Tha S-A-double-D-I-Q

I've been a long-time fan of Raphael Saadiq's. The man is straight-up an amazing artist, vocalist, bass player and all-around music producer. The list of artists that he's worked with and produced is legendary, including Q-Tip, D'Angelo, Joss Stone and Stevie Wonder. From the days of Tony! Toni! Toné!, the mega-trio of Lucy Pearl and through all of his solo albums he's only gotten better and better.

I was fortunate enough to have seen him live for the first time, back in 2003 during a small in-studio session for an MHz special on him to promote his first solo stint, Instant Vintage. I actually got to meet him, and he was a very chill and humble dude. I'd heard a lot of buzz surrounding his most recent album The Way I see It (have yet to peep the whole thing...), and when I learned that he was goingto be in DC at tha 9:30 club, I HAD to be there. The show was absolutely incredible!!! I'd gotten a preview from his performance of the first single 100 Yard Dash, on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He came to DC with the same 6-piece band, and all of the energy of that taping, and even MORE. The band was tight, well rehearsed, and Saadiq was in absolute control at all times. The energy that they gave, and the crowd received and returned 10 fold, made it an unforgettable concert.

For a taste of what the show was like, here are some clips from his VH1 Soul Stage performance:








And, this performance from the Musicians @ Google session is nice, as well; but in no way measures-up to the show at 9:30. If you take this and multiply it by 100, you might be close...

MOS(t) DEF(initely), LAME...

So, things are straight strugglin' over in my corn3r, right now. Life stress has hit the max, my most important personal relationship has taken a hit, and to add to the pile o' $hit, I'm now a recent casualty of the great recession of '08/'09; and was laid-off last week. But like my boy Vic has reassured me: "Being unemployed is what's HOT in the streets, right now..." So, at least I'm still 'cool,' I guess : /

Anyway, as I'd already purchased tix first-thing, and had not left the house nor my room for that matter since I was given my walking papers last Wednesday, I figured it was time I ventured outside for some fresh air, and a nice hip-hop show courtesy of "First name: Dante, last name: Beze" or otherwise known as Mos Def.

I'd already braced myself for the worst, considering that tha 9:30 club had greedily (let's face it, it all comes down to the dough...) added a second "later" show.

In PJ Urquilla's review, he "...gives credit" to tha 9:30 club, for this. But, as a die-hard fan, I find it a bit shiesty that they even attempted to fit-in a second show (plus, isn't there a midnight 'curfew' in DC for 'all ages' shows?? AND, where's my opportunity for a second Lily Allen show, ehh!!?!), which in the end, gives the 'bigger' fans who didn't sleep initially and acted on tix first, a sub par experience. By any 'second set,' the artists, DJs, hypemen, engineers...fuck it, even the bartenders and bouncers are all more relaxed and know what to expect. I think that this would always be the case, and unfortunately it all came true for the 1st, and it seems 2nd show, as well.

As I wasn't there for the 2nd show (again, for the low-down, see PJ's review), and can only attest to the 1st show's experience, I'll only speak on that...but, I was highly disappointed.

From the get-go, I could already tell that the tour's opening (and, for an hour-and-a-half unexpected intermission's...) DJ was timid, at best. Assuming that he 'understood the crowd' and fans that a Mos Def show would bring, I'd expected a lot more of the Rawkus and Soulquarian type sounds that we'd all have loved to hear, while waiting around aimlessly. Instead it was a handful of standard random '90s underground hits, and more than a few ALT-finger-snappin' tracks, and even a '98/'99 R&B group Next, remix (...I mean, really!!?). Apparently, the 2nd show was treated to Mos voicing-over a bit of Outkast's "SpottieOttieDopalicious" instrumental (although maybe in essence, just a hidden sound-check...), while we in the 1st show heard it more than once, and initially on repeat for what seemed like 15-20 minutes. And, while some find it a respectful "nod" to the DMV to drop the staple of Chuck Brown and other Go-Go music tracks, at any DC area hip-hop show...I find it to be somewhat of a lowly insulting cop-out. It's like opening sets in NYC with the standard Rakim tracks, or Philly with the Roots...for those of us 'in the scene,' it gets super-stale and expected after a while. And, while I love dude, and hope for him to get us out of this recessional-black-hole...how many times do we need to be reminded by out-of-town-artists, who is in the White House now??? We live here, and we KNOW this...

