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First off let me say this event was huge for hip-hop in the city of Boston. I really hope this can become an annual event. Also because there were so many acts I dont remember the exact order of events!
I got there around 4ish when things were jumping off. A lot of local opening acts which I cant remember the names of were performing. Most of them were forgetable except for T-Max(old school Boston emcee) and his kids. I dont get mushy about kids rhyming, but these young guys had some skills. I was eventually able to make my way down to the front center, three rows back(if anyone saw me, i'm a light brown skinded chic, long hair, denim skirt, magenta halter top). Things really started to pop off when Insight and Electric and Edan came on stage. I've seen them do this routine once before and I really enjoyed it the first time. Insight's crew(Electric) was real tight. They had incredible stage presence and the crowd was feeling them. They were kinda J5ish just because they had this old school flavor with the melodic hooks. The crew leaves the stage and Edan and Insight begin their routine. WOW! Both of these men are extremely talented and they showed it. Edan rhyming and cutting at the same time was dope!
L The Headtoucha was disappointing. He dropped the beat for "Too Complex", his big hit in the underground world(was featured on Primo's "Ny Reality Check 101"). The intro comes on, Im ready to wild out and he cuts the beat. The rest of his set he performed some forgetable generic shit. Blah! Shuman was another highlight. At first he was shaky with the crowd. He was trying to feel them out and would cut off songs if there wasn't a crowd reaction. He still went at it and was able to finally win the crowd over with "Landmark" his joint about Boston. Ed OG came out next and at this point I could tell the show was definitely running late. Things were getting a bit more rushed and although Ed did his thing it wasn't as good as I hoped. "I Got To Have It" was the highlight, but I dont understand why he didn't perform "Home" since the Kreators and Krumbsnatcha were on stage. "Home", a collab that also features Guru, Akrobatik, and Big Shug is a joint about Boston hip-hop that was a smash here(got a good deal of radio play). The crowd woulda really reacted if he did that.
Skillz! No bullshit or frontin here just cuz he reads these boards, but this dude killed it! He came out hard, did "Ghostwriter" which had everyone like "oh shit!". I was hoping for some older joints like "Nod Factor" or some verses off of "Extra Abstract Skillz" (guess it woulda been hard without Q-Tip or Large Pro), but i'm not gonna get too picky. The recap of 2002 was some of the cleverest shit I heard and the crowd fuckin loved it. I think for those who had never heard of him before this will be definitely checkin for his album. Next up, Pharoahe Monch. He came out with 2 backup singers(one male, one female) which added to his live performance. His set seemed like it was cut very quick. Highlights were "Oh No!" and of course the "Simon Says". The funniest shit happened though during "Simon Says". Earlier on the hosts announced that there wasn't supposed to any cursing since it was an all ages event. Most performers followed this and if they didn't it was subtle. But everyone knows the hook to "Simon Says" is not radio friendly. So when it came time for that song Monch didn't curse but the whole 25,000 people there in unison were. Monch had the most emabarassed look on his face like they was about to cut his mics cuz of the cursing.
Next up was PMD with Dj Honda! PMD mostly stuck with the EPMD classics. His set was also obviously cut short but he really worked the stage and got people hype. He did his new single and ended with "Headbanger" which rocked the crowd so hard! He also announced the next EPMD album will come out next year! Big Daddy Kane was the next to rock and he sure did. I saw him perform earlier this year in Boston but due to no promotion, there were no more than 50 people in the club. This time Kane was rocking in front of 25,000 people and just to see the reactions on people's face when he went through the classics was priceless. Highlights were "Raw", "Aint No Half Steppin" and "Smooth Operator" where he jumped off the stage and was walking by the crowd. Kane still got that affect on females! haha
Krs-One was the last act and like they say, they save the best for last. I've seen KRS perform before but not in front of a crowd of this magnitude. Heads were more than ready to see him come out. Again his set was drastically cut sort. I'm hearing his set was supposed to be at least 40 mins, and was cut to 20. KRS has way too many classics to fit into a 20 mn set, but he still did his thing. He also included a tribute to Jam Master Jay. "The Bridge Is Over" and "Sound of The Police" weren't performed, but "South Bronx" and "MC's Act Like They Dont Know" made up for it. Let me restate, this show was major and I had more than just a good time. The planning for having that many acts wasn't terrible(it really coulda been worse), but I think most of the very opening acts shoulda been cut just to make sure all the big names had more than enough time to rock. I'm not gonna lose any sleep over not hearing Sully perform, but I will not hearing "The Bridge Is Over". Other than that, great show and most importantly no bullshit went down, so we were able to demonstrate that hip-hop events don't equal violence and disorder. Also if anyone saw me or wanna discuss the show, PM me.
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www.twitter.com/MsKianga
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'I can't stand Tim McCarver. He has a penchant for making blindingly obvious statements in a self-congratulatory tone' Kyle Lohse
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