Slangston Hughes (née Renard Bridgewater) is a performer and self-described hip-hop culturalist, bandleader and event curator. He’s also the Snoball KANG, a connoisseur of fine rhyme and Hollygrove’s Finest.
He’s the sweet-tooth behind #SneauxFlow, an Instagram hashtag through which he shares snapshots of his favorite sno balls across the city and invites others to celebrate the city’s confection. In the June issue of OffBeat, the aficionado shared his list of favorite spots, which included Sno-LA Uptown and Sno Wizard. He brought along the OffBeat digital team two those two locations, plus Sidney’s Snowballs to give us a guided tour of just what makes a sno-ball a sno-ball. “Never be afraid to ask for additional syrup,” he advises. “Never be afraid to experiment. Mix it up. Pistachio here and there, a little iced coffee with condensed milk can go a long way. Do something crazy like piña colada and pomegranate.”
On Friday, July 27, he and his band Fo’ on the Flo’ will open for Detroit hip-hop bandleader and producer Black Milk at Three Keys. “I think there’s a natural synergy between New Orleans hip-hop and Detroit hip-hop,” he says. “We’ve seen similar struggles, whether it be from a cultural standpoint and just looking at the way the landscape has changed both musically and historically. When you think about Katrina, you see so many abandoned buildings and spaces that once were offices, homes, neighborhoods. And you can see that is still happening in Detroit.”
