Concerts

I went to the Defari, Little Brother, Dilated People's show last night in the city. I am pretty sure that everyone knows the people that were performing at the show. But just in case you don't know who Deafri is he is a member of the Alkaholiks with Tash (Catashtrophe) and Xzibhit used to be in their crew until he hit it big with Dre and starting pimpin people's rides and selling Pepsi with Carson Daly and P. Diddy. The Liks were one of the tighter underground crews from L.A. and they have been in the game for a minute. Their shit is kinda more ghetto, they are more undergorund not because the stuff they rap about is conscientous but more because people just never appreciated them. They actually just released their last album fittingly called, "Last Call." Defari is also always featured on Dilated cuts and has a group with Dilated's DJ Babu called the Likwit Junkies. Now I had gone to one other show at the Mezzanine and that was to see Slick Rick. The doors opened at 9 and Rick Tha Ruler didn't even get on stage until like 12 something, fortunatley this show was much better run and Defari stepped onstage around 10 or so. Defari's set was cool, lots of refernces to L.A., gang banging, riding on lolo's and smoking weed. But hey if that's your thing then go for it. His beats were tight and his flow was alright. The thing that most impressed me was the fact that he was understandable. His diction and flow were flawless, every word could be understood and if you are thinking to yourself that's how show are then you are very very wrong. I have been to way way waaaaaay to many shows where the people on stage are not even audible, either because they are holding the mic wrong, they are yelling into the mic, cmon man it's MICROPHONE it amplifies your voice so you don't have to yell, or they have 30 hypemen stepping on each other's lines, or they insist on turning the speakers up until all you hear is an ear bleeding jumble of musical shit. That is always bad when the guy on stage asks for it to be turned up, you know it's already loud as fuck, but they just keep saying it, turn me up, sound man turn me up, pump that shit up, let me make it so loud this shit will distort and nobody can hear what I am saying. If I wanted to go watch people stand on stage and spit unintelligible gibberish into a mic I would have gone to a poetry night or a preschool production of a Shakespeare play. But Defari could rock a mic, you could tell he had been on the grind for awhile. He had no hypemen, unless you count those two dudes that just stood there and nodded their heads. They didn't even really dance, they weren't like that guy from The Might Mighty Bosstones who dances throughout the whole show, they only had like two moves, the head nod and maybe an arm sway on critical points of the beat. I think one of them was his producer? and the I don't know who the other one was, probably his cousin trying to get a little shine. Anyways Deafri's set was cool, he had stage prescence and he was understandable, and that's really all I ask for. After Defari it was the obligitory DJ set while Little Brother did whatever it is they do to get ready for a show. Little Brother if you don't know is a trio of guys from North Carolina, they have Phonte and Big Pooh, on the mics and their producer is 9th Wonder. 9th I guess doesn't tour with them, instead they have Big Dough? Doe? as their DJ. You might know 9th from his collabo with Murs on their album "Murs 3:16 the 9th edition", or the track he produced for the "Black Album" you know "Revenge" the one that has dumbass Cedric the entertainer talking all over it and fucking it up. He also has an album with Buckshot from Boot Camp Click called "Chemistry" and tracks with Jean Grae and a bunch of other underground people. If you haven't heard Little Brother's first album you should check it out, "The Listening" is one of the most refreshing albums to come out within the last couple of years. It is like a breath of fresh air from that materialistic commercial bull shit that has saturated the Hip Hop landscape in the last couple of years. Download "Whatever you say" and "The Getup" tell me those aren't tight songs and I will....well I will tell you to shut the fuck up. Little Brother recognizes what is wrong with the current state of Hip Hop and they have launched an attack to try and reclaim the art as something important and influential, not just ass shaking and bragging about grillz. On a side note somebody please kill Dem Franchize Boyz and Paul Wall, fucking garbage. Ok, so Little Brother's second album has been getting more exposure because it is seen as contraversial. It's called the Minstrel show and the album has a person in Black face with a big ass smile. The album is basically a concept album centered around a fictional show on the UBN (U Black Niggas network) the show is called the Minstrel show and they call it the biggest colored show on earth. Historically the Minstrel show was a circuit for African American performers. They wore black face and they played up stereotypes to entertain. They basically made themselves jokes for the white man and fed into their discriminatory views and preconcieved notions of what African Americans were like. Little Brother is saying that this is what Hip Hop has become, a bunch of stereotypes parading around for white people and re-enforcing negative views. Seriously the music business is just putting ignorant ass motherfuckers on stage, giving them enough money to buy a fucking chain and giving them a mic so they can rap about killing people, dealing drugs, and fucking hoes. Little Brother is trying to step away from these images by parodying them and throwing these images back in the faces of those that perpetuate this kind of existence and life. Ok so enough about how Little Brother is fighting against crappy music, back to the show. I had seen Little Brother once before, at