Alchemist and Earl Sweatshirt Perform in Gainesville for Big Culture and Arts Festival
Saturday, April 11, celebrity musicians Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist, along with dozens of other artists throughout the weekend, performed for the Big Culture and Arts Festival.
The two primary headliners appeared to perform on stage together, with Big posting a clip of the show on their Instagram story.
(Big Culture and Arts Festival)
Ahead of this year's festival, Big co-producer Laila Fakhoury, who also co-owns Dion Dia Records and the How Bazar, conducted an interview with Rap-Journalist Dylan Green that was published on his YouTube channel CineMasai.
Fakhoury said that this year’s festival has their biggest crew yet, with around 40 staff members.
Fakhoury indicated that last year Big sold around 1,500 tickets, and that at the time of the interview, roughly three weeks away from this year's festival, they had sold 2,000 tickets.
The festival has numerous sponsors, including the tourism agency for the City of Gainesville and Alachua County, but Fakhoury indicated Zack Fox is one of their most important supporters.
When Green asked about the origins of Big, Fakhoury said that New York City-based podcaster Zetto of the Jaded Forum podcast is their friend, and he discovered How Bazar because he also wanted to start worker-owned organizations. Zetto came to Florida and spent the weekend in Gainesville, spending time with How Bazar.
“I have a friend who would love to support work like this; his name is Zack Fox...” Fakhoury described Zetto saying.
Zack Fox is a widely recognized DJ, comedian, rapper and producer.
Fakhoury said they wrote a proposal to Zack Fox asking him to come to Gainesville and that it was delivered by Zetto. “He was instantly down to come and co-sign it,” Fakhoury described. “He said he was down to come in April—that was like three months away from that point in our life… We’re just like, ‘Okay I guess we’re gonna make this festival happen now…’ We launch the festival so we could have him as one of the headliners… This is gonna be his first year coming back since we started it… He’s even dedicating more of himself to it and using even more of his platform to help elevate the festival. He’s investing in the festival. He’s bringing his own DJs and putting his own creativity into it. That’s really what made the festival happen—like this guy believes in us—we gotta do it.”
Fakhoury described Big as receiving support but also indicated struggle, describing it as a “huge risk in terms of putting everything you have into it… selling our cars so that we’re even able to kickstart it… Also the insecurities that come from it… ‘Are people gonna resonate? Is it making sense? Do people understand the purpose of what we’re trying to do?’”
Fakhoury said running Big has been a learning curve, emphasizing that booking artists has been a “huge learning curve” that they’re still “getting used to.”
Fakhoury said that the optimistic reactions from members of the community and the positive economic impact of the festival encourage her to continue. Fakhoury said that some things make them feel like they’re not on the right path, but that it’s far outweighed by the motivation to continue.
Nearing the end of the interview, Green asked Fakhoury about the controversy surrounding the Alchemist’s performance in Gainesville.
In February 2026, an Instagram account known as “No Normalizers GNV” began gaining traction after condemning the Alchemist's second performance in Gainesville, primarily due to his affiliation towards Israel.
In summary, the Alchemist has family ties to Israel, has been documented as visiting and performing in Israel multiple times, is mutuals on Instagram with an influencer Israeli military commander, made an album from Israeli samples titled “Israeli Salad,” and co-produced an album called "Haram," which features two severed pig heads as the album cover.
Further, screenshots from X (Twitter) indicate he blocked and/or ignored individuals asking if he was a Zionist instead of responding to the question.
As one of the leading members of Big, and as a Palestinian woman and local activist for Palestinian rights, Fakhoury addressed the situation publicly on her Instagram account. Fakhoury acknowledged that she dislikes some of the Alchemist’s words and actions but ultimately argued that he is not a Zionist.
During the interview, Green brought up the controversy surrounding the Alchemist and acknowledged Fakhoury’s post on Instagram where she addressed the matter.
“In the circles we run in, that was on everybody’s tongue,” - said Green.
Green said the concern around the Alchemist is understandable and that he doesn’t agree with some of the artist’s actions. However, Green said he never got the impression the Alchemist was a Zionist and subscribed to one of Fakhoury’s primary arguments in her post: Why would the Alchemist collaborate with pro-Palestine artists if he himself is a Zionist? Many artists who've expressed support for Palestine stand alongside the Alchemist on the lineup.
