The night was chilly with slight winds. I usually know how it goes down at events, but tonight was different. A change in the air that I'm not use to. The variety of artists for the show was local veterans and upcoming MC's who I have worked with before and some new ones.
The first group to go on was LOYAL SUSPECT COALITION, the trio had the lyrical contents of being socially aware of their environment and how to get by in their daily struggles in the goods and bads of life. Direct deliveries of harsh reality over crunchy hard hitting beats is what i can describe of their music. For my first bookings with them, I can see they will be doing more in the future, they are well synced to what each other was doing, but with more shows will come more experience. They are on a good path to do some good things in the future.
The second MC on the line-up was KNOWLEDGE ONE, he has done quite a bit of shows in the DFW area and gets better at every show. Story telling is his main dish to serve, lyrically giving the listener an audio visual through his thoughts on life, HIPHOP, and just making it through the days. With multiple producers on his tracks, it diversifies his style of music, showing his ability to be able to rhyme on different styles to make his own. His song "Damage" was a crowd banger, having them chant the words DAMAGE! on his hook with him. While his album is being worked on, check out his live sets so you can get a glimpse of what he has to offer.
The third MC known as KING G.I. came in with a box full of cd's and his own poster sign. This guy is all about stage presence, lyrics, and hyping up a crowd anywhere he goes. A very energetic set, he manages to capture the essence of being an MC, whether you tired or sleepy, he will get ya hyped and alert, from boom bap HipHop to Southern to Reggae, he flips his lyrics all over it. With multiple mixtapes, and he has them everywhere he goes,a true self promoter of his music, after watching him perform you can really enjoy what he enjoys in HipHop.
Before I could even announce the fourth group, they already had the crowd getting rowdy. As always, Birds Eye Blues, makes their way to the front and the madness begins. No matter how many times I've seen these guys, it's always a good show, the crowd knows their lyrics and rapping back to them, almost as if they don't even have to rap. The energy was hyped from the get go, by this time, if you feel you need to sit down then you are at the wrong place, it's time to get it in gear and run it down to your last drop of fuel.
After the storm is calmed, the fifth artist, X.E.L. Ohh, comes with that golden era boom bap jeep music. This is a real music lover, who is not of the "Trash Can" music era. The beats are mixed perfect with a solid delivery, lyrics just flow over with ease, crisp and clear. It wasn't the sound system, just flat out MC'n. If you've never seen him live then check out his music online or his cd's. The transition of studio works to live performances is seldom achieved by many artists, this is not the rapping over your verse type of MC, but if you wasn't in front of him you would think it was on cd.
As we draw closer to the end of the night, we have the Uber Hyped MC. ANETIX, straight out the gate, there was no time to even sip a drink, the room was just filled with energy. Accompanied by Centrifik, the set starts off with a mild one, as many times as I've seen his performance, he manages to keep the energy, crowd or no crowd, the performance is always there. Politically aware, socially conscious, intricate wordplay, more hyped than the crowd with nice beats from local and national producers. This guy is a one man mosh pit. It is very entertaining to watch and listen to honest lyrics of music, family and politics.
So we get to the last of the acts for the night. SPEWCATACLISM. As I look at myself from a third point of view to critique..puhahhahaha.. Starting off his set with his trusty DJ, Centrifik brings in the intro and does a live mix of it before displaying his skills on the tables. Starting off with Isaac Hayes "Do Your Thang" SPEW jams out with the crowd for a bit, singalong Hayes night at the karaoke bar is what it seems like, then before you know it, he drops into some double time rhyming over the beat. The set was lyrical on the fast side, trying out new mixes, the usual songs took a turn here and there, but kept the essence of what he was doing. Performing 2 tracks in short form, from the AKD2 album and remixes of old stuff, the crowd seemed pleased with the performance. Good or Bad I couldn't judge, but from what I heard it was fun and entertaining to watch..so thanks for coming, staying and watching.
Before the night was fully over, special guests Big Cliff, Lamar Adot and WADE C, did a performance. Adot and Wade performed 4 tracks, had the crowd throwing their hands and supporting them. Adot had them dancing with his tracks. Then to end it right, with some off the head ish was Big Cliff, always a pleasure to see real freestyles, known to do whole sets without flaw, you would of never thought it was all freestyle, but that's what makes a good freestyle.
All the artists were very good at what they do, showing me that diversity is good when there is respect for one another in their field of music, the contents may be different, but the work is all the same. It was a good night of HipHop. PEACE!!
-Tay Spewcataclism
SPEWCATACLISM
http://soundcloud.com/
http://soundcloud.com/
BIRDS EYE BLUES
http://soundcloud.com/
ANETIX
http://soundcloud.com/
X.E.L. OHH
http://
KNOWLEDGE ONE
http://soundcloud.com/
LOYAL SUSPECT COALITION
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Loyal-Suspectz
KING GI
http://youtu.be/
