I’ll be honest. I had a soft spot for E-40 ever since he repped the skull & keys on the cover of My Ghetto Report Card. I’m not familiar with even a fraction of his discography, so I probably shouldn’t be saying this– but I find his style of rapping to be entirely irritating. No disrespect to the Bay. I just might not be hyphy enough, you know?
Similarly, it’s been difficult for me to listen to new Too $hort songs without comparing them to the good ol’ days. You know…when he talked more about his penis. Oh, but did you know that he was one of the only rappers in the industry to collaborate with The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Mac Dre, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and Eazy-E before they died? I didn’t. Thanks wikipedia!
BLOGGER NOTE: This time in color! To be honest, I didn’t have much to say about this song.
Welcome to my first and only attempt at video-blogging CMJ. I know I’m a week late, but deadlines don’t exist when you work for yourself. And when I say work…let me clarify– I ain’t gettin’ paid for shit!
This post focuses on the October 16, 2007 Q-Tip show at the Gramercy Theatre, divided into four parts in chronological order. The last one is the best, so don’t sleep.
I’ve been jamming (and geo-targeting) to “Work It Out” in my cubicle from the moment it was made available as a free download on myspace, so I was a bit surprised by it’s curious absence from last Tuesday’s set. Given that it is the lead single off of his upcoming album The Renaissance, you’d think he’d be promoting* it, eh?
Instead, we got the alleged second single “Fever”, which led into “Higher” from the solo album Amplified (more on that later). If I were more familiar with the entire Q-Tip repertoire, I might have been able to distinguish whether there was more new shit. Color me Lupe…
Q-Tip made it a point to reach out to the older fans in the audience, bringing out bits and pieces of early songs by A Tribe Called Quest. We got a little bit of– “Can I Kick It?” + “Bonita Applebum” off of People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, “Scenario” + “Excursions” + “Check the Rhime” off of The Low End Theory.
The closing number was “Award Tour” off of Midnight Marauders, speaking of which…I also saw this white dude jamming out to “Sucka N***a”. Problematic!
Now this show was all about the fans, but not in the sense that it isolated those of us who have a heavy appreciation for Q-Tip’s work circa 1997-1999. As you can see above, the 1999 solo album Amplified was not forgotten, as Kamaal jumped into a performance of the album’s unappreciated, less commercial single “Let’s Ride”. Knowing very well that younger fans would be present, the album’s other two singles “Breathe and Stop” and “Vivrant Thing” also made an appearance in the encore. He even did us the favor of including his guest verse from Janet Jackson‘s “Got Til It’s Gone”. The line “Now why you wanna go and do that love, huh?” led straight into “Find A Way”, the lead single off of the Tribe’s 1998 album The Love Movement. I anticipated this transition and immediately gushed at the moment it was made. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one.
“Q-Tip knew what he was doing when he entrusted half the lyrics on “Check the Rime”** – the half that was once the jurisdiction of his partner Phife Dawg – to an enthusiastic woman near the foot of the stage. Thankfully she also knew what she was doing: she nailed it, and was rewarded with the biggest cheers of the night. It was a feel-good moment, a reminder that someone out there – a fan, one of us – felt the fever for something, after all.” – Nate Chinen, NYTimes
And hell yes. Michelle Cooper, the enthusiastic woman mentioned above, was probably the highlight of the show. Four rules were given to the fan who’d rap Phife Dawg‘s parts. If my memory serves me correctly, they were…
You got to be on beat.
No freestyling.
No shout-outs to your crew.
And DJ Scratch then chimes in…“Don’t fuck up like Lupe.” You got to know the words.
I was giggling like a little school girl at the reference to Fiascogate, which I got my scoop on thanks to Nah Right and Idolator. For those who aren’t in the know*** is a reference to rapper Lupe Fiasco‘s lyrical fuck-up of “Electric Relaxation” at the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. I was waiting for someone on stage to reference this the entire night. God bless DJ Scratch.
* Well if he ain’t gonna promote it, I will!…Go buy it on iTunes. ::End promotion:: ** It should be noted that Nate Chinen didn’t use the right spelling here. Honest mistake? Or is this the makings of NATEGATE???
*** Or for those who didn’t just click either of those links…
CAT CIAO!stormed onto my cheap-ass speakers a few weeks ago, and they’ve been turning my Party Shuffle into a true party ever since.
Some time since then, they’ve popped a new track called “Lemonade” onto their space. The chorus is simple enough– “Do the lemonade girl, twist it like a lemon”, but this is the number one neglected summer jam. It is now autumn, and doing the apple cider or the pumpkin pie just doesn’t sound as catchy. But fuck that, it’s warm enough. Grab yourself a glass of lemonade and twist your hips like it’s still summertime.
On another note, my sister was just saying how the baby name “Lindsay” is ruined for her because of Lindsay Lohan. I guess she doesn’t like girls who don’t wear their panties, eh? Well, Cat Ciao! member Josh (Owl Meat/Figure) also did an incredible mash-up of Pase Rock‘s “Lindsay Lohan” and Cat Ciao!’s “Cat Fight”. You can hear/download the original “Cat Fight” on their space. This stuff is too good to not escape the walls of Evansville, Indiana…so get it in your ears NOW.
d/l: TOO $HORT f/ E-40 – This My One (YSI)