The evening seemed saved with the opening act, Philly's Hezekiah, straight ripping it; with the help of his DJ (who really should've stayed-on for the unexpected intermission) and the funky blasts from the back-up pipes of Sax/(electric flute/clarinet?)Trumpeter duo, "Me So Horny." (<-- LOVE the name!!) Hezekiah and Co. did more than their share of getting the crowd warmed up, but then it would be a chilly hour-and-change before we'd even hear Mos' hype-man assurances that he was "on the way."

I know we can't hold Mos responsible for a late Continental flight from NYC, cause I know how that can be...but, it was very poor, as his fans who wanted to see him first (...and more, lets face it, we stepped-up and bought or tix, on time) to be treated to nothing more than a glorified sound-check session. Although we could hear him, and the music levels were 'fine'...we were subjected to constant lamenting from Mos on the state of sounds in the venue. He had his back to us for most of the show, chatting it-up (bitching) to his two DJ/Soundmen (...really, you can't just have dude #2 run the MPC from side-stage??).

And, even his attempt to blast the 9:30 engineers for unknowingly having the 1947-1951 Maya Deren, Haitian-Voodoo DVD, Divine Horsemen, accidentally stuck on repeat for the first scene, for a good 20-30 minutes. The fact that he even became aware of this, with the jumbo-tron screen up-above-and-behind him, is proof that he had his back to us, his fans, long and often enough to notice. Plus, by this point; I think we'd all had enough of the chicken neck wringing, and goat-blood letting for the evening, so keeping it on repeat may not have been such a bad thing, after all.

Ahhh, I have enough going-on to dwell on the negative, so I will just leave it at that. It was a very disappointing experience. I've loved Mos since the days of Soundbombing, and have defended him from naysayer’s, peeps around the way in Brooklyn, and even former classmates of his who've always clowned him and my respect for dude; but, my days of all of that may be numbered.

He straight rocked it at the old DC Nation venue with Black Jack Johnson (...please bring that sound BACK!!!), and killed it this past summer; on his own, as well as teamed-up with Q-Tip at the Rock The Bells show. Perhaps I was simply expecting too much from someone who I felt was one of "real/underground" hip-hop's brightest and 'Mos' talented stars?? But, who knows, the clouds must have just been extra thick the other night, on 9th & V...

The Lines Have Been Drawn...

So, which producer showcase/battle will you be attending, this evening??!

In one of the most highly contested battles to hit DC, until this November's upcoming presidential election, it's down to these two jump-offs:

The Tru Skool "Beat Grinder Championship"

...and

The Red Bull Big Tune

One is Free/$5 (...depending on your connex/RSVP game...), while the other is $7. One features, Nottz (MY NUUUGH...Vee-Aye, ALL DAY), and DC's current "prince" Wale; while the next has my mans Grap Luva on the M-I-C, and features DJ Roddy Rod ( and the Low Budget Crew...not to be F*%#ed with!!). One features 10 producers while the other 12...and accusations of "biting" run the gamut; Yet, both are guaranteed to have some really nice up-and-coming producers, and neck-snappin' beats.

So, it may just come down to which venue you prefer. I personally get down equally with LIV and da 9:30 cluuub; so remain torn...

Either way, it's good to have some healthy competition out there in the streets of DC, and as always...I welcome a flooding of ill hip-hop producers and beats, any day.

Word, word, word...

So, we've finally got the blog up-and-running. It's been a long time coming, and honestly I'm just tired of the constant naggin' from my other die-hard blog-o-sphere peeps and co-workers; so, it's time that I throw my own size 7 3/8 New Era into the ring (...more on those and other interests to come!!!).

As I'm attempting to enjoy the final weekday of my vacation from work; I'm gonna leave it at that...marinate on some stories, layouts, and recap of the 7/27 Columbia, MD Rock the Bells show, as well as coverage of the People Under the Stairs/Flobots show that I'mma be peepin' on Sunday at tha 9:30.

Until then, feel free to check out the guest post from my manz Patrick's blog, that sparked all of this nonsense to come. Enjoy your respective weekendz and stay safe. Can you believe that it's August, already??!