Live hip-hop and an audience of smiling faces are rarely seen together nowadays, especially here in Rhode Island. That said; I can’t recall the last time a featured artist kicked off an evening wearing sun-tanning goggles. Romen Rok did exactly that while onstage at Friday night’s Elevation and set the tone for what went on to be an enjoyable, successful open mic night at Firehouse XIII.

Thanks to Rock Solid, who did a fine job of hosting as well as blessing the mic, and Sterby Rock performing scratchutory rape on the tables, the night continued on – and finished – without a moment of silence. Courtesy of some newer names (at least to myself), including Boudy, Wor Paint and Vendetta, and a few of the more recognizable rhyme-slingers, HW, Big City and Mic Feen, the open mic was nicely kept in balance and did a fine job of showcasing the aptitude of our locals.

After a solid head-nodding set from Dirty Hank & Reason (PDP) that even had the three or four skirts in the building shaking their shit, Marshall Law went on to defend his 401 Hip-Hop championship battle title against open mic participant Tec. In short, Marshall seems to be building a rigid reputation for slaughtering all who oppose. However, due to RI’s practically non-existent battle circuit, I’m not sure exactly how much weight that statement holds. (Hopefully those last couple sentences are enough to instigate some future competition…and fire up Marshall for the rounds to come.) Regardless, I know when respect is due, and the kid is definitely an animal when it comes to battling.

The night wound down to a Big City, Cas Uno, Wor Paint, Boudy, Dirty Hank, and Reason (along with a couple others) rhyme-cipher spit over a number of instrumentals spun by Sterby and some live MPC programming from William Javier. Aside from a mere dose of freestyle biting (1:44-1:50) that made me cringe, the cipher, along with the other three hours of Elevation, was dope.

When I initially spoke with Mortal about Elevation, he described his ambitions of having this event act as an ongoing quasi-workshop for emcees, producers, and other local talent. Truly, it’s a great idea. Elevation offers artist’s the chance to meet new people, build, and, essentially, better their chance of being noticed in such an over-saturated genre of music. In a broader scope, Elevation is also an opportunity to end the obviously segregated Rhode Island hip-hop landscape. This is the rebirth of Unity, Rhode Island, and there’s the potential for our scene to receive some well-deserved recognition. So pay attention, spread the good word, and bring your Jason mask out to the next Elevation at Firehouse XIII on November, Friday the 13th.

You can check out the pictures from October’s Elevation below …

Since headlining acts at The Living Room usually don’t grace the stage until past midnight, I decided it was a good idea to watch all of game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals before I went to see Eyedea & Abilities perform. Although I am glad to have watched the Celtics win, I was definitely wrong in my assumption about The Living Room. I arrived around 11:45, and, much to my disappointment, the headlining set was already more than half over

Regardless of how much I saw on Friday night, I already knew Eyedea & Abilities are some of the best live performers in hip-hop after seeing them at The Living Room in 2004. Rarely can I say a hip-hop act is better live rather than on record, but in the case of E&A, I believe it may be true. The little I did see on Friday was equally as amazing as the full set I saw a few years back. Eyedea has an incredible presence on the microphone and Abilities handles the tables like only a few others can.

Towards the closing of the show, Eyedea spent some time talking to the crowd about a new album the two are working on that they plan to release sometime next spring. Hopefully E&A will factor in the crowd support over the crowd size when scheduling their next tour dates. Friday’s RI crowd was far from large; however, the majority of fans in attendance were extremely supportive, as most of them bought merchandise and pleaded with E&A to come back at a later date.

If you have not heard of Eyedea & Abilities, do yourself a favor and research them a little. This way, if they come around next year, I will not have to tell you again how you missed one of the best live performances hip-hop has to offer.

