Theophilus London, Rye Rye Tear Up a Castle at Art Basel Miami Beach

Posted on Dec 5th 2010 7:00PM by Arielle Castillo
Comments

Neilson Barnard, Getty Images

By the end of Art Basel's week-long sprint in Miami Beach, a large chunk of the most elite art collectors have already flown the coop, and the biggest sales have already padded gallerists' accounts. But as the weekend hits, things begin to reach a frenzy. Fueled by celebration, desperation or the desire to sell just a little bit more, people drink harder, rage harder and cram the streets for a blow-out to cap the weekend.

Saturday night (Dec. 4), the finishing flourish for the under-35 set was a 12-hour party dubbed Basel Castle. Organized by the Miami-birthed creative collective and party promoters known as the Overthrow, it was an afternoon-into-wee-hours marathon that began at 5PM Saturday and ran until 5AM the next morning.

Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images

And yes, the "castle" part of the name was literal. The group took over a local landmark on the very fringes of the Wynwood arts district--a sprawling indoor/outdoor complex that, inexplicably, was built in the form of a medieval palace, complete with drawbridge-style doors and gargoyles. During daylight hours, one of its only steady tenants is a yoga studio.

For a $5 entry fee -- among the cheapest in town last night -- partiers wandered an indoor/outdoor warren dotted by promoters dressed as actual knights. Yes, there was art, including a mini midway sponsored by the San Francisco-based company Tott Global and carnival games designed by artists like Ron English and Tara McPherson. Inside, Atlanta-based creative agency/gallery A Better View sold graffiti art books, T-shirts and psychedelic prints by artists like Iain Macarthur. Sales probably goosed considerably by the $2.50 drinks.

Back in the venue's sprawling center courtyard, though, the party was all about music, with DJs slowly hyping the crowd over the hours between sets by particularly dance-friendly performers. Earlier in the evening, this meant slightly softer fare, like Miami/Brooklyn artist Jesp's disco and freestyle-inflected electro-pop.

Things got harder and clubbier after midnight when Baltimore club-rap firecracker Rye Rye took the stage. Although she was hyped as an M.I.A. protégé as a young teen, she became a mother and subsequently fell out of the public eye somewhat over the last year.

Now, she seems hungrier than ever to take back her spot, ripping through a relentlessly fast-paced show that she spent, it seemed, continuously bouncing. Her lightning-speed vocalizing is part rapping, part singing and lots of straight party-hyping, which, combined with her favored bass-heavy B-more beats, creates a concoction that's dizzying but infectious. She and her three male backup dancers must also get their required levels of fitness through their nonstop, coordinated aerobic bouncing.

Watch Rye Rye's 'Bang'

After a half hour or so of slightly twisted DJ dance selections -- Caligula's dark dubstep remix of Rick Ross' 'B.M.F.' for one -- it was time for another surprise hit of the evening, Theophilus London. He's another artist who's nominally labeled a rapper, but who casts a wide sonic net, mashing new wave onto club beats and sprinkling it with Britpop references.

Sporting a John Wayne-worthy cowboy hat, he worked the stage solo like a pro, gamely picking up the stuttering, club-beat thread left by Rye Rye. He flexed his mood muscles a bit though, airing out two new songs that tended almost towards moody synth-pop balladry before zipping right back to bangers. This meant, bizarrely, a crowd-slaying rendition of 'Always Love U,' a selection from his 2009 effort, 'This Charming Mixtape,' which samples, yes, 'The Bodyguard' theme song. Whitney Houston hasn't sounded so fresh in decades.

Watch Theophilus London's 'Always Love U'