Naughty & Vice

SIt down. You might learn something.

Fuck a conflict of interest: R2AK’s own Anami Vice donned his demolition hat and led the charge Sunday night, opening for Naughty By Nature at the sold-out Pop Opera. Opening feels like the wrong word. Do bombs ‘open’ walls off buildings? Do sharks ‘open’ people in half? Do hurricanes ‘open’ the roof off? Okay. Then he ‘opened’ the shit outta that stage, to a hometown crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, and when they weren’t screaming them along with him, hanging off every word. Running through a short, incendiary set that had the place not knowing what hit them. With no safety net. No backing band. No yes-man. One-man wrecking crew style. Just him, one mic, and seven songs, including Jay-Z cover PSA, the cleverly melancholy Hollywood, every MC’s favourite This Ain’t Funny, and the cathartic High Five. Song after song, Vice showed me, the promoters, the other acts, and the capacity crowd, that he’s ready for that spotlight.

Two of Vice’s songs made me realize him and Naughty’s Treach share some traits. They both have a crowd favourite “Hey, Ho” song (See: Call And Response, Hip Hop Hooray.) They are both incredible MC’s and even better showmen. And they are both extremely prejudiced towards shirts, as evidenced by Take Your Shirt Off and Naughty’s whole set, [See for yourself, ladies. You can click here, or follow the picture-link to my stupid-face photographer Jay’s gallery. It’s where it belongs - at the bottom.] This actually brings me to one suggestion for Vice. You may want to record a Shirt sequel (I’mma Put My Shirt On, maybe?) so you aren’t a walking ‘nip-slip’ for the rest of your set. I don’t really care, but there were some unhappy dudes being ignored by shirtless, salivating girlfriends, is all.

You ever heard of an ‘opener’ getting called back for an encore? Now you have. Coming back to rip through his upcoming single/video, Vodka Soda, Anami told the tale of a high maintenance woman kicking the shit out of his heart over a so-infectious-it-should-be-quarantined piano loop. When the song becomes available, I’ll let you know. If you can tell me (or Anami) what the hell the second part of the chorus’ vocal sample is saying, well you’re a liar. “Smile so low?” “Smile so looong?” “My solo?” “Simon Cowell?” “Salmon Load??” Nobody knows! Whatever the hell is going on there is proof that Anami’s an a-hole. Making a song that catchy, then sticking an unsolvable mystery in the center of it? What do you think you’re ‘Lost,’ or some shit? Damn your eyes, Anami. Damn them to hell.

Much like Alicia at Killahbeez.com, I missed the second openers, Heatwave and Lamar Ashe, as I was also conducting an interview, albeit a much less illustrious one. She interviewed Naughty By Nature themselves. Me? I interviewed a plant behind an establishment one block up from Pop Opera. And by interview, I mean peed on. One look at the mob of people between me and the bathroom made me come up with my Plan P. I barely made it back for the main act, and ended up having to (as annoyingly as possible) ninja my way between everyone to get back to the front.

Speaking of the main act, I had high expectations. I saw them in February 2009. Coincidentally, it was a birthday present from Anami, and the two of us were accompanied by notorious liar and all-around dirtbag Jay Haddow that time too. It was the best show I saw that year. Well, I learned that lightning does strike twice. Treach and Vin Rock, backed up by DJ Kay Gee, hit that shit out of the park again. (Their logo’s a baseball bat. I am clever. Discuss.) They are nicknamed Anthem Inc. for a reason. From set-opener OPP to Hip Hop Hooray (So nice they performed it twice! Why am I getting déjà vu? Hmmm…) and everything in between, they had the whole venue jumping, screaming and wavin’ them motherfuckers side-to-side in unison. They have a way, with Treach’s menacing charm and rapid-fire flow, and Vin’s easygoing nature and command of the stage, of dazing you so that, even those like myself that know their entire catalogue inside and out, are surprised with every new song. Craziest. Cue: freak the fuck out. Chant: chorus. Hands: in the air. New song. Uptown Anthem. Rinse. Repeat. Hit after hit. It’s On. Ghetto Bastard (aka Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.) Guard Your Grill. And so on.

I’m happy to report two of the three new songs (I Gotta Lotta and the White Stripes’ sampling Can’t Hold Me Back) stand strong and fit right in alongside the classics. But wait! There’s more? Conducting a ‘History of Hip Hop’ interlude, they tested the audience’s knowledge of the genre by spinning old school jams, both classic and obscure. Ranging from Gin & Juice to Jump Around (“For the white boys”) to the Slick Rick/Doug E. Fresh beatbox classic Lodi Dodi. Fun and educational, boys and girls! They also took a moment (something they do in every show) to mourn Treach’s best friend 2Pac with a short medley of some of his biggest songs while Treach poured Henny into the ‘Pac tattoo on his forearm. Seriously. If it all sounds over the top, well, it is. Still, it feels authentic in all the ways Puff’s various Biggie tributes did not.

What more can I say? Hip Hops past and future crossed the streams to explosive results. DJ’s Seko and Kutcorners kept the party barreling along at a clip in between sets. The staff was friendly and efficient. And even with the constraints of putting that many people into a more ‘intimate’ venue, 2010 is going to have a tough time coming up with a show to beat this one. I’m just going to go ahead and congratulate Naughty on being back-to-back recipients of the prestigious ‘Nuv’s Show of the Year’ award. You guys can just go ahead and put it up on the shelf next to your Hip Hop Honors awards and Grammys and stuff. See you next year.

And Anami, you have a bad habit of making me repeat myself. It feels like I say this with every new project you complete, and here I am saying it to you again – I’ve never been prouder, brother.

The moral of the story: you can’t get shit off your chest with a shirt in the way.

Class dismissed.

– Nuv