I took some time off to do a few minor things like get married and get my new job going. Now that I have plenty of more important things I should be doing I thought I'd get back to posting.
This past Sunday was my first NYC concert unless you count the two outdoor ones from earlier this year. I'd prefer to forget one of them (Rock the Bells) and images of the headliner of the other still haunts my nightmares (LL Cool J). Anyway, the show was Common/Q-tip/Percee P/88 Keys. Here's how it went down.
88 Keys- Decent DJ, played some stuff off his new album which I thought wasn't bad. The rest of the crowd wasn't too into it but I think anyone that wrote a beat for the Black Star album gets an automatic pass in my book.
Percee P- On Stones Throw label so he gets Madlib beats. Even throwaway Madlib beats give me an eargasm. Still, his performance was pretty meh. No hypeman which I respect a whole lot but, to be honest, I think he maybe could have used one up there. Of course he did his part of Jurassic 5's "Day at the Races" which was cool. The guy is a well-above average lyricist but unfortunately his live act needs a lot of work.
Q-Tip- Straight up fucking awesome performance. Of course, Tribe is my favorite hip-hop group ever and will likely be for as long as I live. He did pretty much all the classics (Electric Relaxation, Check the Rhime, Scenario, Award Tour, etc.) He did stuff off "Amplified", a couple new joints. Everything was great and backed by a live band with DJ Scratch from EPMD as his DJ. I would have loved to see Busta or Phife up there but Phife is not doing well with his renal failure and dialysis and Busta was probably searching for a buffet (Christ, did anyone see his gut on VH1's HHH last Monday? Put down the chicken wings Trevor!) The only guest was Dres from Black Sheep when he and Tip did "The Choice is Yours". Interestingly, I think I've seen Dres perform that song with Q-Tip, De La, and Mos/Kweli but I've never been to a Black Sheep concert. Someone give that poor guy a record deal already. Anyway, Tip brought the house down.
Common- The typical Com show. He is always good live. I think what sets artists like Com and Q-Tip apart from so many other emcees is their ability to command a crowd and entertain without gimmicks or hype men. Com's band is awesome and he's had those guys like Omar and Kareem Riggins for years as well as DJ Dummy (Who thankfully retired that "It Takes Two" set he used to always do and now does an equally impressive one with Biggie's "Ten Crack Commandments".) It was definitely weird to see Common in a city other than Chicago. It was the same show just no discussion of home. The guest appearance of the night for Com was KRS-One (they likely hooked up from appearing together at HHH earlier that weekend.) While clearly the most unattractive man in hip-hop, KRS-One rules, BDP was the shit, and it was rad to hear him do "South Bronx" and "The Bridge is Over". Freestyle exchange between Com and KRS as well.
Overall great show by two of my top 5 emcees of all time. As a concluding thought I'd just like to say thanks to Common for doing Chi-city proud while Lupe continues to embarrass us! Get well Phife!
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