First up, De la Soul. To me, a pretty big disappointment. I don’t need for them to play Three Feet High and Rising from start to finish or anything, but a legit nod at what made them famous would have been a fun show. They played two songs I am familiar with (Potholes in my Lawn from 3 Feet and Rising and Ooh, which I think is on Artificial Intelligence), but completely skipped over Me Myself & I, Buddy, Saturdays, Ring Ring Ring, or anything that might possibly qualify as popular. Hell, that may not be true, Potholes may have been a massive hit for them in the Phillipines in 1989, but whatever. And, to top it off, they kept yelling at the audience to get into it and raise their hands, etc. Well, buddy, why don’t you play something fun to jam out, and we’ll see how the crowd reacts?
There was a funny moment during the show when Plug 2 tried to do a census. He asked all the 20-25 year olds to scream, then 25-30, 30-35, then over 35. At least 75% of the crowd screamed at over 35. Including me. Reprazent.
Best part of the De la Soul portion of the show was when they had Dres of the Black Sheep come out for a cameo. Black Sheep were part of the little group of like-minded “intelligent” rappers from the early nineties that I listened to a good bit. I’ve been singing their song “Similak Child” for years when mixing up formula for the kiddos. Anyway, Dres knew the point of playing this show, and just cranked two straight hits like it was 1991. It was awesome. Despite years of listening to other music, I still know the vast majority of the lyrics to The Choice is Yours, and just may have performed them better than Dres. Here, listen and see if you can hear a slightly nasal white kid screaming along.
(no, that is not my video footage, but I was literally about 5 feet to the right of that person).
Public Enemy was exactly what I expected. I got in on them later on in high school, I wasn’t rocking my rainbow Africa medallion in the band hall, but I really liked some of their songs. Nonetheless, if you paid attention back then, you knew what they were doing at their shows. And they are still doing it 20 years later. Flavor Flav with his little clock bouncing all over the stage and leading the crowd in saying Yeaaaaaahh Booooooyeeee! over and over. Chuck D glaring out and angrily spitting his rhymes about the man keeping people down. And the little S1W army guys stepping around behind them and looking tough in fatigues. They generally stuck to classics - 911 is a Joke, Can’t Truss It, Rebel Without a Pause,
Bring the Noise, Fight the Power. I was hoping for By the Time I get to Arizona or Welcome to the Terrordome, my two favorites, but they still played a fun, high energy show.
Third, and by far the best for me, Ice Cube was completely bad ass. He flipped between his trademark angry eyebrow glare and big smiling, happy face, and just played seriously classic music. I loved it, although I fear that the lady in front of me likely enjoyed it less because I kept going crazy and spitting while screaming the lyrics to Steady Mobbing as loud as humanly possible. He did some NWA, some early stuff, and a few newer ones, but mainly stayed old school. If you’ve never heard Jackin’ Fo Beats, it is money on the album and was even better live.
I think the NWA classics are hard for him to do, because he only does his own verses on those songs. Which means he can only do little medley type things of NWA, which left me wanting more each time. My favorite rap album all through high school, and maybe still to this day, is his Death Certificate. Great soul-based beats, smart rhymes, and realistic (at least to this white kid from Austin) storytelling. So I was wanting more from that disc, but even with only one song, this was a fantastic show.
LL Cool J was great too, but just a little less interesting to me. I’ve never been into him as must as PE or Cube, but he threw down some classic stuff that was fun anyway. Mama Said Knock You Out, Goin’ Back to Cali, Jack the Ripper, Boomin’ System. But, he also took it down a notch so that he could bring the ladies up on stage with him to grind. Not as interesting to me. This little lady next to me (literally like 5’0” and 200 lbs) couldn’t see the stage when LL invited some girls up to grind with him, so she kept asking me if the one grinding LL’s crotch off “had booty.” I tried to answer, but I’m not entirely sure how to answer that question. Still, even with time to think about it, I don’t know if I am a valid authority on the topic. I thought LL put on a fun show overall, but I think he was more into licking his lips and flexing his biceps than playing music for the crowd.
By the end, I was soaked in sweat, completely hoarse, and could not hear anything out of my left ear. Totally worth every second. I just wish I could have gone to see these guys back when they were cutting edge and playing these songs for the first time.
