Mastering the Me Trip (Part 2)

Ed’s Fabulous Me Trip to The Roots Picnic: 20th Anniversary of Things Fall Apart

This is part two of a series on effective self-care. Read part one where I make the case for going to the next level by taking a ‘me trip.’

Who: Ed Fields

What: Me Trip

Why: To live a life with no regrets. To live out loud. To explore. To dance among strangers. To celebrate and enjoy one of the best Hip-Hop groups of all time.

When: June 1, 2019

Where: The Roots Picnic Festival, Philadelphia, PA, The Mann at Fairmount Park

How: I took a trip to Connecticut to see a mentee graduate from high school. I tacked on one additional day to drive to Philadelphia and experience The Roots Picnic, a 20th Anniversary of their ground-breaking Things Fall Apart album.

Highlights: This was my third time in Philadelphia, but my first time to step on sacred Hip-Hop ground of South Philly. It was pure freedom to step onto the Fairmount grounds and simply explore the different stages and sponsored activations. More than 20,000 attended this 12th installment of the Roots Picnic. The Picnic had several memorable moments.

First, I centered myself. As much as I love a good me trip, it still feels foreign to attend such a highly social event alone. Honestly, it was hard to not feel really alone initially, especially because everyone else was with their persons and posse. But, I went forward and quickly got my bearings. I arrived a little later than I wanted, but the day was beautiful and the park was expansive. I made my way to the top of the park where a crafty and rather large podcast stage was setup, complete with custom headphones for every attendee to hear the studio quality podcast production in an open park atmosphere. Awesome! Unfortunately, the podcast stars I was looking forward to most — The Read — didn’t even show up. “What the hell?” I’m thinking, “This is a MAJOR music festival and ya’ll are a no show? I hope this isn’t how the day is going to go!”

Fortunately, The Read was replaced by another popular and rather raunchy podcast called “The Guys Next Door.” Heck, the brothers that hosted this show made me blush with their raucous, honest and explicit discussion about sex and relationships. But, the crowd loved it, especially the women on the front row who engaged dutifully in call-and-response dynamics on par with Baptist church revivals. In fact, one mother-daughter duo were a little too enthusiastic with the podcast hosts. I am confident at least one of those podcast hosts had a very interesting evening when the show ended.

Overall, the podcast stage was great and gave me lots of ideas to share with our production team for Birmingham’s inaugural FreedomFest in Birmingham which would be launched just one month later.

I left the podcast stage for the amphitheater stage where The Roots, J. Period., Mos Def, Bilal, Mumu Fresh and others were heating the stage up for Raphael Saddiq. The amphitheater was massive, holding at least 5,000 people. Maybe more. I grabbed a beer and walked around the perimeter of the amphitheater, a grassy knoll littered with black, brown, white and yellow bodies in pairs and small groups. Some singing along, others laying casually on the ground or lawn chairs relaxing and smiling. Others were drinking, smoking weed. It was a full blend and I, alone, walked through and among them humming along with Saddiq when he began singing one of my favorite songs, “Still Ray.” I thought I was the only person who loved that song! Here, at one of the biggest soul festivals in the country, I’ve found a whole rainbow of people who enjoyed it as well.

I thought to myself, I’m so glad I took this trip.

After spending an hour at the ampitheater I moved on to the main stage where the Roots would be performing their 20th anniversary album, “Things Fall Apart.” I was getting excited and by this time I was completely comfortable being alone having been entertained and even running into a couple of my favorite people from different chapters of my increasingly textured life.

I grabbed some food and another beer. As I walked past a massive crowd, I had to slow down and listen because H.E.R., a star finding her peak in 2019, had the crowd totally mesmerized. To be honest, I was slow to H.E.R. I thought she was like a lot of other new artists that I had not prioritized time to listen to. But, it was immediately obvious that she was a well-worn craftswoman with serious music chops and and old-school presence. Funny how talent, charisma and the inexplicable presence of a unique soul can be felt in a moment. Even with 10,000 people standing between me and H.E.R.

Anyway, those few minutes were beautiful until a large portion of the crowd started scattering due to a gun scare. I can’t imagine someone getting a gun inside the festival because the points of entry were very well and tightly managed. The gun scare did not last long at all, people went back to what they were doing after about 3 minutes, but social media blew up in that instance. It sounded worse than it was. After all, someone saw a gun. There was no gun fire whatsoever.

I stopped by the cellphone charging station. There was a line — an incredibly slow moving line — that I settled into doing some people watching and making conversation with people with my eyes; laughing at their jokes from a distance. I felt like a third wheel, a little pitiful, and crazy at times. But, the reality is no one thought twice about it. They didn’t know where I was from, who I was with or the significance of my me trip. It was all in my head. Just be present, Ed.

I was at the charging station for nearly an hour, but it was cool. After that much time, the line I was standing in became more like a tribe. We didn’t talk much, but our collective group seem to have a presence of its own. The charging station had a couple of Cricket Wireless branded outdoor sofas and chairs. And, there was an oversized checkers set. The kind that requires two hands to hold each piece. Strangers played each other and got competitive, but respectful. A couple of the games ended in exclaim, “Ohhhhhh!” as the final move was made.

The tribe’s energy was good for me. My phone and I left the station fully charged. I left for the main stage, picked out a good spot between beer cans, college kids, old dudes like me, weed smokers and, apparently, lots of fans of the Jimmy Fallon show. I felt incredibly sober in this crowd.

This event is significant because The Roots Things Fall Apart is arguably their best album and was major for Hip-Hop as a whole. This album turned 20 years old!

When Ursula Rucker emerged on the stage I was immediately taken back to 1999 as she effortlessly delivered her classic spoken word pieces. Well-aged. Once again, I was re-centered and carried through the concert which featured The Roots superfriends, including Common, Mos Def, and Jill Scott. Each of them performed some of their best known songs in addition to the collaborations they performed with the The Roots on the Things Fall Apart album. Everything about the concert was satisfying, especially a medley featuring Tariq rapping over well-known beats from other artists.

Check out my photos and videos from the festival.

This is MY generation in its prime.

I’m glad I didn’t wait another year to take this trip. I’m glad I didn’t wait to take the ideal Hip-Hop companion with me. I’m glad I’m not at home sheltered in place wondering what would have happened. Or worse, forgetting altogether that I had an ambition to do this at all.

Instead, I’m writing you about it and planning my next me trip. Read part 1 of this series about why YOU should schedule a ‘me trip.’

Ed Fields is a marketer and strategist. He currently serves as Senior Advisor and Chief Strategist for the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office. Follow him on LinkedIn, Medium, or Twitter.