Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Ghostface and more 11/1/05 - Santa Cruz

[Swax]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I saw Organized back in the "Stress" era

[/ QUOTE ]

You sir, are my hero.
[bragpost] I saw Aceyalone on the Balls Don't Bounce tour...[/bragcrap]

but yours is more better...2x awesome rappers.

As a hijack...Does being in a group (remember that ? rap "groups"...) diminish the individual greatness of rappers?

If you were to make a top 10 greatest rappers list, wouldn't it be hard to put say, a certain member of the pharcyde on it, even though their first album would easily make the 10 greatest records ever? Individual awesomeness > group efforts (?)

[/ QUOTE ]

well, my counter bragpost...last year when I was briefly stinting as a writer for a friend's startup music mag, I interviewed Haiku De Tat, and I have a recording of me freestyling back and forth for a couple minutes with Mikah Nine. Now there is one really good freestyler - it's too bad that his talent never translates that well to wax.

Oddly enough, Aceyalone was supposed to perform this past Friday night at the Normandie casino, a sh*thole place in Gardena, CA - I hadn't seen him in ages so I figured I'd head down there, play some 4/8 and dip in to see Acey (my distaste for most new underground stuff plus my age relative to the rest of the crowd usually results in me skipping openers these days) - I mean, come on, how can i pass up the combination of hold 'em and classic underground hip-hop 50 feet away from each other? Plus, what was really intriguing to me was the prospect of seeing such an odd MC perform for an audience which wasn't going to be the standard lame underground hip-hop audience (read: 95% white)...but unfortunately not enough people showed for him to perform. Weak. At least I took $200 from the 4/8 game in about 2 1/2 hours.

As for the group question, I don't think being in a group diminishes if your verses really stand out from the other MC's, especially if you've dropped a good solo record, both of which apply to acey and pharoahe, maybe Q-Tip. Defintely Zev Love/MF Doom. Ice Cube (don't front, pre-acting Cube was great). Whatever Wu member you like most. etc etc...the Pharcyde, however, is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Nobody really stood out and nobody had any solo success. that's actually what made the album kinda great. I think Fatlip was probably the most talented though - i mean look how uninspring they are without him.

[bigt439]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
don't follow, clarify please.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's pretty self explanatory. Nas doesn't have a good performance at concerts.


[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious - who exactly is "good at freestyling" in your mind?

[/ QUOTE ]

Mostly people you wouldn't know about. TheSaurus, NoCanDo, Illmaculate, Okwerdz, and a bunch of other bay area people.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can't leave out Juice and Supernatural. And as mainstream as he is, Eminem is a SICK freestyler. Akrobatik's not bad either. And obviously Big L is probably the best of all time.

[bigt439]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And Ghostface is amazing and Talib is horrible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. Very negative.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I actually think ghostface is mentally handicapped. Or speaks Chinese. Either way he's an idiot.

As for the best live performers, J5 and K-Os (in a 200 person club w/ a live band) tore it up. Roots put on a sick show (with Skillz... who is just disgustingly good).

[jnalpak]

was there a trip report on this i missed?

They just posted dates for two dates in NY on ticketmaster coming december and im not sure if its worth it.

sooo, was it worth price of admission?

[loose passive]

It was cool.....

The show started with K'naan (sp?). Did not listen to much of this as I was outside the venue. Jean Grae was next and did not do much to impress me. For some reason Ghostface did show up for the show (not sure if he is only playing some dates or if I just got screwed).

After Jean Grae was on Talib came out and did pretty much the same set I saw him perform just a few weeks earlier. He did change it up by doing a song with Jean Grae, but she forgot the lyrics and just started to freestyle. Talib got a laugh out of it.

After a few more songs Mos Def crept out on stage with Talib and performed a few songs. He would do some solo stuff sprinkled with some Black Star stuff.

With Mos on stage the show was very loose, he stoppped a few songs after they had started only to start them up again a few seconds later. He said he does not like doing live shows and that he does pretty much whatever he wants at shows. He joked and said something about already having our money so he would perform whatever he wanted.

After awhile of Mos and Talib, Pharoah came on stage and did a few songs. Once Pharoah was done Mos went back to playing with a little Talib sprinkled in.

The show seemed to go on forever. Talib came on a little whle after 10pm and they were still going over two and half hours later.

If you are big fan of Mos Def and Talib then I would try and check out the show.

[-Skeme-]

[ QUOTE ]
lol - OK, who that I would know about is good then? no one?

[/ QUOTE ]

Um, Juice and Supernat are good.


[ QUOTE ]
This is highly amusing for reasons only like one other poster here will get.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then why post it? For what it's worth, his name isn't Thesaurus, as in, the counterpart to the dictionary.. it's The Saurus, like Tyrann-Saurus.


[ QUOTE ]
And as mainstream as he is, Eminem is a SICK freestyler.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, he's not, sir. He's actually absolutely terrible. Watch him battle at Scribble in 97 where he actually freestyles (Rap Olympics was all written, sorry) and you'll see how badly he sucks.


[ QUOTE ]
And obviously Big L is probably the best of all time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol, not this again. Big L didn't freestyle. His in studio frees with Children of the Corn were all written.

[ThaSaltCracka]

How was Ghost?

[loose passive]

There was no Ghost....I think he played the 1st of the two shows only.

This is the second time I have gone to a show and had Wutang or a member not show......

Don't trust the Wu

[-Skeme-]

Yeah, I went to see Rebel INS down here a few months ago and his punk ass noshowed. So did Planet Asia. We sat through Afu Ra just to go home dissapointed. Afu Ra sucks.