Art Basel brings people from all over the world to Miami Beach for its only edition stateside during the first week of December every year. In addition to the 20+ satellite art fairs, there are endless pop ups, receptions, performances and parties put on by numerous sponsors, galleries, and brands.
On the last night of the week long, citywide event, Boiler Room hosted their first-ever party during Miami’s Art Basel Week. A night geared toward the appreciation of lyricism and spoken word featured Saul Williams and performances by Allan Kingdom and Melo-X.
Under a mango tree strung with rainbow colored lights in the backyard of a small home in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood at a space known as Smoke Signals Studios, Aja Monet and Umi Selah hosted the event. It was here Yasiin Bey, who had been seen out and about around Miami during Basel festivities, surprised the crowd coming out of the back door to put on his first performance in the United States in five years. With Melo-X on the decks on one side and a live band on the other, Bey performed never before released music to an intimate crowd of about 200.
You can see a clip of Bey’s “No Time To Pretend” and the livestream of the entire event below. Bey comes on about 5 hours and 10 minutes into the stream.
