I find it simply unbelievable that nobody has mentioned M.O.P. Those guys put on a show.
I once saw them open for De La Soul and they just straight HOUSED them. De La put on a decent show, but it was a wrap. M.O.P. just completely demolished the room.
I saw Public Enemy open for U2 on the Zoo TV tour at Oakland Coliseum and it was amazing. I'm glad I at least caught them in a setting like that, with all the props, the S1Ws, etc.
I saw Organized Konfusion perform three or four songs in front of maybe 100 people in a Bronx community center - no stage, just basically a big cipher. It was about as "backpack rap" as you could get then (1996 or so) but those guys were just incredible with the breath and mic control. They did the "Bring It On" remix and just slayed shit. Wish Monch would get back on that level.
Local Bay Rap Memories: Saafir's album release at Ya Mama's Cafe... wasn't much of a set but seeing that guy in his prime, on his real cerebral shit... man. Like Monch, just a beast on the mic who had the entire room in the palm of his hand. And I have to give it up for Mystik Journeymen, whose shows at Jackson Street Studios were pretty amazing. It's kind of become a put-on since then but "Never Forget" would just wreck shit. A lot of energy in that room.
I find it simply unbelievable that nobody has mentioned M.O.P. Those guys put on a show.
Indeed. Some straight Jonestown/snake-charmer shit, and--in the words of Bob Dylan--"fuckin' loud!" I saw them in a tight room and it was like having my skeleton removed.
The three best rap shows I've ever seen:
Kurtis Blow at Skateland USA in Anderson, South Carolina in like 1985 or '86
Public Enemy, Geto Boys, Naughty By Nature, MC Lyte, and a bunch of other folks at the Greenville Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina in like 1991 or '92
MOP and (cough) Mixmaster Mike at (I think) The Double Door in Chicago, Illinois around 1999 or 2000.
Honorable mention to De La Soul, Goodie Mob, and Fishbone at Characters in Greenville, South Carolina around 1997.
Also gotta say i was quite fond of Latyrx when i first saw them perform. Lots of energy those two had.
Devin the Dude is has always been a real fun show too. Just laid back type of fun.
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
Yes, when we brought Saafir and the Whoridas down here to Austin in 96, it was off the chain. But a bunch of that credit goes to the openers as well: 3rd Dimension, Makai Crew, and Epatomed. And the dj: Spinner T. Lost some money on the deal but the product was top notch.
Yo Robert you should check the guy's account that posted the Saafir concert footage on youtube, he's got hella GoodLife performances like Ellay Khule, Volume 10, etc. as well as stuff like OMD and whatever.
HarveyCanal"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
Yo Robert you should check the guy's account that posted the Saafir concert footage on youtube, he's got hella GoodLife performances like Ellay Khule, Volume 10, etc. as well as stuff like OMD and whatever.
Yep, I've seen all of those...my favorite one being the Badstads with Chu. Thanks for the heads-up though.
When they first got on I was mad skeptical cause Treach can be kinda corny on the visual tip.
Dudes ran threw a strong 40 mins of bangers. Some joints that I str8 forgot about. They had the place OPEN!
Somebody mentoned Kool Keith @ Wetlands. Dude fuskin killed it. He ran thru his Ultra/Sex Style/Dr.Octagon shit.
At the time Moe-Luv had a single/ep out (some group I forget) and they did this whole WWF fake "I not f*ckin w/ that cat" type steez. Moe-Luv and his crew were tryin to rush the stage to get at Kool Keith. Interesting pre-rehersed drama to hype the show.
Muthafuskas lost it when the bassline to Blue Flowers dropped.
I saw Organized Konfusion, Beatnuts, Souls of Mischief, Common, & Mista Sinista at my community college in 94/95. Organized was my fave but Common put on the best performance. It was pretty epic but only 50 people showed up. That's Aptos, CA for you.
The best large venue show was back in '95 or around about there: triple bill in Montreal> Cypress Hill, Tribe and the Fugees. As I remember it the Fugees did there thing, we dug it. Then Cypress entered, and shit went wild. It started snowin joints from the stands. The MC picked a gagger off the floor, and sparked up, followed by "Ya'll got some crazy Hydroponic shit in Monnnnttreeeallll!!!" And Booom, insanity for the next while. Unfortunately my girl at the time smoked wayyy too much and passed out. Around the same time I saw the X-cutioners at a small venue, they blew my mind wide open. Rahzel was on the ticket as well and did a few numbers with them.