-Lee Reed

Friday May 16th was a milestone for me. It was a show to celebrate my 10 years of promoting and contributing to the Rhode Island Hip Hop scene. It was also a benchmark to my relationship with the community. I am about to say something that will not come as a shock to anyone. People involved in this local hip hop scene act funny. I was fully prepared to write a scathing article calling out people who I thought were being more dumb than usual. But you know what? All promotions are good promotions, so instead I will just give my love and respect to those who went out of their way to help this event be a success. Those who rose to the occasion and became champions for the night. Those that helped make this night special. So Here I go:

Marshall Law. Since he is the current UNDISPUTED battle champion, it made the most sense to me that I start with him. You may love Marshall, you may hate him, but you can’t ignore him. He brought a lot of hype and attention to this show. Marshall and his squad were in the building. Their fans came early and stayed late. He came in and smashed Sneaky in a two round battle. Marshall let Sneaky dictate stipulations and he battled Sneaky at his own game and won clean. Marshall’s buzz has come about rather quickly, I look forward to see where he goes from here. Battle rappers don’t usually put out quality material. Hopefully Marshall can break the mold.

Sneaky Pete. You may be wondering why someone who clearly lost the battle would be considered a Champion. How could someone who got his ass handed to him be on this list? Sneaky really did it BIG on the promotions for this event. He came thru several times for flyers and was always down to go put in work on some street team shenanigans. Also the battle between Sneaky and Marshall was basically a marketing tactic that was conceived by Sneaky. Sneaky set it in motion. It was just as big a draw as either of the headliners. So big up to Sneaky Pete for being able to have a good time and bettering someone else’s operation at his own expense. I respect your hustle.

Sterbyrock. Sterby “Mutha Phuckin” Rock!! Sterby and I have been cool since the Tone Capone days at Liquid Lounge. I have always held Sterby in high regards, but after his performance at the show, he has been escalated to man god status in my eyes. First one to show up. Last one to leave. He even set off the show by announcing the first act. With out his proactive behavior, the show may have been cut short later on in the night. He also held it down during Vast Aire’s set like a … well … like a champ. One would expect the Headliner to have a DJ to spin their set. I thought Vast and C-Rayz would have DJs. I told Sterby they had DJs, yet they didn’t. Sterby manned up and did the damn thing. No fuss. I am still in awe.

Keebla. Some may not know who Keebla is. It seems our community dies out and is reborn every few years like the mythical firey bird, the Phoenix. The majority of the current roster of RI Hip Hop Superstars have been around for about two years or so. That being said I guess it could be excusable for them not to know Keebla. But I for one believe there are a few names that any hip hopper for RI should know: DJ Buck, DJ Kurty Kutt, Wiz Art, Vase, Manhunt, Afta Maf, Kwest, Sage, and Keebla! Keebla is a pioneer of the RI B-Boy scene. Once a memebr of the POAM B-Boys, then the founder of the Ground FX crew, he has proven himself to be the number one B-Boy in RI. Keebla volunteered his time to run the door and and handle the guest list for the event. This is the absolute worst job to have at an event, but he did it … like a champ. I’m looking forward to his upcoming. Hopefully he will allow me to help him as much as he helped me.

19Ninty7. Yes sir. Our first ever “Artist on The Rise”. 19Ninty7 came thru and provided the CD player for the event. Every artist that performed that night owes a small bit of thanks to 97. He also laced me with a butter LRG Hoody. We had a discussion at the battle last month, about how we were both fans of the LRG clothing line. He mentioned a clothing store around his way that always has LRG hoodies on clearance and that 97 personally had too many and would bless me with one. Well I totally forgot the convo, but Ninty7 did not. When he showed up with the CD player, he also had the hoody. Thats a hook up. Respect. I’ll see what I can do to return the favor.

Vast Aire. One of my favorite Emcees of the current generation. I would go as far as to say he is in my top 5. He killed it. He performed one of my favorite joints, Raspberry Fields. It’s a shame he and C-Rayz didn’t rock my absolute favorite “The Battle for Asgard”. My son and his best friend Shamar wanted to meet Vast. I was very surprised to see how good Vast was with young fans. He really spent a lot of time with them, and had actual conversations with them. It was awesome to see. He could have just been like “what’s up guys” and they would have been happy, but he took time and built with them. WORD. The Children are the future.

