Only a handful of MC’s could control a stage for a whole show all by themselves…and they should check with Talib Kweli before they try.
With over half of the Vogue Theatre staying seated and stoic for an hour (as if they were taking in ‘Les Miserables‘), and receiving cruel and unusual punishment compliments of the opening “act,” there was a calm before the storm feeling as the Reflection Eternal stage crew started setting up. Unfortunately upon arival at the front doors, there were signs everywhere reading, “Due to illness, Hi -Tek was unable to travel for tonight’s show.” Last time I checked, not having your passport wasn’t a medical issue. Balls. Oh well, what can you do? Let’s be honest though, it could have been Talib Kweli and the Sisterhood of the Travelling Turntables and it would’ve sold just as many tickets. Instead, enter DJ Clockwork, Hi-Tek’s protege who travels with Reflection, and is familiar with what it takes to make the show go on. And ON it was.
“Hellooo everybody, recording live from somewhere..”
“…..da na na na nuh GIT ‘EM UP GIT ‘EM UP, WHUT!!!” The very first sound of the Black Star’s voice made every seat in the place flip up and hundreds of hands furiously bitch-slap the air as he came runnin’ in stage right, commanding B.C. to “Move Somethin‘.” While rollin’ through a few 1.5 minute versions of some older tracks, he hit the first of many notorious beat-drops-out-for-two-lines-of-acapella, creating the unanimous feeling in the room of “Ohmygodit’sreallyhim!” to “Holy shit, this Brooklyn bastard can rap his stupid ass off! In real life too!” When you’re enough of a fan to go to a show, your focus usually isn’t on the MC clearly enunciating his lyrics or controlling his voice inflection (big words make me feel so journalistic), but in this case, you could clearly hear the lyrics we don’t even know yet from the new album, and fully appreciated that “the flow is so butter you can spread it on toast.”
While controlling the stage from every edge, a projection screen with song-matching video streamed for most of the tracks, proving the theory that he is indeed his own Yes Man. As he bounced in and out of old, teenage, and infant tracks, it kinda seemed like “one man show” fatigue might be setting in, with a bit of late-beat starts for a couple of Black Star tracks. Upon further reflection, I’m pretty sure it was just a bit of a where-the-hell-is-Hi-Tek? situation.
Just when you thought the show was winding down, the second wind came in the form of Ballad of the Black Gold – guaranteed to be his next big hit. And right on cue, the looks on almost every swooning ladies face gradually progressed from excitement, satisfaction, love, and then spiked to pure desperation, as in “Oh lord jesus, why can’t he be my baby daddy?!” Then he finally lost the pink 80’s shades, and the masses lost their minds. By this point, I started to realize that the tracks I was wary of being “hype concert material” were a perfect groove intermission, with more actual dancing happening than I’ve ever seen at a hip hop show. This was officially the full-meal deal.
As he thanked us and left the stage, it was pretty obvious what was gonna happen next. To the chant of “KWELI! KWELI! KWELI!” he bounced back out with the down ‘n‘ dirty So Good, backed by an east coast beat so nasty, you couldn’t help but to make a face like sumthin’ stank. Already up by 20 in overtime, he polished us off with the big band 70’s funk of Midnight Hour with the saucy Estelle reppin’ on the big screen. This one was born to be performed at the Grammys.
Eventually we let the mighty Kweli leave the stage, but I hadn’t got my fill, so press pass in hand, I ventured backstage in search of a possible cocktail conversation. Alas, he escaped out the back door, understandably exhausted by the solo serving session. DJ Clockwork would have to do. Nice enough guy, but even though Talib’s “name is in the middle of e-KWELI-ty,” on this night, and as a one man show, believe me – he had NO equal.
– A.T.
[Meet Captain Arthritis - he takes women and romances pictures. He's basically A.T.'s Hi-Tek. Except he showed up at this show. Why're you still reading this?! Click the red, already!]