I've seen a lot of great Hip Hop shows over the years, but the most recent was David Banner at a small nightclub here last year. Dude's energy was INCREDIBLE. He was on stage for the first 2-3 minutes, then made the WHOLE CLUB his stage for the next hour or so. Dude was literally hanging from the rafters. HoLmes was all over the place: climbing speakers, hopping from table to table...the whole crowd was following him every where he went. He disappeared for a minute (but still on the mic), then next thing I know I feel a huge hand on my shoulder and he's getting off the table behind me, using me for balance.
The Solesides Reunion show in 2000 at Bimbo's (SF) was memorable for me. The whole crew decked out in suits, Shadow and Xcel 2x4, and I think LB entered the stage with a white tux and top hat. Some dope back-n-forth rhyming with Gab/LB/Lateef. This was right before the Greatest Bumps compilation came out. Those were the days.
Beastie Boys on the Licensed To Ill tour in Passaic NJ, with Public Enemy doing their first ever live performance as one of the opening acts. I went in skeptical but the Beasties were incredible. PE was not ready yet.
Schooly D in Boston opening for Fishbone in 1989, Schooly had a live band and and Code Money on the tables. Some kid tried to stage dive and bumped the DJ stand and made Code Money's records skip, I thought Schooly was gonna have him taken out back and shot, he was that pissed off. Great show.
KRS @ the metro was f*ckin nuts. the building nearly fell down when he dropped mc's act like they don't know. akbaar and dug infinite show was off they chain too. dug did all the joints from the black album. J5, dilated, beat junkies show was dope as F*ck too. outkast, roots, and J5 show was nice. said what up to black thought offstage and dude passed me the b he was smokin. rage, gangstarr, dilated show was a f*ckin smoke-a-thon. brand nubian and gangstarr show was good times as well. too many......
every year in boston, the city throws a free concert. usually about 3000 ppl come out... from epmd, chubb rock, special ed,slick rick, bdk, nice n smooth, mc lyte, and rakim. nice n smooth DESTROY shows. rakims dj couldnt get eric b for president to play.....outs of nowhere greg nice saves the day and beatboxes for rakim. i got mad footage on my camera phone that wont upload for some reason. those shows are nuts. this years will be off the hook.
One of those shows was actually the first time I saw Edan, and he destroyed it with that juggling-the-beat-while-rocking-the-mic routine.
I would rate him too. Plus when I saw him Dooley O was supporting him and, he was on fire.
I saw Schooly D in the early 90's, and he was awesome probably the best gig Ive been to.
I'd also add Diggable Planets on the Blowout tour. They had a good live band that played really jazzy, laid back. Fit the songs perfectly.
Beaties on the CYH tour saw them twice. First show was horrible. Second show 6 months later was on some Robert Johnson crossroads type shit. In those intervening months they had put together truly tight live funk act.
Saw the Fugees at NYU right around the time The Score dropped. That show was nuts. Everyone was feeling that record right then, and they put on a great show. Had the crowd in the palm of their hand that night and didn't let up for a second. When they dropped the Nappy Heads Remix it felt like the building was going to come down.
Comments
A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul & Souls of Mischief at Bomb Factory in Dallas, 1992
Volume 10 & Mac Mall at Glam Slam in Los Angeles, 1994
I once saw them open for De La Soul and they just straight HOUSED them. De La put on a decent show, but it was a wrap. M.O.P. just completely demolished the room.
I saw Public Enemy open for U2 on the Zoo TV tour at Oakland Coliseum and it was amazing. I'm glad I at least caught them in a setting like that, with all the props, the S1Ws, etc.
I saw Organized Konfusion perform three or four songs in front of maybe 100 people in a Bronx community center - no stage, just basically a big cipher. It was about as "backpack rap" as you could get then (1996 or so) but those guys were just incredible with the breath and mic control. They did the "Bring It On" remix and just slayed shit. Wish Monch would get back on that level.
