So my school (Northeastern University) holds a concert every year to bring in the spring season. This year's concert was very hip hop oriented, so I thought it warranted my expert review.
This year's concert featured NaS, Lupe Fiasco, Gym Class Heroes, and RJD2. RJ kicked off the festivities with a set of his signature spinning techniques. While I appreciate a good wicky-wicky was much as the next guy, I thought RJD2's performance fell sort of flat with the audience, most of whom I would assume was not familiar with his work. RJ is a fan of obscure, off-beat drum kick techniques mixed with old-school soul and funk samples. While this type of DJing sounds great on wax, it tends to not go over so great during live performances. Still, people for the most part were vibing with the music and seemed to be content.
Up next was Lupe Fiasco, one of my favorite emcees. Lupe delivered a solid set that featured pretty much his entire body of work. He started off with various mixtape songs, with him more or less freestyling over other rapper's beats. He then went into his Food & Liquor shit and had fun with it. Lupe is definitely a gifted performer; he bounced around the stage so much, jumping from speaker to speaker that it was hard to keep up with him at times. However, Lupe fell into the same trap RJD2 did...the audience for the most part was unfamiliar with his work, so his call/response techniques ended up a bit embarrassing. Lupe also introduced the crowd to his partner in crime at 1st and 15th Records: Gemini. Gemini portrayed both his vocal and lyrical prowess, spitting a lightning quick verse followed by some soulful crooning.
On third was punk/hip hop sensation Gym Class Heroes. The band's set was lively and entertaining, even though their music doesn't happen to be my cup of tea. The ladies in attendance were definitely there for these guys, something the lead singer/emcee freely admitted (at one point he told a story about a run-in with a guy before the show, who said he was just there for NaS. He replied, "I'm here to see NaS too, but your girl's here to see me."). NEU was lucky to secure Gym Class Heroes when they did, as of three days ago they officially have the number one song in the country. I even saw many people leave after their set was over.
The grand finale featured none other than God's Son, the nasty NaS. Before he started his set though, NaS, class act that he is, let an up-and-coming artist get his shine on. That artist is Johnny Ca$h, the 106 & Park Freestyle Friday champion. Ca$h performed what I assume to be snippets of singles he is currently working on, and finished his quick set with an impressive acapella verse recounting his life struggles. NaS took the stage shortly after, complete with a DJ spinning out of a casket and a giant "Hip Hop Is Dead" banner behind him. The crowd was electric with excitement as NaS performed all his classics. Big hits included "NY State of Mind (in which he replaced NY with Boston)," "If I Ruled The World," "Got Yourself A Gun," "Oochie Wally," and "One Mic." In a suprise move, NaS took a shot at The Diplomats during the concert, saying "this is real hardcore, Kid Rock & Dipset soft." NaS rounded out the night with a quick snippet of "Ether."
So yea, there's the concert. It was awesome.
Some quick hip hop news snippets (courtesy of allhiphop.com):
-Mad lady emcees are jumping ship, it seems. Remy Ma has left Terror Squad, and is releasing her next album solo! She said her reason behind leaving was that she didn't think her first album There's Something About Remy was handled the right way. Shawnna was dropped from DTP for reasons unknown. Eve has left Aftermath Records and is now on Swiss Beatz's Full Surface Records. You go girls.
-Michael Jackson has gone on record saying that he has made several songs with 50 Cent and G-Unit! Apparently, there's a mixtape in the works, tentatively titled MJ-Unit. This should be a monster.
-There's a rumor floating around that Yayo might have been dropped from G-Unit, but I'll believe it when I see it.
-A documentary on Proof is set to make it's big debut in his hometown of Detroit. Proof, long time friend of Eminem and member of D-12 was shot outside of a club roughly a year ago. RIP big homie.
-Snoop's in trouble with the law, AGAIN. This time he might even be facing some jail time though.
It's real late, and I'm real tired. Hip Hop Nerd, signing out.
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