C-Rayz Walz. Another of my top 5 emcees of the last decade. C-Rayz is amazing. He is an emcee who does not need a DJ or a hype man and can still smash a show. He sounds the same as he does on CD and that is something not every emcee can pull off. Actually hardly any recording artist can pull that off. He also mentioned Me and Basement Flavor in his freestyles. Dopeness. C-Rayz was a true professional. Very easy to work with and easy to please. I look forward to working with him in the future.

DJ Janks. Janks held it down on the DJ tip for C-Rayz during his set. This gave Sterby a much needed and deserved break. Janks did his thing. Big up and respect to him. Janks also came out and help with the promotions for the event. I dig his work ethic.

Gibran. My dude. Gibran (in case you don’t know) is one of the co-founders of Labeless Illtelligence and the producer behind St. Art and The IF?. Gibran (or SkricLee as I know him) and I have become very good friends over the past seven months, since the release of Halo 3. We have built almost daily via XBOX Live and are about to embark on our new career as professional gamers. He broke his 2 year self imposed hiatus from attending shows just to come out and support my celebration. That in my humble opinion made this event a success. Watching someone who is an artist and STILL a fan enjoy a showcase I put together was reward enuff for me. Hopefully I can put together another event that will motivate him to attend.

Thats all I got for now. If I forgot to mention you and you feel you went out of your way to make this the best show of the year, I apologize. If you attended the show I would love to hear any and all feedback. Positive or negative. I wont catch feeling like some. (well at least I wont let you see me cry)

P.S. I couldn’t have done it without the wife. She is my queen. The most powerful piece on the board.

Last night I attended the “Brawl For It All” and I must say it was the most entertaining show I saw this past week, and that’s saying a lot. I saw 7L & Esoteric perform on Saturday and KRS-One (with Sage Francis and Crew) on Sunday. This event …Â This BRAWL FOR IT ALL” was by far the most entertaining event I have attended in a while, but what I found entertaining is not necessarily what the promoter had intended.

No disrespect but … this shit was straight comedy. From the first time I saw the flyer. To the 3 hours I spent outside the venue after the event, bullshitting and reliving the live action abortion I had just witnessed. I had a smile plastered to my face. Maybe it was the two dollar beers. Maybe it was the poetic justice of the universe. All I know is I got my $5 worth.

So lets get going. It all started with an Internet flyer posted on this site. The flyer was a clear slap in the face to Marshall Law and to me indirectly (or maybe directly). The flyer was calling Raise the RI Battle Champion. We all know the Marshall Law beat him at The Battle Royal at the Living Room. The promotional campaign ued to promote the battle went on to claim that the battle at the Living Room was not official and the judges were biased or it was fixed. Like somehow Raise… or anyone in the battle … didn’t get a fair one. As tho this battle, this Brawl For It All would set the record straight and be the battle to model all future battles after. As tho this young upstart in the game of promotions would come and re-invent the game and thumb his nose at all those who have come before him …

He actually tried to post this comment on my myspace page:

AUDIO LIQUOR PRESENTS “THE BRAWL FOR IT ALL” WHO IS REALLY THE BEST EMCEE ALIVE???

The war of words has been flying for awhile now

The MC’s have been going back and forth about who can beat who and who won at ‘The Living Room’ battle a month ago

Words have been exchanged and doubts cast

There was NO clear winner

Come on. Really? So CasUno, Storm Davis, Al Bums and the audience were all in on a big conspiracy. I love to create hype to promote a show and all, but that’s homo.

So the marketing was horrible, there was like 25 people in the building. Lets get to the actual battle. It was just as horrible as the promotions.

