Wise Intelligent++ @ We Care Concert 9:30 Club, DC 3/19/08
Prior to this week I hadn’t been to the 9:30 Club in about three years. (Then again, I hardly ever leave the house.) But they actually managed to put on two interesting rap shows in a matter of three nights. The first being Sunday’s Wale show, which I wrote about over at XXL and then last nights We Care Concert, host to the most schizophrenic lineup in the history of rap – Saigon, Mia X, Wise Intelligent, Mambo Sauce, and about a half dozen other folks. Amnesty International and an organization called The Hip Hop Caucus, to protest the five year anniversary of the war in Iraq and support the victims of Katrina. These sort of cause-concerts tend to set off a red flag that it’s going to be a tedious and preachy show and not a lot of rapping is going to happen. But shit DC, Jersey, New Orleans on the same bill? It’s like this website in rap show form.
I may be a little biased, but Wise Intelligent knows how to rock a crowd. Period. It’s not often you get to see a truly great rap performer. My heart sunk a little when his “Rock This Funky Joint” call and response was met with crickets. And uh… me. But whatever, it was a young/indifferent crowd and he won them over with his crack rap acappellas. The crack rap that indicts the government, not crack rap that we usually talk about here.
Mia X’s song selection was sort of dissapointing, mostly sticking to her more mellow hits. Early on she seemed to be trying to win over the old heads in the crowd by rocking the Gap Band flipping “Watcha Want To Do” and Ghetto Twinz’s Betty Wright semi-cover “No Pain No Gain.” And she had some success with that approach. After that her set really got interesting, as she just started talking earnestly about what happened to her family in Katrina – how her uncle was mummified under a couch, how her nephews were clowned when they moved to other cities, etc etc. I’ve always been a fan of her music, but goddammit is she a compelling speaker. A room full of people who fancy themselves public speakers were basically put to shame by a rapper who, ten years ago, would’ve been laughed off the bill based on her label affiliations alone. She really stole the show and I’d be lying if I didn’t say she had me a little choked up. She also performed “My Fema People,” her post-Katrina bounce anthem, which is a raw track to hear live. I know they were filming the whole thing, hopefully some of her set will show up on youtube because I don’t think my summary really does it justice.
I’m still not sold on Saigon’s recorded music, but I have to admit that dude put on a pretty solid performance. He’s a really a high energy live rapper which is totally not what I would’ve expected from a mixtape cat. His hype man couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Mambo cranked as well. I had unfairly written them off as being sappy/poppy go-go based on their singles, but it turns out they’re actually a hard ass band.
My only complaint is the three hours it took to get to the four headliners. I am sure every person who wandered on stage to talk about their cause’s heart was in the right place, but you just lost your audience by reading an essay. You don’t win friends with salad. It’s unfortunate, because at the beginning the place was packed with a lot of young heads, presumably there for Mambo, but as time went on you just watched the crowd get thinner and thinner. Even the most forward thinking youth don’t want to sit through five hours of preachy rappers and even preachier activists. When you put concert on the flier, do not have speakers and videos. Save that for the rally. Wise & Mia better articulated their political agendas than any of the speakers and did so in an engaging manner. Only problem was many people who would’ve benefited from hearing them had since filed out an hour earlier.
I got a free T-shirt that says “Make Hip Hop Not War.”
More commentary and tiny blurry photos, via my ten year old digital camera, after the jump. (more…)
