What is a “Pote,” exactly?
C-Port has long been a nickname for Savannah, but over the years, because of the way many locals pronounce it, it has been shortened to Pote.
Savannah emerging artist and rapper Pote Baby took the name because of his love for his home city. Lately, Pote Baby has been blowing up on Spotify and other streaming services with hits like “In the Kitchen” and the recently released “Playin.” His latest single, “4Real” has even acquired a coveted spot on the highly influential “Rap Caviar” Spotify playlist.
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With success on the horizon, Pote Baby wants to give back his community with Pote Day, a 3-day celebration of the city that raised him.
Pote Baby held the first annual Pote Day last year at 520 Wings with a partnership with Reebok. Fans were able to register for a free pair of shoes, and then hang out and have a good time.”
“That’s it, we just wanted to give something to the community,”said Pote Baby.“No agenda behind it, just wanted to be real giving. Everyone came and got their shoes. We had E93 come out and DJ it, help host it. It was real nice.
“Growing up in Savannah, at least through my childhood, I had the luxury of going to Daffin Park on Saturdays and seeing little league football games and the whole city come out to see everybody play football. As I grew up that kind of faded away. When I though about Pote Day, me and the team, we wanted to just bring back that feeling of celebrating our city and having a sense of community and togetherness.”
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For the second annual Pote Day, PoteBaby is partnering with LRGclothing(Lifted Research Group)who will be offering t-shirts and wristbands, and setting up backdrops for photo ops. PoteBaby is alsotakingover LRG’s Instagram page for a live-streamed performance.
“That’s going to be super dope, because I think their Instagram has over 600 thousand followers,”said Pote Baby.“It’s great, a lot of pressure on me.
“They really wanted to help with the financial part of it. Reebok gave us shoes, which was still amazing, but we still had to put up our own money. With this one, it was really a ‘partnership’ partnership.”
Pote Day will kick off on Friday with a game night at AMF Savannah Lanes. Everyone is invited to bowl, eat, drink, and listen to music from Pote Baby’s regular DJ, DJ Keesh.
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On Saturday, PoteBaby will host a block party at 520 Wings againwith a live performance of material from his upcoming projects. Although he is the only one performing, Pote Baby’s goal is to invite other artists to take the stage at future Pote Days.
“The thing for a lot of my events is, even though it would be dope to have artists perform, I really do just enjoy people enjoying themselves,”explained Pote Baby of the laid-back vibe of the Pote Day.“When I perform, I might do twenty minutes and then I’m back partying. Let’s all just have a good time, because it’s so rare that people just have a good time in Savannah without feeling obligated to do something.
“I do want to tap into more artists and give them the space toperformin front of their peers and the city they represent.”
Day three of Pote Day, on September 12, will feature an executive panel of producers, managers, and representatives from services like Spotify who will answer questions and give advice to creatives looking to get into the music and entertainment industry.
The weekend will close out with a community clean-up.
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Pote Baby is releasing a “Pote Day” EP in conjunction with the weekend long event. It is just the first of a string of projects Pote Baby is releasing in a lead up to November when he will perform at Day In Vegas, a massivemusicfestival headlined by Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and Tyler the Creator.
Two EPs, “Humbug” and “Bran” are on the horizon, followed by his magnum opus, “Gumbo.”
“That’s the biggest of the biggest,” said Pote Baby. “That’s a concept I’ve been working on for about three years now.”
Whether Pote Baby hits the big time or not, he wants to make Pote Day an annual event that in a perfect world would be declared an official Savannah holiday.
“It do me so much joy if the kids could be released for a day from school for Pote Day,” said Pote Baby. “It’s only going to get bigger and better and there’s always going to be a mix of things. If gumbo was a weekend, that’s what Pote Day is. It’s a big mix of energy and fun times.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Pote Day
WHEN: Friday-Sunday
WHERE: AMF Savannah Lanes, 115 Tibet Ave and 520 Wings, 2705 Bull St.
COST: Free
INFO:potebaby.com,poteday.com