First off, there was no DJ and no turntables. Everything was done from a CD Player at the sound booth. How can you have a hip hop event with no DJ and no turntables? I almost threw up I was so disgusted. The flyer promised 12 emcees. Guess how many emcees were actually in the battle. Go ahead guess. While you think about your answer I will continue with my diatribe.

Sneaky Pete was on stage when Marshall Law showed up. The event screeched to a halt. When everyone was sure that fisticuffs were not about to ensue the event continued. Marshal was there with his crew and his boy Marcellino entered the battle.

In the First battle it was Marcellino vs Danny Defstar. Each battle was supposed to be three rounds each. First round was freestyle, second round was for writtens. third round was acapella. It was a funny battle but the judges stopped it after the second round due to a 2 round knock out. Marcellino beat Danny the first two rounds so the judges felt there was no point to go to a third round. That was a bad move in my opinion, and you will see how the judges broke this rule later on for their friends.

Then Marcellino had to battle J5. I was like why does this dude have to battle again? He just battled. WTF is going on here? Then I realized. This was The answer. There was only THREE emcees register to battle. This was the final round. Funny shit. It’s a good thing Marshall showed up with his boy Marcellino. If he didn’t the battle would have been just one round. J5 vs Danny Defstar. And Danny would have been crowned champ.

So it’s J5 vs Marcellino. J5 is clearly down with the promoter. He was choosing his own beats by calling out the track numbers. A bit of a home field advantage if you ask me. Then they changed the beat for Marcellino and gave him a crazy up tempo beat to spit over. He still killed it and took round one. Round two was also won by Marcellino, yet the judges went to a round three. Why did J5 get to go to round three when Danny didn’t? Again, home field advantage. Marcellino wins and is crowned champ.

So now The main event was supposed to happen. Raise vs Marshall 2. But Raise wants to go thru Marcellino to get to Marshall. So now its Marcellino’s third battle. Raise goes first and he basically battles Marshall, who was standing in the front row. The crowd was like “doesnt he know who he is battling?” Raise must have some pent up frustrations towards Mr. Law. But the battle went four rounds. Raise’s best punchline was calling Marcellino a Beastie Boy, but during the forth round acapella Marcellino killed it and even the judges had to give it to him.

Now it was Raise vs Marshall. Raise used up all his punchlines on Marcellino and it was over pretty quick. It was obvious from the first round that Marshall had it in the bag. It was painful to watch Raise loose eight rounds in a row.

I reached out to Challz but he refused to comment on the event. So to re-cap. The turn out was horrible. Not having a DJ is always a bad idea. The original beats they were having the emcees battle over were wack. There was only 3 emcees in the battle. The big ambush they had planned for Marshall back fired. I saw Sneaky Pete up on stage trying to sway the judges opinion towards Raise. Looked real funny to me. Shame on you Sneaky for letting your beef with Marshall cloud your opinion.

So we arrived at the venue way earlier then the show, this was because our radio trip had ended at the Providence line. We hit up Wes’s rib shack in the middle of nowhere, City was ranting about how great this place was so I decided to check it out…my final verdict was: bad choice.

We then decided to head over the the blackstone club, which we had all once played when it was in nowhere Cumberland, Ri. This newer version of it was supposed to be a great and grand improvement. It completely was, I mean this place was much bigger then the older one. It had all kinds of goodness like a lounge area for anyone to come and chill at and lots of great atmosphere and pool tables. so far the venue choice was at least a good one.

