New York: Day Four - Rock The Bells
I’ve managed to pack my itinerary here in New York, which means I’ve left little room to try and make sense of each day as it comes and goes. So if this blog post descends into pure gibberish before we get from my petty grumblings of yesterday’s Rock The Bells, to the bit where I tell you about the best live hip hop performance I’ve ever seen, then you’re at least seeing an honest peek into my brain this morning.
Actually maybe I should just miss the bad bits, they’re not exactly life or death drama. I mean missing a once in a lifetime shot to see the Cold Crush Brothers because the AXS ticket app wasn’t working properly, is really bloody frustrating but I didn’t let it ruin my day. Having to queue for so long for drinks is a cardinal sin at these big concerts, and led to me missing Boot Camp Clique, but I’ll get over it. And seeing as we’ve already started on the bad bits, Maseo’s technical problems which led to losing De La Soul from the Native Tongues reunion is forgivable, just about - especially as it made what happened later a little more special and we at least got to see Jungle Brothers and Dres Black Sheep, but to let such an incredible performer as Big Daddy Kane get through nearly all of his classics before handing him a mic that works, is perhaps the crime of the century! At least when it happened to Rakim later in the show, the tech team was a little quicker to sort it out, but we still lost a healthy chunk of his classic material. To be fair, with those guys you’re only really dealing in classics.
That’s often the trick to these quick fire nostalgia shows, with wall to wall legendary artists. Get in, do the sing along classics, get out again before anyone realises you’re past your performing prime. That’s certainly what the likes of Lost Boys, Sha Rock, Roxanne Shante, Brand Nubian (who brought Grand Puba along to do their early tunes), Yo Yo, Monie Love and MC Lyte did, though given how strong their performances were, it simply wouldn’t be fair to say that the latter three ladies’ had their best days behind them. Slick Rick, okay maybe he stayed a little longer than was comfortable, but the crowd can also be forgiving at these things, especially with such a legend. After all, most of us are feeling the battle scars of are getting older ourselves. By the time the day was over at the Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, my legs felt a good twenty years older than the rest of me too.
This is why I often have a problem with shows that are built heavily around nostalgia. Whilst it can be incredibly nourishing to connect with people your own age, it can also feel like an extra nail in your coffin, as the crowd collectively floats further from their heyday. In fact at times, artists are so far removed from who they were when they wrote the songs they perform, it can feel like watching a cover band. Which is why it’s so important when you get artists like LL Cool J, The Roots and Queen Latifah, but I’ll get to them.
I feel like I’ve been a little hard on nostalgia so far, and some might try to argue that these Hip hop 50 shows are about celebrating the whole of Hip-hop history to the present day. However only Swizz Beats gave any kind of nod to the current scene (or even post noughties) by bringing on Scar Lip to perform ‘This is New York’, which she attacked with fury, like her generation depended on it. There was also another newer guy, but nobody seemed to know who he was and I didn’t catch the name. I also thought his mic was cutting out, but that was just his style of rapping.
Of course it was still the seasoned vets he brought out who had the best response and the better presence. Both Baby Cham and Beanie Siegel delivered and got the crowd singing along. It’s a powerful thing, being in a stadium when the whole place is rapping or singing a track together, our connected memories, our connected emotions. Music guides us through life, it can be a coping mechanism at the worst of times and an enhancement to the best, so nostalgia is a hell of a drug too. It can remind you how to be happy by tapping into your younger self and accessing those resources. Gigs like this aren't always about living in the past, but memory is important. The things we've done are often our greatest teacher for the things we still need to do. I'm not sure what lessons I've learned here today but hopefully I've got plenty of time to figure that out.
Salt N Pepa, Ludacris, Method Man & Redman, and Run DMC gave solid renditions of their classics. I’ve never seen the latter two and so it was a new experience for me regardless. I would have been more than happy to have seen those and left feeling like the day had been a once in a lifetime experience. I would have given a high five to my younger self and left feeling a strange mix of rejuvenated by the performances and energy of the crowd, but also broken by being on my feet in the blazing sun for so long. Queen Latifah and LL Cool J took proceedings to a whole new level though.
Perhaps it was the fact that both had a live band. It seems almost a shame to say that a culture whose music is built around two turntables and a microphone, can be improved upon by becoming something else, but even though Queen Latifah pays homage to some House classics from her hometown of New Jersey, and brings plenty of Soul and rnb flavour with her singing, there’s no denying that she’s Hip hop to the core.
Perhaps due to her successful acting career and various entrepreneurial ventures it's very rare I'll see any opportunity to catch Queen Latifah live. The last time i know that she definitely played the UK was Port Talbot in the late 80s.
She has been around a long time, no question, so I'm finding it hard to put my finger on what feels different about her performance and its relationship to nostalgia. Perhaps its her ever maternal presence, it feels almost like being with family when she's on stage. This is something that she really manages to encapsulate when bringing artists on to the stage with her, and what a guest list! Or should I say family outing?
Helped in no small part by heading up an artist management company, Flavor Unit, she invites Big Boi from Outkast, Naughty By Nature, Zhane and Rapsody to perform their own hits, and calls Monie Love, MC Lyte and Yo Yo back out to jam with her. I have to admit there's some tears welling up during their rendition of Brandy's ‘I Wanna Be Down’, and by the time they're all on stage for UNITY I'm an emotional mess. She'd gone way beyond nostalgia. By managing to create such a strong feeling of famiky, sisterhood, community, empowerment and love, both on stage and in the crowd, it could never not feel relevant and important for right there in the moment.
LL Cool J has a lot to live up to as the headliner, theres some hard acts to follow. Hes back on home turf in Queens, straight after Run DMC, arguably the boroughs all time favorite sons, and its his brand which is putting on the gig. Its sold out, but still the future kind of depends on him pulling it off.
I feel he definitely recognised all of those things, and pulling in The Roots to be his backing band is a master stroke. There's no better Hip hop band in the business and i was happy to see Black Thought was still with them, largely acting as hyoe man but managing to get a little shine of his own.
After opening up with ‘I'm Bad’, one of my all time favourite Hip hop tunes, they ride through LL's impressive back catalogue without stopping for breath. Seamlessly weaving through hit after hit with so much energy it puts us younger folks to shame. The only faltering is those damned mics again as we lose the drop of ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ and can barely hear Meth and Red as they join him for ‘4,3,2, 1’.
Thankfully this time there are no technical issues when De La Soul join them on stage to perform both a few tunes, and I'm left feeling like this was the single greatest Hip hop performance I've ever seen. This isn't rehashing history, it's using it to create something fresh, new and exciting. What could be more Hip hop!
I can’t quite believe that this is only Day Four. There’s still another 8 or so to go. See you back here tomorrow.
