ROCK THE BELLS.
A couple of days ago, Rock The Bells, made a stop in Jones Beach, New York and thanks to Urb Magazine and Guerilla Union, I was offered practically all access to the festivities.
I gotta be honest. Hip-hop shows, for whatever reason (They suck? They're lazy? I'm old?) are pretty wack for the most part. Admit it. I love the culture as much as the next guy, but actual live shows? "Turn my mic up!" "Wherez Queens at?" "Is Connecticut in the houz?" It's 98% that. And 2% dopeness...which means you're looking for a needle in the haystack. And there was definitely a lot of that here this day. But there were also a bunch of gems. Highlights below:
We got there pretty late and Mos Def was the first act I caught in its entirety. On a scale of 1-10, I gave Mos like a 5. A lot of singing other people's songs and chanting. I'm not hating because I love Mos. He was one of the first celebs to rock Staple in an ad and I helped design a lot of early Rawkus shit. Maybe Hollywood has him preoccupied. But when he brought out Talib Kweli and Pharoahe Monch, it was O V E R. "Simon Says", "Respiration"...man...it was a backpackers wet dream.
Then came the Wu show which was dope just to hear all these old joints. Ghost, Rae, Meth and honorary Wu-Tang/Right Guard spokesperson Redman was all present and accounted for. A lot of these photos are backstage post-act shots...I was too enthralled during the performances to shoot.
Ticallion Stallion
Pretty Tony in a pensive mood.
Dave aka Plug Two of De La Soul. Needless to say, backstage was a hip-hop hall of fame. It was pretty epic.
The highlight of the show for me was Nas. I've had the luxury of being on tour with Nas for a brief moment back when God's Son came out. No hypeman. No party DJ. No electric show. Just One Mic & Nasir Jones. That's all you really need. He killed it. But just for good measure, Sean Carter himself came out and and dropped a few verses. Amazing to say the least.
Funny story: So I was out in Denver, CO with Nas on one of his tour stops. Apparently, in the music industry, Nas notoriously travels light. While most have a dozen security...friends, fam, ho's, baby mama's, etc...the entourage can easily get to 50 people. From my recollection, Nas had DJ LES, himself and Mike B. his right hand. THAT'S IT. So after the Denver show, I was milling around back stage and Mike B. comes out of the trailer and asks me I want to hang out in the trailer. Vivid thoughts of BET After Hours and King Magazine are rushing through my head as I enter the trailer. When I get in, the aforementioned crew is sitting on chairs, sharing a pineapple. I kid you not. No ho's! No groupies! I alluded to expecting something different and Nas just said "Nah, we workin'." On the van ride back to the hotel...no music playing. No one smoking a blunt. Just some small chatter about the next day's itinerary. These dudes were on a BUSINESS TRIP. Nothing more. Nothing less. And no, Kelis, Nas did not pay me to write this. It's true. I often found Nas just typing rhymes and verses into his Blackberry. Nasir is a true poet, in every sense of the word. Like an enigma. A prophet. Someone you're not really supposed to fully understand. Anyway, just thought I'd share my fifteen minutes with Mr. Jones.
The "N".
Hov.
No More Beef. More like BFF.
Thanks again to Alex (GU) and Raymond (Urb) for the great times.
I gotta be honest. Hip-hop shows, for whatever reason (They suck? They're lazy? I'm old?) are pretty wack for the most part. Admit it. I love the culture as much as the next guy, but actual live shows? "Turn my mic up!" "Wherez Queens at?" "Is Connecticut in the houz?" It's 98% that. And 2% dopeness...which means you're looking for a needle in the haystack. And there was definitely a lot of that here this day. But there were also a bunch of gems. Highlights below:
We got there pretty late and Mos Def was the first act I caught in its entirety. On a scale of 1-10, I gave Mos like a 5. A lot of singing other people's songs and chanting. I'm not hating because I love Mos. He was one of the first celebs to rock Staple in an ad and I helped design a lot of early Rawkus shit. Maybe Hollywood has him preoccupied. But when he brought out Talib Kweli and Pharoahe Monch, it was O V E R. "Simon Says", "Respiration"...man...it was a backpackers wet dream.
Then came the Wu show which was dope just to hear all these old joints. Ghost, Rae, Meth and honorary Wu-Tang/Right Guard spokesperson Redman was all present and accounted for. A lot of these photos are backstage post-act shots...I was too enthralled during the performances to shoot.
Ticallion Stallion
Pretty Tony in a pensive mood.
Dave aka Plug Two of De La Soul. Needless to say, backstage was a hip-hop hall of fame. It was pretty epic.
The highlight of the show for me was Nas. I've had the luxury of being on tour with Nas for a brief moment back when God's Son came out. No hypeman. No party DJ. No electric show. Just One Mic & Nasir Jones. That's all you really need. He killed it. But just for good measure, Sean Carter himself came out and and dropped a few verses. Amazing to say the least.
Funny story: So I was out in Denver, CO with Nas on one of his tour stops. Apparently, in the music industry, Nas notoriously travels light. While most have a dozen security...friends, fam, ho's, baby mama's, etc...the entourage can easily get to 50 people. From my recollection, Nas had DJ LES, himself and Mike B. his right hand. THAT'S IT. So after the Denver show, I was milling around back stage and Mike B. comes out of the trailer and asks me I want to hang out in the trailer. Vivid thoughts of BET After Hours and King Magazine are rushing through my head as I enter the trailer. When I get in, the aforementioned crew is sitting on chairs, sharing a pineapple. I kid you not. No ho's! No groupies! I alluded to expecting something different and Nas just said "Nah, we workin'." On the van ride back to the hotel...no music playing. No one smoking a blunt. Just some small chatter about the next day's itinerary. These dudes were on a BUSINESS TRIP. Nothing more. Nothing less. And no, Kelis, Nas did not pay me to write this. It's true. I often found Nas just typing rhymes and verses into his Blackberry. Nasir is a true poet, in every sense of the word. Like an enigma. A prophet. Someone you're not really supposed to fully understand. Anyway, just thought I'd share my fifteen minutes with Mr. Jones.
The "N".
Hov.
No More Beef. More like BFF.
Thanks again to Alex (GU) and Raymond (Urb) for the great times.
posted by jeffstaple | 3:32 AM
2 Comments:
What were you doing touring with Nas?
That was classic. I did manage to get some close (albeit shaky) video of "Scenario." I really haven't had that much fun at a hip-hop show in a while.
http://canelanyc.blogspot.com/2008/08/rock-bells-nyc-2008.html
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