I found my way to the couches while City hit up the bar and held it down! I was busy talking to myself about how I couldn’t wait to see what happens here with the whole sneaky pete and jotsone thing. Let me just cut that down right now, nothing went on. I was happy about this but at the same time the 5 year old in me wanted to see what pete would do. but anyway on to the opening part of the show

I was slightly aggravated by the early part of my journey so I decided to sit back and not really interact with the crowd so much. I just sat and watched and really didn’t let anyone know I was there (not that people know who the hell I am anyway). The show was supposed to kick off at around 9 and with the epic amount of rappers/emcees/suckers that were there I was expecting this to be run like a chaotic dash from a overflowing mountain top that is just about to erupt. The whole night I kept saying “how are they going to fit everyone on this, what are they going to do like a song each and call it a success?”, well the show officially kicked off round 9:40-10:00pm and when it did I looked around the room. It seemed like not all the acts had even shown up yet. I figured most might drop off, like the ones that actually have names around the area. I mean really why travel to Pawtucket just to do a track with the possibility of it only being seen by other rappers that don’t really like rap music (or at least try not to be a fan of other local talent). I was slightly upset when they (ALE) kept saying they were going to bring up the first act and then would break into one of their own songs or freestyles or whatever. I thought to myself is this what the plan was? to try and rope in all the other acts fan bases if any just to showcase yourselves to them? I hoped not and I don’t think it was by the end of the night. Let me say this, the fact that it was free was probably the best idea ever cause I know I wouldn’t have came through if I had to pay more then 5 to get in.

So the first couple of acts go on, some are great (like Jotsone, CI, Afterlife, SBO) SBO took me by surprise when he just started ripping it up! Ive seen him perform at least 3 or 4 times before and I hadn’t seen him kill it like this ever. Some acts were just terrible, but I mean hey I’m not the greatest myself and maybe they were just starting off and needed a home base to take off from, whatever the case it was painful to watch at times. I met challz in between sets and I must say the guy is straight up one of the nicest guys I have met. He asked me how it was going and I said alright, he then asked how to make it better and at the time I didn’t have a response and well I still don’t about it. I thought musically Challz was pretty good too. I know I’m jumping around here but one thing I must say is, I had heard some girl tossed a glass at the bartender and sneaky pete went and had a nice talking with that girl and I was to say, I’m glad he handled it, I also want to say that jumping up during someone else’s time when you don’t really know the people and getting in their space is not a good idea, and it makes you look bad.

I bounced round 11pm since I had somewhere else to be so however the rest of the night went I have no idea. I had heard kozz won had shown up but I didn’t see him, hope he did his thing.

overall the night was more like an open mic and such then an actual hip hop show. I’m not sure if the crowd was even fans at all or just rappers and their entourage. I expected a disaster and I ended up enjoying the show.

peace. -Josh/HW

]]> http://www.401hiphop.com/event-reviews/the-big-show-3-review/feed/ 10 http://www.401hiphop.com/event-reviews/i-seriously-underestimated-the-drawing-power-of-apathy/ http://www.401hiphop.com/event-reviews/i-seriously-underestimated-the-drawing-power-of-apathy/#comments Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:27:19 +0000 Mortal http://www.401hiphop.com/event-reviews/i-seriously-underestimated-the-drawing-power-of-apathy/
Check The Full Photo Gallery from this Event

When I was dropping off DJ Full Frequency to get set up for the show, I was not prepared for what I saw. It was a frigidly cold night. I parked (illegally) in front of the club to load out the DJ equipment. I grabbed the turn tables out of the trunk and carried them to the downstairs door that lead up one floor to Jerky’s Pub. When the door opened there was a line on both sides of the staircase that led up to the venue. People were waiting to see Apathy. It was right there that I knew tonight would be a good night. I didn’t mind having to try to carry turntables upstairs, negotiating between walls of people on my right and left.

As DJ full frequency got set up and I met with the managers and sound man about the night’s festivities. Then I had to run and meet with J’Juan to get flyers and posters for the March 15th Boot Camp show. Then it was a quick trip home to get the wife and Liza, our long time friend from High School. She was hip hop fan back when it was not cool to be into hip hop, so I figured she would enjoy the show.

When we arrived back at the venue, I was impressed to say the least with the crowd turn out (so far). It was only 9:45pm and the venue was almost half full. By the time the show show was gonna start the venue was at 75% capacity.

Spit Personalities was on first. They were the best I have ever seen them. They killed it.

