Razzfest’s second edition brings rappers, beatmakers and jazz musicians to The Far Out Lounge & Stage in South Austin on Sunday, November 15. The lineup includes FreeBloo&theFreak, the trio of Hamze, Kardinal Bloo and Locuust; Pink Siifu and Standing on the Corner headline. The event follows Hamze’s September release of his debut album, Asabiyyah, a self-produced project drawing on Arabic music samples and Southern hip-hop drums.
Free Hamze is the stage name of Adam Hamze, a Lebanese American rapper, producer, audio engineer and promoter. He was born in Corvallis, Oregon, to parents who immigrated from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley during the Lebanon Civil War. Hamze moved to South Austin at age 9 after spending summers in Lebanon as a young child, according to The Austin Chronicle.
Released in September, Asabiyyah is a 10-track debut that Hamze self-produced and self-engineered. He named it for the social-solidarity concept popularized by 14th-century Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldun and has described the album as pan-Arab. Hamze has worn a keffiyeh and discussed Palestine, according to The Austin Chronicle.
A Debut Years in the Making
Asabiyyah is Hamze’s first full-length album, following six mixtapes, including Freetape 5: The Shadow & The Self, released in 2025. He is a two-time Austin Music Awards Best Rap nominee. Hamze first met fellow artist Chucky Blk at an Austin poetry slam around 2013, a history of their connection reported by The Austin Chronicle.
The album's sound draws partly from a trip Hamze made earlier this year to visit his ailing grandmother in Lebanon, and from pieces of sampled history found closer to home. A cassette tape Hamze bought in Cairo supplied the main sample for the song “al-Shamis,” according to The Daily Texan. He described asabiyyah itself, the concept, as solidarity among oppressed peoples in the face of class division.
In mid-October, Hamze marked the album's physical release with a cassette fundraiser performance at Antone's Record Shop, with Ben Buck helping him hand-press the tapes. The Daily Texan reported that Hamze donated all profits from the cassette sales to the Sameer Project, a grassroots organization that provides aid to people in Gaza.
Jazz Training Feeds the Fusion
Hamze is a saxophonist. Razzfest aims to bridge Austin’s jazz and hip-hop communities.
Razzfest debuted at Empire Control Room & Garage in May 2025 and was later nominated for an Austin Music Award. The second edition is an all-ages event featuring rap and jazz performances. Its lineup includes Lynn, Soto the Activist and saxophonist Paulo “Good Call Paulo” Santos, alongside beatmakers Ben Buck and the Deli. According to The Far Out Lounge’s ticketing page, doors open at 3 p.m. and the first act begins at 4 p.m. The show is presented by Sahar Studios and iLL Manner Shows, with support in part from Austin’s Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment Division. The Far Out Lounge is at 8504 South Congress.
Razzfest’s First Edition
The festival’s May 2025 debut paired Austin rap acts Blakchyl and J Soulja with jazz/hip-hop fusion drummer Kassa Overall, local jazz-fusion quartet Mockjaw and Detroit rapper Quelle Chris, according to The Austin Chronicle.
Sahar Studios, the organization behind the bill, operates as both an event promoter and a community organization on Austin's Eastside. It provides free recording engineering to artists and hosts writing workshops that help musicians apply for city-issued grants, rounding out a mission that extends well beyond booking a single night of music.
A Cautionary Example From the Suburbs
A separate Austin-area performance dispute this fall drew competing accounts. FreeBloo&theFreak’s 45-minute set at the Pecan Street Festival in Bee Cave was cut short in September 2026; the trio continued a cappella after its microphones were silenced, according to The Austin Chronicle. The group believed political remarks prompted the cutoff, while festival producer Luis Zapata told the Austin American-Statesman that profanity was the reason. The Statesman also reported that an earlier contract draft restricted profane and culturally offensive material, but the clause was absent from a revised version circulated by booker Lauren Bruno after she used ChatGPT to help revise it.
Derek Udensi, the Chronicle’s club listings editor and a music section contributor who covers hip-hop, wrote its profile of Hamze ahead of the show. Razzfest brings rap and jazz performances together across the afternoon and evening.