“You would think the benefactors would have a thing or two to say,” said Green.
Green told Fakhoury he appreciated her statement because it wasn’t like a full “Oh, fuck the bullshit he’s coming,” but it was more like, “He’s coming… I’d like to see him be a little better, but it’s not to the point where we need to fully [send him] to the moon on some cancel shit.”
In response to Green, Fakhoury alleged that the controversy around the Alchemist is more about a personal vendetta with her than an actual issue with the Alchemist.
"They're trying to hurt me," - Fakhoury on the Alchemist controversy.
Fakhoury said that a lot of people discovering the festival “don’t necessarily have the context of the local situation that’s going on.” She said a “lot of what you’re seeing is [from] these people trying to paint the festival as… whatever it is, saying that he’s a zionist and ‘How can we support this festival if they’re bringing a zionist and blah blah blah.’ That’s really driven by personal vendetta that someone in the community has against me, which is a whole thing in itself.”
Fakhoury continued, “A lot of people—this was really validating—a lot of people told me that you can very clearly see that in what they were posting… It’s not in good faith. It’s more so very obvious that there’s personal pushes behind it—personal malice that someone is trying to push onto me—onto the festival, and masking it with these very shallow arguments and points of why he’s a zionist. Like for example, the Armand Hammer [Haram album] was just like, ‘bro…’ He didn’t name that album, and here’s an interview from Billy Woods on why he named it what he did… They’re very classically like ‘taboo’ type of musicians."
Fakhoury said that many people don’t understand that the reason “this is an issue to these people is not necessarily because they have an issue for real with Alchemist or with Big, but because they’re trying to hurt me… If that’s what they wanna do, that’s okay, but this project is so much bigger than me, so much bigger than all of these little basic dramas and trivial things. It’s about creating an entire sustainable project for creatives to use year-round to support themselves—to become a platform that can actually push important messaging to the world—to remain as a platform that’s completely human-run, independent… not fuckin’ bought up by [entertainment corporations like] Live Nation and Insomniac… Someone’s basic issues that they have against me is not gonna change the way people are being impacted by this festival.”
Fakhoury said, “This [is] literally like the lowest blow. I’m very vocally Palestinian. I’ve been very impacted by this cause literally with my body—physically, mentally, emotionally. It’s sad to carry those kinds of feelings and still have to push forward and make [it] happen because again, it’s bigger than just this, and this situation. It’s way bigger than me as an individual.”
Fakhoury told Green, "It's crazy to see how many people are getting it—getting it from elsewhere—in some ways I feel insecure about us not even explaining the purpose and the story enough, but then I’ll talk to people like you who just understand what we’re going for… the purpose… What the why is.”
Green said that now more than ever people want to know the “Why” behind an activity they take part in. He said people want to ensure art they consume aligns with their values, or at least doesn’t make them feel evil or complacent for enjoying it.
Green brought up the concert Kanye West did in the U.S. this year, the first since 2021. “I have a lot of issues with what Kanye’s done,” Green said. “I know people who would be at that show regardless because he’s fuckin’ Kanye West. Whatever soul searching or cognitive dissonance they gotta put themselves through to make it happen, they’re gonna do it.”
Green then said it makes him happy to see places where you “don’t have to do that.” Where you don’t have to “check your conscience at the door to enjoy your time… That matters to me, especially as someone who also organizes events… It’s important for me to work with people that I not only have chemistry with and I trust, but I’m not gonna have someone come up to me at a show and be like, ‘Why are you doing this with X Y Z when they’ve done [all this]. That’s the last thing you want.”
For his last question, Green asked Fakhoury, if her life were a movie, what would it be about?
Fakhoury replied that it would be about “the journey of bringing people together to be ready for all of the changes that we're seeing… bringing us all together so we can actually make the change that we wanna see. It would be about people finding the right people [and] people connecting for the right reasons, and us just getting ready to take over and do what we gotta do.”
“Plain and simple,” Green responded positively. “Real fuckin’ fight the power-“
