Take the talent of the Los Angeles Lakers and give them the heart of the Houston Rockets that pushed the (now) Western Conference champions to a game seven with two superstars on the bench, and you have Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli); back together with home court advantage to create a very special evening. Mos and Kweli sold out two back to back shows at Nokia Theatre in Times Square and their offense was in synch for a night filled with no look passes and alley oops. To extend the metaphor, their defense has been stellar since the release of Black Star; both dropped classic solo albums Black on Both Sides, Train of Thought and have continued to push forward. Mos-Def made headway into acting while Kweli continued to inundate the market with classic material to decree his place in the Hall of Fame. Rumors have buzzed for near a decade now of a Black Star reunion for a second studio album but only time will tell if we will be that fortunate. One thing is certain, the audience at last night’s show made a strong argument for hip-hop fans worldwide.
It’s not often you go to a hip-hop concert these days and the entire venue knows the words to classic material. Unlike Lakers fans (who show up late and leave early – often watching the game en passe), the crowd proved their point. As the DJ (name?) warmed up the crowd with a few cuts from the past, I was surprised when the theater exploded upon hearing the first four notes of “Shook Ones” and rapped along to the entirety of “C.R.E.A.M.” This crowd loved hip-hop. Absolute love, the ‘would steal for’, ‘would lie for’, ‘would weep for’, ‘would fight for’ type of love. Boston fans type of love. When you have 2,100 people rapping along, word for word (“Brooklyn New York City/ where they paint murals of Biggie…!”), a semblance of desire and necessity must have channeled from the crowd to dynamic duo.
My words are a mere substitute for the sights, experiences, smells and feeling of being a part of Black Star’s homecoming. A decade after releasing an album that changed my life, they came back home to remind me of just how powerful their music was to me when I was a high school knucklehead and to tell me how important their music is to me today. For a hip-hop head, this concert was like painting a piece with Seen or rocking a circle with Ken Swift (or beatboxing with Doug E Fresh at the airport in Phoenix – count it!). I have to thank them for the way they changed my Definition of hip-hop in 1998, and I have to thank them for the rare feeling of being in love with hip-hop today. You can love someone, but those moments where you can look at that person and think, “Good God, I love this person” are what I’m trying to embellish. It felt great to be a hip-hop head.
“Tomorrow may never come. For you or me life is not promised.” and they rocked by that maxim.
Black Star – “Respiration”
Black Star and J-Rocc – DJ Set
Comments
I was at this show too…front row…and this show was INSANE…highlights for me personally was how crazy hype the crowd got for Definition/RE Definition, the live versoin of Respiration, Kweli doin Get By with Mos jumping it off with his remix verse, then bringing it back (and Mos singing the Get By hook…think Block Party performance with just as much soul), and Mos singing his varies joints…also it was honestly just great seeing em together again…seein Talib clown Mos for the shorts he was wearing and them dapping eachother up after Get By was dope for everybody to see too…You could definitely tell they hadn’t rocked together inna minute though but we were so fuckin happy to see em, it didn’t matter…
sidenote: 88Keys set (???)
overall…one of the bests shows I’ll ever see, both for the content and the significance…unforgettable…
Great footage, I was at the show in the way back haha !!
88 Keys is a dope producer and his skills are very admirable but his performance was a bit off-putting. I understand he was trying to create a common theme with the girl coming on stage but it was a bit over the top with the exaggerated accent (she got booed as well). I think he talked about his d*ck in all of the songs he performed and came out with the swag of Kanye West. Some people will put up with Kanye’s swag because he’s pretty damn good, but there is something to be said about practicing some humility. I’m not saying anyone should cast aside their goals and ambitions but coming into the concert thinking everyone would be on your jock because you dropped Stay Up with Kanye is asking for a bit much. It was just hard to get a sense for the dude outside of ‘arrogant’ and ‘feels himself (no pun int) a bit too much’.
That being said, he didn’t take anything away from the show; it was just a minor nuisance for an otherwise great concert. I heard that the opener in the second show got booed as well. Maybe that’s the formula for a good show? Pick opening acts that are sub par. I’ve seen some bad acts in my past but I am seldom inclined to actually boo someone while they are doing their thing. It’s disrespectful and if I were in his/her shoes, I’d be crushed…but when the ego is that swollen, people feel compelled to drop them down a peg or two; unless their performance is DOPE, which it wasn’t.
All the way life, a dope dope blog if you haven’t checked it out before has the full concert for you to download:
http://www.itsallthewaylive.net/2009/06/blackstar-nokia-theatre-nyc-5-30-09/
I was at the show. Mos and talib rocked but 88 keys, not so much! I thought the black violinist were very talented but 88 keys reminded me of an imitation kanye. The girl who came out and did the interlude was unnecessary and the theme wasn’t clear. I must say I was one of the inappropriate people booing the shit out of 88 keys performance. Some may see it as disrespectful, but I think it is disrespectful to put out garbage and expect people to buy into it. Hip hop is original, 88 keys did not display originality. Sorry!
Peace
I was at the show and it was hot. best show ever.
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