We missed Melbourne’s own Phrase in
Sydney but we were told that copies of his album
that were thrown to the crowd were promptly
thrown back at him. At the Melbourne show water
bottles were targeted at the MC’s head
so I don’t find this too hard to believe.
Putting him on after DJ Premier may have had
something to do with it.
To see Premo in action is unbelievable, for
someone who has been obsessed with his beats
and in awe of his work with Gangstarr, just
to see him take the stage was a blessing. He
was reasonably well received in Sydney but the
punters just didn’t seem to have a clue
exactly who they were being privileged to. He
took us through some of the most popular hip
hop tunes, Nas’s Made You Look, Snoop
Dogg’s Drop it like it’s Hot, Xzibit,
Snoop & Dre’s Bitch Please, Gang Starr’s
Full Clip & You Know My Steez, Dre’s
Still Dre, Cypress Hill’s How I could
just kill a man & House of Pain’s
Jump Around whilst dropping Nirvana’s
Smells like Teen Spirit and some of the old
school breaks that made up the beats from the
hip hop pioneer tracks of the 80’s. As
always Premo was a joy to watch and I hope that
we will be seeing him again soon.
One of the most interesting underrated and
humble artists I have come across, once again
I was in awe when DJ JS-1 hit the stage. Described
by Australia’s craziest DJ as one of the
tightest DJ’s she had ever seen he absolutely
fucking tore Public Enemy’s Welcome to
the Terrordome to pieces with his amazing juggling
and foot to fader action. Hopefully someone
will tour him separately and we will get to
feel the full wrath of his fader in action.
Rahzel entered the stage to the sound of bongo’s
and the infamous chanting ‘The Champ is
Here’. Muhammad Ali played it to George
Foreman at his training session in Kinshasa,
Zaire before the famed Rumble in the Jungle
of 1974. Although Rahzel didn’t kick anybody’s
ass or release a signature brand of meat grill,
you could say that he won in a sense when the
crowd went wild whilst he had his time in the
spotlight. I would also like to point out that
the crowd went wild when their manager, Agile
Turner, took the stage, who despite being a
friendly 6ft surfer from Brooklyn was not Rahzel.
This was my initial proof that Sydney crowds
have a lot to learn when it comes to hip hop.
Rahzel came out and killed it. This was the
third time I’d seen him in a week and
it still wasn’t boring. My only concern
was the lack of Dirt off Your Shoulder produced
by Timbaland for Jay-Z’s black album.
This meant I didn’t get to see Premo dusting
his shoulders to the side of stage like we did
in Melbourne. A definite highlight was watching
him breath and blurp his way through React by
Eric Sermon & Redman , produced by Just
Blaze but the icing on the cake came after Meth
& Red’s set when he boxed RZA’s
classic beat Wu Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin
to Fuck With whilst Meth dropped his verse.
He powered through appreciative screams and
plenty of bewildered hip hoppers when he did
Drop it Like it’s Hot, Pharrell for Snoop,
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes and finally
his own If You’re Mother Only Knew. He
didn’t touch on the reggae tip that he
had done in his previous two shows, this may
have had something to do with the fact that
not many people knew the tracks he was playing
which he commented on ‘Y’all don’t
know anything about Reggae’ but the hoes
got their roses from the man of the hour, the
boys got their roses on the promise to give
them to their mothers and Rahzel left the stage
with a happy and amazed audience to retell his
stories.
In all seriousness, the two times I was lucky
enough to see Method Man & Redman, I was
stuck in between screaming and crying. To see
two of your all time favourite artists, playing
the tracks that you bumped, till the cd was
scratched raw was just unbelievable. Tical,
Judgement Day, 36 Chambers & Blackout are
easily in my top 10. I was grinning like I’d
dropped a ten pack and was weepy like I’d
drank a bottle of Shiraz.
From from his debut and possibly best offering
Tical, Meth dropped All I need, Bring the Pain
& What the Blood Clot. Further proof that
Sydney heads need some educating came when he
spat What the Blood Clot and the crowd went
silent. From 36 Chambers we got M.e.t.h.o.d
Man, when I heard ‘the RZA, the GZA, the
Ol Dirty Bastard, Raekwon the chef ….’
I almost spontaneously combusted with joy. From
Judgement Day I can only remember hearing Suspect
Chin Music with Streetlife, who also featured
on The Motto, the only track he dropped from
his latest offering Tical 0, The Prequel. He
dropped bits and pieces from Ice Cream by Raekwon
and also spat his verse from Mary J Blige’s
Love at 1st Sight.
Redman solo tracks weren’t as prominent
but he made up for it with his choices, dropping
the absolute classic Pick it Up from Muddy Waters,
the boys were lucky enough to have a bag of
weed thrown to them from their adoring crowd.
From Malpractice he dropped Let’s Get
Dirty, the basis of which became Christina Aguilera’s
smash hit Dirrty but then it was time for some
duets.
Meth & Red together was absolutely amazing,
more chemistry than a scientist and two of the
most energetic performers I have ever seen,
their force was unstoppable. They dropped their
classic How High which put them on the map somewhat
as a duo, as well as How High Pt 2 from the
movie soundrack and the beyond classic Da Rockwilder
from their Blackout LP. Americas Most, Fire
Ina Hole & Cereal Killer were sadly missed
but the show was unbelievable nonetheless.
I know that Meth got pretty emotional in Perth
when they did a tribute to ODB, but in Melbourne
& Sydney he was all about celebrating his
life. Dropping Shimmy Shimmy Ya the crowd went
mental and it was a pleasure to participate
in such an energetic tribute to one of hip hops
most interesting characters.
The boys were supported by Mathematics who is
one of the Wu deejays and produced the killer
track Respect Mine for the clan. DJ Dice was
crazy too with one of the most dexterous scratch
routines I have ever seen, even walking 360
around his decks whilst maintaining a juggle.
DJ Kool was on hand also, hyping up the crowd
with his 90’s hit Let me clear my throat,
on that tip they all dropped their rendition
of Sugarhill’s Rapper’s Delight
and it was time to call it a night.
So that meant the Bugg’n tour was over,
congratulations to the crews in each state and
everybody that made it possible & successful.
It is one of the best events I have been too
and I hope that all of these artists will return
again sometime in the near future. My only qualm
will rest with the organizers of the After Party,
a few thousand people at an event are not going
to fit into a 500 capacity nightclub. I would
also like to congratulate the incredibly stupid
door girls, that have clearly let their tanning
sessions fry their brains, for not only managing
to knock back Rahzel & DJ Dice before the
promoters cut in but for trying to charge Mathematics
$20 to get into an after party that wouldn’t
exist if it wasn’t for him & his crew.
Let’s leave hip hop to the hip hoppers.
GO TO EVENT REVIEWS
ARCHIVE
|
