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It was over the holidays.
Not sure if there was any collaboration beyond that but I was in the building for the second night, even had to drive up to Rutgers New Brunswick campus earlier in the day to cop a pair off an OKP (I believe it was DJPrimetime) I was there (had to drive up to Rutgers New Brunswick just to buy tickets & from what I can recall:
Little Brother did a mini-set too & killed.
Mr. Lif's dreads looked alien-like up close, Aesop Rock was out there with 'em looking like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo & actually rapping like an alien.
SA Smash came out doing some kind of shout/shriek rhyme style that was like a cross between a hysterical teenage girl & a Tourrette's Syndrome sufferer........the crowd was sorta looking around nervously like 'is anyone actually feeling *this shit*'.
Cannibal Ox (or at least Vast Aire) was there but somehow despite my love for Cold Vein as an album I cannot for the life of me recall anything other than thinking 'damn, Vast really is *vast*' dude was easily the tallest/heftiest dude to grace that stage that evening.
J-Live was scheduled but had lost his voice, I think he either tried to give it a go or came out onstage as a show of solidarity but no actual performance.
I wanna say Jean Grae did a couple of cuts that were 'ok' then complained about the shallowness of the industry & said something about quitting the business.
Don't think El-P performed or was even there.
Roots did some of their own cuts in between appearances.
AND DEN?(c)"Dude, Where's My Car?" chinese-drive-thru-lady
Schoolly D (occupying the surprise-special-guest/show-closing-living-legend slot that I believe was Pete Rock & CL Smooth on the night before's show) came out & made me forget everything that happened before.
No idea what the fuck was on Schoolly Skool's bird that night or better yet what type of shit he was on but he came out whylin, started into 'Saturday Night' (or maybe it was 'PSK', it's been a decade since & he only made it thru maybe one verse & then 2 or 3 re-starts with Black Thought playing good soldier trying to guide him through it).
All I know is at some point even Quest gave up once Schoolly (for youngins or old-heads who haven't seen it, Philly Mag did a great piece on him last year: http://www.phillymag.com/articles/schoolly-d-is-living-the-american-dream/ wouldn't stop bugging him to let him get on the drum kit.
No idea why Quest eventually abdicated the throne (other than the fact that we were in Philly, it was 1 AM & he was Schoolly Fucking D not ready to take no for an answer).
This motherfucka Schoolly starts doing some kind of fucked-up drum solo, by this point Hub & Kamal weren't even still pretending to accompany, all The Legendary just looking at each other like 'What the fuck is going on here?' and Schoolly starts singing from the stool on the kit 'This Old Man, He Played One, He Played Knick-Knack On My Drum' while the entire crowd & crew sat there befuddled. I think he got up to singing 'This Old Man, He Played Six' with the next rhyming couplet of course modified to 'dicks' before 15 or somebody else managed to gently get him up out of the drum seat, away from the mic & off the stage.
I guess that was like the South Philly version of Old Dirty hijacking Black Thought's mic at Irving Plaza in '96, Malik B's (and incidentally, Rahzel's) last show with the Legendary at Bowery Ballroom in '99 (Gangstarr 10th Anniversary, pre-'I Try'-blowout Macy Gray opening) when he was just standing onstage while Thought still had to do his verses because he was busy dumping entire bottles of water over his head oblivious to where he was while teenie or somebody from the team was out there wiping down the wet spots on the stage after him, or the '06 Pre-Grammy Jam Session at Key Club in Hollywood when Bushwick Bill came out to do just his 'this year, Halloween fell on a weekend' Mind Playin' Tricks verse but then wouldn't get off the stage, started freestyling or trying to kick his new conscious rap solo shit while the band wondered 'how do you give a one-eyed midget the bum's rush without looking like heartless assholes'.
In other words, just one of those calamities in the moment that over time becomes pure comedy.
But actually, Schoolly D's 'This Old Man' rendition for the encore of a show was comedy from the jump, that was one of those things you're watching knowing that it's damn-shame terrible, ridiculous & absolutely unforgettable all at the same time.
We closed out the bar next door still laughing about that shit, hit Lorenzo's for a slice, went back to this group of Uni Arts' girls rowhouse on the alley by Lombard & I may have even seen daylight.
I distinctly recall waking up hungover the next day in a big-ass house occupied by no one at the time but me & my man who was at the show with me, sipping a Gatorade & trying to piece together the evening, hopping on the downstairs computer to log onto OKP only to see Qoolquest's subjectline in a Lesson post that just read 'This Old Man, He Played Six' which immediately brought back the previous night's nonsense back with a wave so powerful I laughed until my eyes started to water before even clicking the thread.
Anyway, long story now officially 'Get A Blog, Bomb' long, that was my impressions of the second night of The Roots' "Def Jux" show.
Hope that helps because I couldn't help myself.
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