One lovely summer's morning (okay, afternoon really), I awoke to the excited twitterings of my flatmate who very much wanted to know if I would accompany her to a free show at the McCarren Pool in Brooklyn. "What free show?" I inquired. "AESOP ROCK!!!!" she replied, barely able to contain herself. Needless to say, I quickly dressed, grabbed my camera, and headed out the door with her.
Upon arriving at the McCarren Pool, we were informed by event staff that I could not, in fact, bring my yummy and delicious Mr. Softee rootbeer float into the venue.
Mind you, they were not selling McCarren-style rootbeer floats inside, but they wouldn't let me in with mine. You should also be well advised that you'd better find somewhere else to take your bike. 
It's fantastic to bike through Brooklyn in the summertime, but they won't let you take it inside the venue. This family (so cute with their fun hair and tattoos and cool kid in his bike-child's seat) had to ride around for quite some time looking for a place they felt safe locking up their bikes while they were inside. So, if you go to the McCarren Pool on your bike, don't say I didn't warn you.I'd never been inside the Pool before. It's run down (obviously, or it would still be an actual swimming pool and not a concert venue...yay for run down!). Somehow, though, like so many parts of Brooklyn, it still manages to make run down look beautiful...especially if you're with good company on a perfect summer day in August. The pool is everything trendy, hipster-ridden Williamsburg is all about. It's shabby, but just enough to still be chic.
The crowd was amazing. Thankfully, not just a bunch of shaggy-haired, striped scarf wearing, Manhattan-transplanted, pretentious, artsy, trendy hipsters...and not just trendy-ass hipster posers either.
The people watching was stellar. Some of my favorites: Two Sikh boys in pink turbans (who knew all the words to every song that Aesop Rock'ed! p.s. I kinda have a thing for Sikh boys in turbans), some girls laying down on
the bottom of the pretty blue paint chipped pool, a toddler with some music -buffering headphones on (bright pink - more very cool parents need to get these for their kids, btw). When Aesop Rock took the stage with Rob Sonic as his trusty companion and partner in rhyme, the crowd went bananas! The surge of bodies pushing toward the stage actually lifted me up off my feet momentarily. Backed by DJ Big Whiz on the wheels of steel, 
Aesop took the crowd on a lyrical journey through his musical catalogue. For real, for those that didn't already know, suddenly "Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, and Knives" seemed like the hot new anthem and something to maybe do some research on if you want to get some street cred. 
Personally, I had to stop taking photos and just stand with my hand to my heart when the beat dropped for "Daylight". I confess, I may have had a little tear in my eye. That was a very moving moment in hip hop for yours truly. Joined throughout the show by the likes of Rob Sonic, El-P, and Yak Ballz, Aesop gave the performance of the summer and made an entire corner of Brooklyn thank God for run down swimming pools and free summer shows.
