AMSTERJAM 2006 MASHES UP LL COOL J, YERBA, BUSTA AND TEGO

Beerfest writer/director Jay Chandrasekhar had to give his actors direction on how to chug beer. Keywords: Broken Lizard, Will Forte, Jay Chandrasekhar.

AmsterJam 2006 took place this past weekend (August 19) at New York City’s Randalls Island. The event was highlighted with individual sets and special live mash-ups featuring parings of LL Cool J with Tego Calderon and Busta Rhymes with latin funk-rockers Yerba Buena.

The event also featured Tom Petty and Foo Fighters and was curated by Jermaine Dupri. Before his set Busta Rhymes, who recently released his new album The Big Bang, talked about being at AmsterJam and performing with Yerba Buena.

“I mean it’s cool. It’s good to be out here and to be able to do what you love. You know what I mean? I love doing my music, performing and making sure we give the people the real, live energy and just continue to rep hip-hop. Just the opportunity to do something different, I mean, that always adds flavor to what we are used to doing because you know you do something one way regularly, you get to add a lot of little spices to it, and flavor when you get to do different things and just experience and encounter new energy.”

LL Cool J, who also showcased new material off his latest CD, Todd Smith, jammed with Reggaeton sensation Tego Calderon. He shared with us what it was like to perform in front of the AmsterJam crowd.

“It felt incredible. The energy was live, the crowd was incredibly exciting. I started off in the daylight at that dusk hour, and it started getting dark. It was dramatic. It was fun. I think I enjoyed the crowd more than they enjoyed me. They were so live and there was so much energy. It was great.”

AmsterJam also had a second stage going to entertain fans that featured the likes of Papoose and Silvertide. The event marks AmsterJam’s second year. The first year featured Red Hot Chili Peppers mashing with Snoop Dogg, 311 mashing with Wyclef Jean, and Garbage’s Shirley Manson Mashing with Peaches, among others.