KozzWon was up next. His set was up to par. He gets better every time I see him. He brought up Troop Raw and Lord Willing to rock the last joint in his set, but it seemed a little unorganized. I didn’t really see too much of it.

Need Not Worry would rock next with DJ Full Frequency. These dudes had ill chemistry. Need Not Worry and Full Freak would rock in a way the made me reminisce of the days when DJ Dusty Frasier was still in town. Need Not Worry always entertains.

There is always one drunk guy at a show. You know the one. He can barely stand, let alone walk. He yells all night for the headliner to come on. In between sets, he grabs the mics off the stage and yells into them. You know the type. Well he was in full effect.

My highlight of the night would come next. Icon the Mic King had come to the show with DJ Chum the Animal Steele (Apathy’s DJ). He asked if he could get a little time on stage. Since the show was ahead of schedule, I was more than happy to oblige him some time. He did this thing where he blind folded himself, and with help from Lord Willin, he asked the people in the audience to take random objects out of their pockets, purses, backpacks, whatever and give them to Lord Willin. As if having psychic powers, he would freestyle about all the objects, recognizing them by touch alone. The crowd loved it. The energy was tangible.

Apathy was next. The place was packed. Apathy, Emilio Lopez, and the rest of the crew took the stage and from jump they had the crowd in the palm of their collective hand. The drunk dude in the audience must have been over joyed. Apathy would go on to kill it. The crowd was on fire.

As soon as Apathy’s set was over, a fight broke out near the door. Every bouncer in the club converged on the brawl. I was on the other side of the club so I couldn’t see what was going on other than bodies being thrown against each other. When the fight was finally over and cleared away. One of the bouncers would go and yell at all the people still in the club to get the fuck out. I’m not sure why he would take out his anger on the paying customers who did not start any trouble. That shit was dumb. I also don’t understand why some jacked up white dude in a wife beater who was clearly involved in the fight was allowed to stay inside the club once said fight was cleared away. Shit seemed fishy to me. Someone told me that Storm Davis was involved in the fisticuffs. Storm Davis was not available for comments about the fight.

Other than the dumb shit that happened (the fight), I was told by numerous people that this was the best hip hop show that they had seen at Jerky’s Pub so far. All in All I believe everyone had a great time. I know I did.

2/16/08 – I arrived late, this time it was the police that made me do it. but thats onto another story.

So I finally arrived at the show and Prolyphic is performing “Artist Goes Pop”, great song, real live energy, and to boot Sage Francis is doing hype man role (this is something I never expected). I think that by him doing so he was taking away from the performance, since he is much more known and people might have been just focusing on him the entire time but thats just a thought.

Telephone Jim Jesus was up next, he does live (not sure on this one) programming or mpc’ng. I am really not sure what he was doing considering all I could see was a laptop and once in awhile his head came bobbing out from it but I think he had a keyboard also, If I was on drugs this would have probably been my highlight (this is assuming the drugs helped) his music was very trance-like and techno-E (can I even say that?) I think the music was good but its not very entertaining to watch, I was falling asleep the entire time while the people with me were vibing out.

Next up were The Apes, These guys were great! they weren’t rappers but a great show nonetheless. The music reminded me of some funk/psychodelic/rolling stones/hardcore stuff. seriously a great performance! every single one of them were so into what they were doing that I had to jam out!

so its getting late now and on comes sole and the skyrider band. They had some great chemistry on stage, but the music live didn’t really sound like the tunes on the album, which disappointed me a lot, but he played some classics from live from rome and that made it all better.

overall I had a decent time I just wish sole would tour with more rappers similar at least to him (ahem Brzowski from Maine!) I just wish people would realize that sole is killing it past, present, and future. Give respect where respect is due.

Rhode Island hip hop was in full effect this past weekend. I attended two shows. While attending hip hop shows seems like a natural activity for a self proclaimed hip hop fan, the fact that I have not been “out” in over six months makes this a monumental occasion … at least for me.

