanta for another city and it being a good reception was reassuring that we were doing something pretty dope. I’m glad that we can come back and do it again.”
Wright added, “Charlotte was a proof of concept … Once we did it in Charlotte, that gave everybody the green light to say, ‘Hey, this is something that we can do in other markets.’”
Charlotte-based mixed media artist, metalsmith, and Su Casa founder Jasiatic Usher has attended multiple AB+L events in both Atlanta and Charlotte. She pointed out that, with so many people moving into the Charlotte market in any given year, so many will have a chance to experience AB+L for the first time.
“Even though Jack Honey Art, Beats + Lyrics is a travelling show and they are in each city, there’s so many people that are hitting me up that never heard of it,” she said. “They’ve never experienced it. So I’m just looking forward to seeing what and who it brings together, and what that looks like now compared to the early 2000s.”
AB+L has made stops in most major American cities since its founding in 2004, visiting 14 on its 20th anniversary tour in 2024 alone. Over that time, the vibes remain the same.
Inside the immersive art and music experience of AB+L
Eric Ndelo, creative director and owner of global streetwear brand DRC ApeParel, described Jack Honey AB+L as “an open air art market where there’s just crazy, good energy in the building because everyone is there for the artwork.”
He continued, “It has just so much good art vibes, and everyone is dressed to the nines. There are great art activations … To me it’s a nice spiritual vibe.”
Ndelo has caught the exhibition in Charlotte, Greensboro and Miami, recalling the “high vibrational, electric vibe every single time.”
That vibe and energy comes from the curation of artists, both visual and musical, who participate in each event.
Usher has had her work displayed at Jack Honey AB+L in the past and said the experience “shifted” the way she views and experiences art.
“I just remember going in early to drop off work and just being amazed at how expansive and colourful and impactful the talent among all the artists was,” she said. “Then going to the actual show and just being, I guess I’d say, overwhelmed by the talent of artists.”
There are a limited number of venues that can host an AB+L show in Charlotte, so the addition of Blume Studios since the event’s last stop in our city created a fortuitous opportunity.
Bree Stallings, director of artistic experiences at Blumenthal Arts, said Blume Studios offered a mix of two things: “The freedom of an immersive experience in a wide open space, but also supported by our theater, light and technology.”
Patrons can expect to come across interactive sculptures both inside and outside the warehouse space. They will be able to freely roam the space and visit multiple bars. There will be a main stage and multiple art activations.
Blume Studios is a creative hub located in the budding Iron District, located on South Clarkson Street at West Morehead Street, adjacent to Bank of America Stadium. Stallings said Blume Studios staffers jokingly call the venue “Tenant Zero” since they are the first to be set up in the location.
Once more join, the area will effectively become a bridge between Uptown, the Wesley Heights neighborhood in west Charlotte and the northwestern tip of South End.
“People drove past it for so many years, even though it was in such a popular area, right off of Morehead, not many people knew what it was. So we’re just excited that we’ve now invited a couple hundred thousand folks into that neighborhood,” she said, referring to the programming held there over its first 18 months.
“We’re honored to be the first ones to kind of help shape the audience’s behavior for how they’ll come to experience that space.”
Jack Honey AB+L returning to Charlotte is like a “homecoming,” said Wesley.
For Usher, just like a homecoming event, it brings out family.
“For me, Jack Honey AB+L means family. It means a gathering space for creative folks really throughout the Black Southern US. So, when I would go to AB+L, I would see all of my people from Atlanta and just kind of throughout the Southeast.
“We’re all in the space together showing artwork or looking at each other’s artwork throughout this area,” she continued. “So for me, it means family, connection and just magic in so many ways.”
How Art, Beats + Lyrics celebrates each city it visits
As curator, Wright ensures that there are no white walls at the show; everything is turned up, from the music to the visuals.
“The artwork is set up so that the walls have murals on them in the background because we want the walls to enhance the viewing experience,” Wright told Queen City Nerve. “We have large 8-foot-by-8-foot light boxes, and while that’s going on the music is steadily going.”
The art show culminates with a musical performance that the DJs build up to throughout the evening.
He continued, “It’s increasing as the evening goes on, and it culminates with a performer, a big performance.” Based out of Prince George’s County, Maryland, this year’s headliner Premo Rice is known for blending hip-hop, soul and funk.
“Charlotte has been a cornerstone for AB+L since day one,” said Graham upon announcing the return. “Bringing Premo Rice to Blume Studios, surrounded by dope visual art, feels like the perfect way to honor Charlotte’s influence on our culture.”
AB+L is a national brand that brings in a local appeal by tapping into the creative ecosystem of each market that they visit, Ndelo pointed out.
“It was a huge venue with hundreds and hundreds of people there to observe the art,” he recalled of his Charlotte experience. “And, to be able to see some of my homeboys like Marcus Kiser and God City to have their pieces in the Art, Beats + Lyrics. It felt like we made it.”
He said the return of AB+L to Charlotte offers a spotlight on the city, showing how it has grown since the last event in 2019. It is also another opportunity for the creative community of Charlotte to “come out and be fly” while “gathering to showcase how cool and dope we are,” he said.
When it comes down to it, Jack Honey Art, Beats + Lyrics is something that a creative individual, art collector or nightlife enthusiast can look forward to.
“For me personally, there were two big things that I looked forward to in Charlotte when I was younger: CIAA was definitely one, and two, Art, Beats + Lyrics without fail,” said Wesley. “I knew every September or October, AB+L was going to be here and I would make plans for it to happen.”
On the second weekend of spring this year, it’s time to make plans again.
Jack Honey Arts, Beats + Lyrics will take place on March 28, 7 p.m.-midnight, at Blume Studios, 904 Post St. Attendance is free but RSVP is required, with limited capacity. Must be 21 or older with a valid ID. RSVP and/or find more info at jackhoneyabl.com.
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