Bun B Shares His Trillest SXSW Recs

The Trill OG gives us an insider's scoop on Austin.

March 10, 2014

Image via Complex Original

Few living rappers are more well-respected than Bernard Freeman (a.k.a. Bun B). From his classic work with UGK, to years of solo material, to working as a lecturer at Rice University, Bun's career has taken him across the globe. Even so, Mr. B's greatest expertise may lie in discussing his home state of Texas. Though Bun originally hails from Port Arthur (and is a fixture of Houston rap), he's been hitting-up South by Southwest for so long now he knows every corner of Austin. Read on as the Trill OG himself talks about the best places to eat and drink, seeing Amy Winehouse for the first time, and what's changed in the eight years since he's been visiting the festival.

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Eating and Drinking

What's your favorite place to grab a snack in Austin?

Probably Torchy’s Tacos. It’s good, quick, reliable. East Austin has a great variety of food trucks. The food truck park is the best place to go.

How about a drink?

In Austin, Texas everywhere is a great place to drink. You pretty much can’t go wrong downtown in the 6th Street area. The bar that most people like to go to for stargazing is the Living Room lounge at the W hotel—it gets pretty turnt up over there.

Hotels and Hotspots

Where would you recommend staying on a trip to SXSW?

Well, it depends. Staying downtown can be a bit of a hassle for some people. If all you’re gonna do is stay downtown, then the W Hotel, of course, is a great place to stay. They also opened a brand new Hyatt Place Austin Downtown. The Hyatt Place is maybe 18 months old tops.

Do you have a favorite venue?

That’s a good question, maybe ACL Live, if I had to pick something.

Who are you most excited to see this year?

I haven’t heard too much about who’s going to be playing this year, but I’m excited about the little guys, people that I’ve never heard of, those are the things that I usually get excited about at SXSW. There’s always going to be somebody that I’ve never seen before that’s gonna do it big.

Past Performances

What're the most memorable performances you've seen in years past?

I’ve been doing SX for maybe eight years now, so when we first started going it was not as crazy as it is now. It was a lot easier to catch great bands back then. I remember Metallica playing Stubb’s BBQ was a crazy show. Amy Winehouse right before she really blew up. Her first show was really, really good, second show was okay. She drank a little bit more and more as the weekend went on, so the last performances weren’t as great…

SXSW is known for discovering new talent. Does anyone stick out to you?

Yeah, Dizzee Rascal. I met him when he was about 18 years old back with his first solo album. Now he’s like an international superstar.

What are you own plans for SXSW this time around?

I’m definitely gonna come back for SXSW, but we try not to duplicate things. I always want to try and do something different. There’s so many different people doing things now, I like to make sure that I’m everywhere I wanna be. I’ll book maybe two or three gigs for myself and I’ll spend the rest of the time checking out other people and maybe popping up on other people’s sets.

Staying True

As someone who has been going to SXSW for so long, how have you seen it change over the years?

It’s very corporate now. It’s very, very corporate now. There are so many different entities that really have nothing to do with music or performers trying to get their products sold or their company’s visibility at SXSW. They’re sponsoring showcases, but they really don’t care about the music. They’re just trying to get big names on the showcase and justify the whole point of them being there in the first place.

Even so, does SXSW still stay true to the Austin spirit?

Oh yeah, I mean there’s still gonna be a lot of great showcases going on, nonetheless. But you get bombarded by these big showcases. They are great opportunities for the artists that get gigs, I do corporate gigs all the time, but we should definitely not forget what SXSW was started for, and that was to give emerging artists an opportunity to be seen and heard.

Parting Words

Is there anything people should try to avoid when they're down at SXSW?

Yeah, I recommend that people drink water. There’s gonna be a lot of partying, a lot of free beer, free drinks, open bars at a lot of these places, but do not forsake water. It’s very important to stay hydrated in Texas in March. Definitely do not pass up your free water.