This write up won’t be so much a full blown review of each event. It will be more of a bunch of mini reviews peppered with scathing criticism, bordering on slander, of the Rhode Island Hip Hop scene as a whole. So sit back. Relax. Grab a tall, ice cold glass of grape Hater-Aid and enjoy.

Friday Night (1.18.08) Monkey Business @ The AS220.

Leading up to the event, I felt that “Monkey Business” was a strange name for it. “Monkey Business” seemed like it was full of racial undertones that, in my opinion, seemed bold coming from a Caucasian emcee. On my way home from the event I realized the name fit like a glove.

Inside the venue there were a bunch of seats set up reminding me of a poetry slam. It’s always a bad sign to see chairs at a hip hop show. Hip Hop is supposed to be a live thing, not an event where people sit, drink tea, and give golf claps in between songs.

The crowd itself was decent. I am estimating 45+ at its peak. Forty five people in the AS220 looks great and makes for a good time seeing as its a small venue. Noticeable stand outs in the crowd were: Dante Inferno, Flow, Reason, Dox, DJ Save, HW, Sterby Rock, and Romen Rok.

Labeless Illtelligence rocked their set with CasUno, ESH, and Rock Solid holding down the vocal chores, DJ Al Bums providing the beats and cuts, and Storm Davis holding down the merch table. Having seen a lot of Labeless shows I think its safe to say that this was not their best performance. They rocked on the floor instead of the stage. The stage was set up for the band that was to come next, so there wasn’t much room. I was unimpressed with the sound quality. Usually the sound at the AS220 is above adequate, but tonight it felt muddy. The muddy sound did CasUno no favors. His up tempo flow comes correct if you can hear him, but the sound quality tonight was working against him. Esh was the only one to get on stage and rock. I have said it once and I will say it again, Rhode Island Hip Hop needs more ESH. Dude is really coming into his own. I think I missed Rock Solid when I went to re-up on malt bevarages. Minister Ref came and closed down the set with his unmistakable voice and classic swagger (Yes Yes Y’all. To the Beat Y’All). He did a lot of crowd interaction, “When I say …, You Say …”, which is always fun. Its a shame everyone was sitting down.

Next up was the headliner and show promoter, Sneaky Pete. Sneaky Pete rocked over a live band with his twin brother as his back up, hype man, and R&B vocals all rapped up in one. (random fact: Sneaky Pete and his brother were once known as the Double O Agents.) Their set started slow so I went out to have a smoke. When I returned, It was like I was watching a whole different band. They really hit their stride. I was nodding along and having a good time.

The highlight of the night occurred just after Sneaky Pete’s cordless mic died on him. During the process of getting a new mic, the band played on and a drunk guy from the audience grabbed a mic and began to rap Slick Rick’s “A Children’s Story”. It was classic. The best part was the drunk guy only knew the first few lines of the song … so after a long pause he would just start over from the beginning. “Once upon a time not long ago …”. Genius. Who knew Hip Hop karaoke could be so fun.

When Sneaky was done, the band turned into “Phish” and Jam Banded the night away. This was my cue to go smoke. I got an official Labeless T-Shirt (XXL since my wife is a good cook). The shirt is high quality and a must have for all RI Hip Hop supporters.

Saturday Night (1.19.08) Special Teamz @ The Living Room.

I worked till 11pm and shot over to the Living Room hoping to have not missed Ams Uno’s set. I have not seen Ams rock in forever, so a chance to see him perform was just as big a draw as seeing ED O.G live. I paid my $10 to get in. I guess being out of the scene for so long has revoked my guest list status. Arron (The Living Room manager) was on the bar so my first round of drinks was on the house. I guess some people still remember me.