Local Bay Rap Memories: Saafir's album release at Ya Mama's Cafe... wasn't much of a set but seeing that guy in his prime, on his real cerebral shit... man. Like Monch, just a beast on the mic who had the entire room in the palm of his hand. And I have to give it up for Mystik Journeymen, whose shows at Jackson Street Studios were pretty amazing. It's kind of become a put-on since then but "Never Forget" would just wreck shit. A lot of energy in that room.
Indeed. Some straight Jonestown/snake-charmer shit, and--in the words of Bob Dylan--"fuckin' loud!" I saw them in a tight room and it was like having my skeleton removed.
The three best rap shows I've ever seen:
Kurtis Blow at Skateland USA in Anderson, South Carolina in like 1985 or '86
Public Enemy, Geto Boys, Naughty By Nature, MC Lyte, and a bunch of other folks at the Greenville Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina in like 1991 or '92
MOP and (cough) Mixmaster Mike at (I think) The Double Door in Chicago, Illinois around 1999 or 2000.
Honorable mention to De La Soul, Goodie Mob, and Fishbone at Characters in Greenville, South Carolina around 1997.
Run DMC, LL Cool J and Whodini in 1985.
After that,
The first Jazzmatazz tour, Guru and Donald Byrd on stage...ugh.
LONS in Albuquerque at some SMALL ass club
any show in Chicago circa '95-'98, I don't care who it was, Common always came out at the end and freestyled with them.
DJ Quik in LA at the HOB, that shit was bananas.
I liked that first Word Of Mouth tour too. That one had some good stuff in it...
Tribe did a routine over Nautilus str8.
Outkast w/full band
Esham (throwing sliced ham into the audience, dancing pigs in cop uniforms and a nice dildo show from two skanky strippers)
-Organized Konfusion
-Goodie Mob
-Freestyle Fellowship
Also gotta say i was quite fond of Latyrx when i first saw them perform. Lots of energy those two had.
Devin the Dude is has always been a real fun show too. Just laid back type of fun.
Yep, I've seen all of those...my favorite one being the Badstads with Chu. Thanks for the heads-up though.
When they first got on I was mad skeptical cause Treach can be kinda corny on the visual tip.
Dudes ran threw a strong 40 mins of bangers. Some joints that I str8 forgot about. They had the place OPEN!
Somebody mentoned Kool Keith @ Wetlands. Dude fuskin killed it. He ran thru his Ultra/Sex Style/Dr.Octagon shit.
At the time Moe-Luv had a single/ep out (some group I forget) and they did this whole WWF fake "I not f*ckin w/ that cat" type steez. Moe-Luv and his crew were tryin to rush the stage to get at Kool Keith. Interesting pre-rehersed drama to hype the show.
Muthafuskas lost it when the bassline to Blue Flowers dropped.
Wait wtf? Cabrillo? That's CRAZY!
Great show.
Digable Planets/ Common Sense 1995
Around the same time I saw the X-cutioners at a small venue, they blew my mind wide open. Rahzel was on the ticket as well and did a few numbers with them.
I hope I can see him perform again soon.
that was but around 10-15 years ago. Certainly not the best RAP, but by far the best Party. Duded did a great performance, great vibe - fun times!
Schooly D in Boston opening for Fishbone in 1989, Schooly had a live band and and Code Money on the tables. Some kid tried to stage dive and bumped the DJ stand and made Code Money's records skip, I thought Schooly was gonna have him taken out back and shot, he was that pissed off. Great show.
I would rate him too. Plus when I saw him Dooley O was supporting him and, he was on fire.
I saw Schooly D in the early 90's, and he was awesome probably the best gig Ive been to.
Beaties on the CYH tour saw them twice. First show was horrible. Second show 6 months later was on some Robert Johnson crossroads type shit. In those intervening months they had put together truly tight live funk act.
KRS
Brother Ali
Masta Ace
J-Live
Nas was surprisingly dope when i saw him.
ummm never had a problem with De La. saw them at SOBs and they played for about 3 hours and did everything...
Really though. Like having your brain melted by energy + high volume.
I saw De La Soul and....wait.....Lauryn Hill at a launch for Al Gore's cable network.
It was surprisingly all-around amazing. Both were solid and fun to watch.