the Fillmore with Hieroglyphics. They had given me one of my stoniest moments at a hip hop show ever. Me and my girlfriend had just sparked a joint and were watching them onstage when all of a sudden Phonte puts on a Rick James wig and starts singing "Mary Jane," now this was before Chappelle show so it wasn't from that but it was fucking crazy. The whole crowd started siging "I'm in love with Mary Jane, she's my..." While i was fucking blazed, it was awesome, the timing, the weirdness, the whole crowd moving and singing together, great show moment. Ok so last night's show Little Brother came out to a rowdy ass live crowd. They jumped out and the place exploded. But they sounded like M.O.P. Now I like M.O.P. but Little Brother's studio shit is so smooth and kinda jazzy it just sounded weird. I remembered thinking the same thing last time I had seen them, but they were just yelling into their mics, inaudible, and there was feedback every once in awhile. I yelled, "Brownsville Warrior!!!" just fucking with my girlfriend because they sounded so much like M.O.P. but people didn't seem to mind, they were going crazy. There was one really gross part of the show though, Phonte was doing that Yayo hand in front of the face waving thing and I almost threw up. I said to myself he is just fucking around, he is kidding, because I do that dance to make fun of commercial rap, but I think he really liked the dance because he did it a couple of times. Whatever, so they did most of their songs from the "Minstrel Show" and they barely did any from, "The Listening" which was dissappointing. They did most of the show in that yelling into the mic inaudible style, but the beats were tight, the crowd was live and knowing all of the words from the studio versions helped in deciphering the lyrics from their show. So last up was Dilated. You guys know Dilated, "The Platform," that song with that son of a bicth Kanye? "Worst come to worst," "Sound Bombing." Well if you don't know then you should check them out. They have been around for hella long, they come from L.A. and they are Evidence and Rakka Iriscience on the mics and Dj Babu from the beat junkies on the tables. When they came out the first thing I thought was damn Rakka has skinny ass arms, because dude is big you know kinda pudgy but his arms are like sticks, weird. Evidence looked like evidence and Babu looked like Babu, I guess I just never saw Rakka's arms before. Dilated was clear, they were understandable, they had mic control, good flow and tight beats. But I was bored, I was tired, my feet hurt, and a lot of the crowd felt like me too. The crowd that had been explosive for Little Brother quieted for the headliners, hands weren't up, there was no jumping up and down, people were just nodding their heads and chilling. Not that it was that late, the show was over at about 1 which is kind of normal, I don't know why but I was kind of over the show before the end of their set. I was just waiting for "Worst comes to worst" and then I planned on bouncing, i still had to drive all the way home for work the next day. There was nothing wrong with their set, except Babu kept playing this loud ass siren noise and this weird electronic noise after every fucking song. That shit got a little annoying, and they kept playing gunshot noises hella loud too, uneccessary and annoying. Other than that the set was cool I just wasn't feeling it, I was already thinking about how it would suck to wake up the next day and come to work. So after "Worst comes to worst" and a little bit of their new single we took off and starting heading home. So my feet hurt and I wasn't into the Dilated set. Does this relate to me being to old to go to shows now. I was yawning like a focker throughout the night hella tired. The people at shows seem to annoy me more and more too. I hate people who think that hip hop shows are the same thing as a club. They dress like skanks get drunk and swear that in a crowded ass room there is enough space for them to just let loose and go crazy. Here is the thing, people came here to see the people on stage, they did not come here to do the butterfly and get their eagle on. You can not freak to a Dilated People's song, I swear to god this guy was like freaking to "The Platform." All movement should be directed towards the stage, head nods, arms, fist pumps, these are acceptable. Booty shaking, side to side swaying, these are not ok. There is a limited amount of space, people are in lines not far from each other, nobody else is going crazy but you think it's alright to just flail out of control, moonwalking and spinning around like a hippy? The people with the least amount of rhythm like to dance the most. People shouldn't just slip in front of you and stand there, if I have been in a spot all night and you come hella late where do you get the sense of empowerment to just muscle your way up front and park your fat head in front of me. Really tall people should probably be in back. I am kind of tall but that's why I would set up my spot early so people can arrange themselves behind me, I wouldn't just walk up towards the front and force myself infront of a 5'5 asian girl. If you go to a show you should wear deoderant. When you smoke you should blow the smoke up, I don't really care about this one but there were some people just blasting the back of the head in front of them with clouds of chronic, is it rude and disrepectful or is it kinda and sharing? So I dunno I might be done with shows for awhile, I have pretty much seen everybody that I have ever wanted, at least in the underground, I would be down for an AC/DC show or if they ever resurrect Freddie Mercury I would be the first in line, but I think I am getting over the need to go to shows, we'll see though, it all dpeneds on who comes through town and if I feel like dealing with the morons that always seek me out and stand right in front of me.