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?