Beer in hand I moved towards the stage. Second Hand Smoke, an off shoot of Spit Personalities, was on stage doing their thing. It seemed that the whole Spit Personalities crew was on stage so it could have been a Spit Personalities set for all I know. Troop Raw was on stage letting fans know he is tired of all the emcees out there bragging about all the big moves they are faking. He isn’t the type of emcee that fakes moves. He is the kind of emcee that does what he does for the love and hopes that people feel it. And if good things follow all the better. I was feeling his energy. Their set was disrupted by a few technical issues, CD Skips and what have you. All in all it was a strong set. Mic.Feen provided music while the next act set up. I must say I was impressed with his music selection.

While I wandered around trying to find places to bomb up with my new BasementFlavor.com stickers, I noticed the quality of ladies at this show had far surpassed last nights show. Actually I don’t remember their being any girls at last nights show. At the Living Room the girls were out in full force with a strong 3 to 1 guy to girl ratio (not bad for an underground rap show). I think all the girls forgot it was winter, because some chick was wear daisy dukes. (are they still called daisy dukes? edit: my wife tells me if they are not jeans then they are not Daisy Dukes. They are called “hot pants”. She also wants to know what the amount of women at a show has to do with hip hop.)

Fedd Hill was in the building! They had a very elaborate merch table set up with the one and only Jahpan holding it down. I don’t think they performed … but their presence was felt. They had a three hour photo shoot going on at their booth through out the whole event.

Kozz Won was up next. I’m not too familiar with his music, but I did my best to follow along. He rocked along side “Best Kept” (I believe his name was Best Kept). They did a good job. If Kozz Won keeps working his craft, he could be a major player in the near future. If my memory serves me right, Kozz Won used to be apart of The Get Rich Crew. I think the best thing he ever did was going solo. That name alone is reason to be shunned by serious artists. And GRC sprung up around the same time as the IMZ, and I kept getting the two confused.

Ams Uno was a no show. I did not see that coming. Esh was there on some “Storm Shadow / Snake Eyes in through the back door on some I got in for free” maneuver. I suddenly wanted my 10 dollars back.

DJ JayCeeOh was up next to get the crowd warmed up for the headliners. And what happened next almost brought a tear to my eye. It took me back several years and got me open all at the same time. He played a record. Not just any record. The perfect record for the moment. The song was unimportant. He just knew the vibe of the crowd, and was instantly able to get the audience the most hyped they had been all night. This cat was an ill DJ. He could mix. He could scratch. He was as much a part of the upcoming show as the emcees. He was a seasoned “Hip Hop DJ”. It made me miss DJ Perseus, DJ Mekalek, and DJ Dusty Frasier. It made a question form in my mind. Who is Rhode Island’s Best Hip Hop DJ? (Not of all time, just right now!) But I digress. I will leave this question for another time. Long story short: DJ JayCeeOh did the damn thing.

Special Teamz (adding a Z at the end makes it hip hop) came out and tore it down. I have never (as far as I can remember) seen ED O.G live. Back in the day, when I used to actually watch rap videos, it made me proud that an emcee from Boston was getting shine like New York emcees. “I Gotta Have It” was my joint. ED O.G is a true pioneer, yet in 2008 he is still on stage, still doing his thing, still making new music, and still touring. ED with his partners Slaine, and JaySaun rocked Providence like there was 5,000 people in the audience. These guy were pros. They had the energy and stage presence to get me vibing along even thought I didn’t know the music. A trip to Newbury Comics is in my near future.

The funniest thing was no one bothered to tell Special Teamz where they were performing. The kept yelling for the sound man to fix their mics, and turn on speakers that where off. I wanted to go on stage and tell them “Welcome to the LIVING ROOM. This is the best sound quality your gonna get.” Well it was funny to me.

All in all it was a good show. Yet I feel bad that no one turned out to see ED O.G. I figured an emcee of his caliber deserved a warmer welcome from Providence. The show at the living room had about the same amount of people as the show at the AS220 and that’s sad. Was it the promotions?

Wrap Up

I had a good weekend. I like vodka. Who knew a potato could multi task? It’s a food. It’s a drink. It can power a light bulb.
Anyone know when the next show is?