shit...that was some pure hip-hop. i missed k'naan's set and the beginning of jean's cause they said the show would start at 9. i got there at 9 and it was midway thru jean. o well, the 2nd half of her shit was fire.

pharoahe- shit was crazy. i actually had a good view for this. he did queens, simon says, agent orange, the light, and mad more shit. just cant recall the name of them. but either way, pharoahe brought some serious energy to the stage. people went wild for simon says.

talib- shit was amazing. unfortunately i moved from where i was to get a better view but just got stuck towards the back in the crowd. besides that, i think talib's set was the best, aside from blackstar. his shit was just streamlined perfectly. his voice was all good at this show and u could hear every word perfectly. he did old school, fly that knot, move something, the blast, too late, love language, never been in love, who got it, guerilla monsoon rap (w/ pharoahe), i try, broken glass (ante up beat), where ya gonna run and black girl pain (w/ jean grae), lonely people, and get by (w/ mos). maybe some more but i cant remember right now. either way, his shit was fire. off the hook.

blackstar- this shit was where its at. highlight of the show for real. these 2 dudes steal the show. amazing stage presence the 2 of them. out of control. every verse, every word was perfect. i need to see a full blown blackstar show, cause 5 songs just aint do them justice. they did get by together, supreme supreme, definition, respiration, astronomy, then talib came back during mos def's set for brown skin lady. shit was amazing, wish i had a video of the performance.

mos def- good set, but i was a little disappointed. after a few hours of standing, sweating my ass off cause there aint no room, trying to get a view of the stage, im tired and mos def did some slow ass songs. i just wanted the energy back, i stood there, enjoying his singing, but waiting for the classics. he did mathematics, hip-hop, ms fat booty, sex love and money, katrina clap, some new shit that was hot, more from new danger (which was the slow part), and ended with umi says. shit was good, but i was tired by then, and after talib and blackstar, mos def just was a step backwards (as good as it was)

-other notes, someone from MOP showed up and the place blew up. i dont know who it was, couldn't see, but someone said it was only 1 of them. anyway, they did Ante Up which was crazy. toads place is a great venue. small and good sound. the place must of been sold the fuck out, cause there was no room ANYWHERE. security was more uptight than ive ever seen them. and i dunno if it was just this show cause last week it wasn't there, but there was some fucking barracade btw the stage and the crowd which was bogus. at one point, during talib's set me and everyone around smelled burning wood. i could of sworn toad's place was gonna burn down. as bad as that would hav been, it would hav been cool to be at the show when blackstar literally burned the place down. the place was packed as fuck and i thought the energy was great. id say in order of best peformance id go:
blackstar > talib > pharoahe and mos def (cant decide) > jean > didnt see k'naan (unfortunately)