Not too long ago I was choppin it up with a fellow hip hop head who I have a lot of respect for. This man is in the game in a serious way and has a breadth of hip hop knowledge that would put you to shame. We were talking about some show I had gone to the night before when he hit me with this; he hardly ever goes to shows and can’t really remember what the last one was. I was blown away and I have to say it broke my heart a little. Now let me admit off top that I’ve been known to take this a little too far. If I have to choose between buying my ticket to Rakim, and paying utilities that month, best believe I’ll be burning candles and showering at my girl’s house until I get that next check. Ask me the last show I went to and I’ll be able to tell you immediately who and where it was, and I can almost guarantee you it’ll have been less than a month ago. If it’s longer than that you won’t even have to ask me, you’ll know. I’ll be rocking back and forth in the corner somewhere having cold sweats, hallucinating, and itching my skin off…Ok, what?! I can feel you judging me right now and you need to quit. I already admitted that I’m a hip hop show junkie. Now allow me tell you why you should be too.
I promise not to turn this into a history lesson but it has to be pointed out that “live” is the way hip hop started. MC Shan told us in ’88 that They Used To Do It Out In The Park. Ever since then, countless artists (Saigon, Joel Ortiz, Nas, Luda, and Jay Z to name a few) have been trying to keep that sentiment alive as they each remind us in turn, that “hip hop started out in the park.” It wasn’t just an audible experience, it assaulted all your senses and you felt that shit from the inside out. So why does it seem like we’ve forgotten how important the element of a live performance is? Back when the movement was blossoming, if you wanted to hear some new hip hop you went and bought a mix tape out of someone’s trunk (or maybe, if you grew up country like me, from a friend’s cousin’s boyfriend’s homeboy who lived right outside NYC). Now however, we live in an age of non-stop music videos, interviews, album leaks, downloads, and free videos online courtesy of anyone with a video phone. If you have access to a computer you have access to what seems like anything. Feel like seeing your favorite artist onstage? Youtube said artist, add “live” and you got it. Now clearly I’ve done this before (err, do it every day) but if you’re letting this substitute for the real thing…send me your number so I can personally call you up and tell you you’re worthless.
What needs to be understood here is anyone can hide behind a recording. All you have to do is visit RapRebirth, find a ghostwriter, drop enough paper for a producer with some credits and…you’re the next Snoop Dogg. Real emceeing is a different thing. For starters there’s breath control, voice inflection, enunciation, and stage presence. Can your favorite rapper survive without punch-ins and voice synthesizing? Do they know how to connect with their fans or create fans out of non-listeners? If you want to get to know your favorite rappers, don’t watch them on 106 and Park or stalk- sorry, “follow”- them online; go to their shows. They reveal themselves in these live performances. Everything you’ve ever thought about them is either confirmed or denied. Want to know if Nas is as powerful as you think he might be? Go watch him just murk an hour long set with no hype man and I’ll dare you to say he’s not God-like. Curious if WuTang still has it? Go watch Ghostface sit on a monitor and get drunk, Meth not show, and the rest of them just promote the merch in the lobby. Then get back to me. Ever question whether or not KRS is really about all the social ideology he spouts? Witness him drop knowledge about Oscar Grant, throw his head back and scream “JUSTIIICE” with sweat pouring and veins bulging, before he launches into Sound of Da Police. Question answered. Be there when the music winds down and Jay Z turns the lights on the crowd, and for about 30 minutes just shouts out the people wearing a shirt with his name on it, or those he saw screaming every word to every verse back at him during the show. Then try to tell me he hasn’t, against all odds, retained some of that grateful kid from the Marcy projects. And who low key would’ve given anything to be there when Akon let his thug show as he tossed that kid off stage? Yeah, you can’t see me right now but I’m raising my hand.
What I’m trying to illustrate was probably best said by KRS-ONE in 9 Elements. “Hip Hop is something you live, rap is something you do.” Rap is the cd in your hand. Hip Hop is everything that led up to the making of it, and everything that will come from it afterwards. If you call yourself a true head, don’t hesitate to keep that movement alive by participating in this fundamental element. Some shows will blow your mind open and reinforce your love for one rapper or another, while some will disappoint you and change your opinion of artists you’ve loved for ages. Sometimes the opening group will steal the show and all of a sudden you have a new favorite, probably local, crew. That, all of that, is so true to the roots of the movement. Not to mention you’ll be monetarily supporting artists whose music you’ve probably been pirating for years anyway (no judgement, we all do it). You can take it back to when this music was for all 5 senses; Hear some new rhymes or the ones you’ve loved for years. Smell that smoke as it rises up in puffs all through the venue. Sip on a couple drinks back at the bar during set breaks. Look into the face of the man or woman who you may have only seen on cd jackets until now. And feel that bass hit so hard that it shakes all the best places on a female. Above all, understand one thing. If you’re only listening to the music coming out of our speakers, you’re just hearing some rap. If you make it to the shows though, you might get to glimpse that Real. Hip. Hop.
