Live Rap, Superhuman Feats
Unexpectedly, the Hip Hop Live Tour is a tour featuring live hip hop music. The concept is that a bunch of acts performed backed the band Rhythm Roots All Stars. (I believe they did the same thing with Rakim and Ghostface last year.) I went into it with lowered expectations, assuming the band would sound like The Roots circa 1994, because they have the word Roots in their name and because pretty much every hip hop band in the universe sounds like The Roots circa 1994. But they proved to be pretty adaptable for rappers to rap to. And rap they did.
B.O.B. f/ Playboy Tre
B.O.B. seemed a little green when he first came out, sheepishly talking about T.I. as he went into “On Top Of The World”. It didn’t seem like too many people were familiar with his work (which is odd, seeing as he’s about to be on the cover of XXL) so it was fun watching his comfort level increase as he gradually won them over, getting progressively more animated over the course of the performance. Both him and hypeman Playboy Tre brought the jumping jacks. The song selection leaned towards his Andre 3000 futurist butterfly funk material – “Mellow Fellow”, “I’ll Be In The Sky”, “Generation Lost” – rather than the older mixtape straight spitting shit. But I guess B.O.B. is beyond just rapping now and, admittedly, the space funk is probably better suited to a live band setting than fast rapping and hearing echoed out steel drums replicating the “Haterz” arpeggio was sort of awe inspiring. Tre, too, was a welcome surprise, even rocking a few solo cuts from the best mixtape nobody is talking about, Goodbye America. B.O.B. closed with this new song, straight off the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack.
David Banner
David Banner is the best live performer in hip hop. Not even halfway through his first verse, he ripped his shirt (living up to his moniker, surely) as he climbed the speakers to a second story balcony. Then he jumped off. Not dived, mind you, jumped, feet first and landing on the ground. A normal human might have broken an ankle. Banner ran back to stage and performed a summersault. He later stole a girls camera, shoved it down his pants and took a picture of his dick.* You know, rock star shit. But the theatrics are just the icing. He raps his ass off. He sings his ass off. He even slipped into a convincing heavy metal growl as the Rhythm Roots’ turned “9 MM”. He turned his tepid club cuts like “Get Like Me” (sorry) anthemic and his anthems – “Like A Pimp” – were just completely riot inducing. He’s found that cure to typical rap show malaise does not lie solely in rocking with a live band, but in outrocking your live band. (Paging a certain peacoat clad Illadelphian.)
Talib Kweli
I left a few songs into Kweli’s set because I was falling asleep. Which is not a qualitative analysis, I was just tired. Of course, it is entirely possible that Kweli could’ve put me to sleep had I been well rested. But the world may never know. I almost felt bad for the guy, having to follow Banner. Fortunately his fans are a particularly loyal bunch, and none of them seemed to notice the disparity of their performances, dancing like Burning Man never ended.
Sorry there aren’t more/better pictures, I bought a new digital camera but I didn’t bother to learn how to use it. Most everything came out looking like this:
*Good luck explaining that one to your man, honey.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Glad they let Playboy Tre perform a few solo joints. That’s still my favorite mixtape of the year. Do you know if anyone plans on putting out an album by him? I mean Goodbye America was pretty much an album under a different name, but still, it would be nice.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I think there’s probably a georgia durt album coming.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
The true cure for healing rap show malaise is to stop about 90 % of the shows all together, and let David Banner and The Roots tour with one another for the rest of their careers.(cause the Siruis radio freestyle was dope as hell)
October 21st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
” dancing like Burning Man never ended.”
Actual LOL on this one.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:53 pm
B.O.B is going to be huge.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:41 pm
David Banner kicked a security guard in the face in Boulder, lol, then he scaled the balcony and jumped off of it.
ROCK STAR.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:52 am
u missed the freestyle session at the end where banner said something about being “a maverick like sara palin.” he is by far the illest live performer out there
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Thanks Jordan, just went and downloaded Playboy Tre mixtape… why doesnt anyone know about this dude…. he is the shyt
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:06 pm
what kinda cam?
October 25th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Gotta add my 2 cents, just saw the show at UMass Lowell Wednesday night and it was good.
This is now the 2nd time I have seen Kweli live, and both times he “overheard” something from the crowd and went on some sort of crazy rant. Both times what he “overheard” was never really said. Why does he pull this bullshit? I don’t get it.
First time he overheard someone call him a “wack nigga” – didn’t happen.
This time, he asked what dance to do and overheard “Soulja Boy” and went on some weird tirade…
Yuck
October 28th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hey,
I’m from South Africa. New to the D.C. area. Let me know next time you head out to a gig. I wouldn’t mind tagging along.
PEACE
E
October 30th, 2008 at 9:55 am
You couldn’t have summed it up any better my man. “David Banner is the best live performer in hip hop.” Whoever put him in the middle just made a mistake. He totally stole the show here too.
Check out my interview with him and photos from his set.
(Unfortunately, no B.o.B here … I was hoping to see him.)
http://www.soulpsychedelicide.com/wordpress/?p=739