Location: Jones Beach Theatre, Long Island, NY.
Date: August 3rd 2008
Weather: f***ing hot
Bottle of water: $5
Time: 12:00- 0:00
Kidz In The Hall
Double O came out wearing a leg brace and a bandage on his head after an unfortunate encounter with some bouncers. Said he made it here for New York, which went down well.
Technical issues: some random macbook sounds for 10 mins, no music. Just Blaze is here.
Uneventful set, venue still 70/80% empty. Moving on.
Dead Prez
Missed most of their set queuing for a less than desirable cheesburger ($7). Came back to the theatre for their finale 'Hip-Hop', in time to sing in unison "and it dont stop till we get the crackas of the block" with all the other white people here. Most people are still outside at the monopolistically priced fast food stands.
Immortal Technique
Its too hot for a revolution today
Surprisingly loud response as he takes the stage. The red, black and green flags are out. Rips through Peruvian Coke, 3rd World, No Return.
Wraps things up with a speech about unity then jumps down from the stage and walks out among the people.
De La Soul
One of the best and deserved crowd responses of the day. Great performance
A lot of Dilla shirts in the crowd today, and not just on the back of white nerds either.
Biz Markie makes a surprise appearance, performs 'Just a Friend'. Awesome.
Q-Tip breaks into a full sprint in time for his part on 'Buddy'. Tells the crowd he 'would be back later'. Indeed, much later.
Dres from Black Sheep enters to perform 'The Choice is Yours', "engine, engine number 9..." the crowd loves it.
The Pharcyde
Come out to 'Runnin', good start. To be honest besides their 3 big tunes (figure it out) I'm not the biggest Pharcyde fan. The people watching begins.
Hip-Hop celebrity spotting
We were to the left of the stage in the stands, directly below was the walkway from the artists area to the stage. Everyone that turned up for the day came straight passed us. Mostly to a welcoming response. Murs, Masta Ace, Skyzoo, Dru Ha, Raekwon comes through at least 20 deep.
Raekwon & Ghostface
Hoping for a Wu energy boost in the searing heat. Sadly disappointing as the sound quality was complete horses**t, with the wind taking the sound the opposite direction to make matters worse. I didn't even realize 'Ice Cream' was playing as all we could hear was a muffled bassline and alot of shouting.
Note able Highlight of the day
A shout of "oh s**t, thats Slick Rick is heard from the crowd. Everyone gets to their feet and cheers The Ruler into the building like its Paul Pierce returning to game 1 of the NBA finals.
Mos Def
Begins with some of that singing/chanting stuff he likes to do with shouts of "Brooklyn" in between. The crowd seems bemused.
Definition beat blasts off, Talib Kweli enters the stage and they rip through some Black Star classics. The crowd loves it. Talib performs 'Get By', I along with everyone else hypocritically sing along to the chorus.
Godzilla music kicks it, its Pharoae to perform 'Simon Says'. As you can imagine, this went down well.
Mos finishes the set with "Traveling Man" of the DJ Honda album. Everyone seems content after a dodgy start, overall Mos was a fantastic performer.
Redman & Method Man
Suddenly the place smells alot more a weed than it has all day.
Red announces hes still hungover from the night before in Miami but still gonna rip the show.
They tear s**t down with a highly entertaining/energetic set.
Slick Rick makes a brief appearance, sings the "Lodi Dodi" chorus then leaves.
DJ Kool comes out to perform let me clear my throat.
EPMD and Keith Murray enter the stage for a Def Squad reunion minus K Solo.
Nas
Has a live band which is more of a hindrance than a help in his case.
Runs through his usual Illmatic medley, with the line from One Love about Jeromes niece shot on her way home from Jones beach being an unusual highlight.
Nas still has that habit of missing words, sometimes whole lines out of his records, partly out of breath, partly wanting the crowd to play hypeman.
The organs sound for 'Success',very unexpectedly Jay-Z walks out. They perform 'Black Republicans' then Jay leaves to let Nas bask in the glory.
Kinda surprising to see Jay at an event of 90's hip-hop nostalgia. Nether the less, always a great sight to see 2 legends take the stage together.
Nas leaves the stage thanking the crowd for his 5th (was it 7th?) number 1 album. Really a great achievement for someone whos lyrics are "over they heads like a bulimic on a seesaw".
Q-Tip
A very hype, passionate performance from Tip. With Mos Def as hypeman he rolls through some tracks of the 'Amplified' album plus a couple new tracks. Fire.
A Tribe Called Quest
Their first performance together in New York for 10 years. Monumental you might say.
All the classic were performed Award Tour, Jazz, Footprints, Electric Relaxation, Stir it Up, Excursions, Bonita Applebum. Worth the wait to say the least.
As I predicted Busta came out to give it some Dungeon Dragon on 'Scenario'. Meth, Mos and a bunch of other performers from the day come out to join the party. A fitting farewell to the ultimate day of hip-hop nostalgia.
Off the top of my head, heres a list of people who performed or were just there as a fan.
Kidz In The Hall, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, De La Soul, Dres (Black Sheep), Biz Markie, The Pharcyde, Raekwon, Ghostface, Cappadonna, Inspektah Deck, Slick Rick, B-Real, Supernatural, Green Lantern, Just Blaze, Murs, Afrika Bambatta, Dj Premier, M.O.P., Skyzoo, Just Blaze, Dru Ha, Masta Ace, Consequence, Scratch (Roots), Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharaoe Monch, DJ Scratch, Method Man, Redman, Dj Kool, EPMD, Keith Murray, Nas, Jay-Z, Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes.
After f***ing off any intentions of getting home safely and staying till gone midnight for the end of Tribe, the night eventually ended in luxury as some kind hearted Aussies gave us a lift home in their limo. Avoiding a fate similar to "Jeromes niece" allowing to take with me memories of the greatest day of hip-hop ever seen. One Love.
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