Reviewer: Corey
This is my first time writing about a concert so forgive me if it's
not completely accurate or described well. I've read other people's descriptions
of concerts and they are written so well, I feel like I was there, and
I can feel the energy. Let's hope I can do the same.
Show: Common ∓ Big Daddy Kane at Tramps / New York City (July 28th, 1998)
Reviewer: Corey
This is my first time writing about a concert so forgive me if it's not completely accurate or described well. I've read other people's descriptions of concerts and they are written so well, I feel like I was there, and I can feel the energy. Let's hope I can do the same.
The show was at Tramps, a small nightclub half a block from where I work (21st and 5th av), so I went and bought the tickets at lunchtime. Tickets were $20 each (ouch!) so I dropped 40 for me and my girl (whom I spoil entirely too much :) We got there around 9:15. No long line, and the club wasn't too crowded. People were chillin', the DJ was playing underground cuts and obscure b-sides. He even played No More Worries by Del, which was the first time that I had heard a non mainstream westcoast artist, and that got me hyped up a little. Heads were freestyling in their little circles. My girl wanted to get to the front, so we started edging our way through the crowd (not so easy for me but I managed to squeeze through).
The opening act comes out. I think their name was Section V, or that was the name of their click. Definitely underground, but not too obscure because heads in the crowd knew who they were. One kid with dreds, and the other was a tall, dark skinned dude who sounded like a poor man's Busta Rhymes. He was a fool, squirting people with a supersoaker, and he even jumped into the crowd, which didn't work. The other kid was flowing, he had some nice rhymes, and kept the crowd moving. One thing that stood out for me was the fact that they had very nice beats. Not complicated, but definitely above average, head-nodding beats. The one mc called this other cat up there who did his joint which was called "Mental Earthquake," it was pretty nice. They also had a girl with them who rhymed on one cut. Mr. Complexx was supposed to be up there for that cut, but he came late. Disappointing for me because I had never heard him rhyme before. Then they had a little freestyle session, not bad, not great. They were definitely the best opening act at any show I'd been to.
After about a 20 minute break, the DJ introduces Kane. With him is Mr. C, who gets on the wheels to do a little intro for him, and up comes the smooth operator, who looked like he enjoyed a blunt before he came on stage. Wearing a cream colored short-sleeve shirt and matching cream pants with some nice black shoes, Kane was dressed to impress. I wasn't sure what to expect from Kane, and i was hoping he wouldn't come off weak. I was not dissapointed. Immeadately, he goes into "Nuff Respect Due" from the Juice soundtrack, a very good opening cut. The crowd went berserk, everyone was screaming. He does a couple of verses from some of his other old skool stuff that I didn't recognize. Then he stops and says, "I wanna know if any of y'all recognize this." Then he says, "Let's take it back to the old skool, Let's take it to Union Square. Let's take it back to the LQ" He stops again and says, "Let me bring someone up who might help you to remember that." Out of nowhere, Gregg Nice sprints onto stage grabs the mic and starts doing his verse from "DWYCK." Everyone lost their minds, they were screaming and dancing. Not to be outdone, Gregg Nice is doing these crazy dances on stage while he does his verses from "Make it Funky," "Hip Hop Junkies," and one more joint I can't remember, dancing the whole time. Kane is in the background cracking up at Gregg's dancing. Common and all his boys were at the side of the stage loving it, he was as hyped as we were. After he stops rhyming, he tells us how he used to meet up with Kane at Yankee Stadium, and how they used to hang out back in the day. Then he starts beatboxing WELL. I didn't know he could beatbox, but he was ripping it. He did "top billing" while the crowd sang the lyrics, he did the pauses and everything. He did some other ones which were phat too, and we were all going crazy. He finished up, gave love to Kane and left. Kane then went into "smooth operator" and "ain't no half steppin'" which everbody loved and was singing along to. Mr. C was on point with the records, he gets props because the everything flowed very smooth. Kane also did one joint from his new album that is coming out, then he did a joint that gave respect to new school rappers which was nice. He left to a louuud ovation from the crowd.
After a very long interlude in which some very wack music was playing and everyone was hating on the DJ for letting some wack record play, Common comes out with his band, A black girl named Becky. Maceo from De La was up there with him, and Pos was on the side of the stage. Common was so hyped, he just starts ripping off joints from One Day. He held up a picture of his daughter as he did the first verse of Retrospect for life. he did almost everything from One Day, I used to love h.e.r. (he did a phat intro to it by dissing Puffy, Mase, and basically all of Bad Boy except Biggie), Ressurection, Watermelon (a lot of Ressurection), and even went wayyy back and did Take it EZ, and Soul by the Pound. He also had Mos Def and Saleed quali(? Icouldn't understand the name) from Blackstarr (unless they're the whole group, I don't know) and they were flowing their asses off. Sadat X came out and did a nice verse, better than anything I've ever heard him do. Oh yeah, Com also did the bitch in yoo, follwed by another dis of Puffy to the beat of the "the bridge is over" it was phat, the crowd loved it. I think his funniest line was when he was talking right before he did Niggaz be Rollin'. He said "i don't care what race y'all are, y'all all my niggaz here in hotel Com (his running theme throughout the show). White people, don't use that word outside of here though, it might not be good for your health." everybody cracked up.
To sum it up, the show was incredible, Kane and Gregg Nice actually had the crowd more hyped than Common, most likely because everyone knew all the words to their joints. Another thing I'd point out is a good live band can beat a DJ anyday of the week. It was also the first time I'd been to a show that was about 50/50 black and white, I thought that was cool, and proves that hip hop fans are fans, regardless of color.
I love live shows.