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I caught the flyer for this show around two weeks ago as I was arriving late to class one day…it was for Friday, April 11th 2003…The headliner was talib kweli, while the opening acts were bilal (garbage), 54th platoon (garbage), c rayz walz (dope), the arsonists (dope), and some other “guests”…fortunately/unfortunately, bilal, 54th platoon, and c rayz dropped out…however, there were many other guests that made up for that…
I almost didn’t make it into the show, which started at 8 pm (doors opened at 7 pm), because I brought my north face bag with me and they had a strict “no bookbag” policy…what was really fucked up about the situation was that I was the first person who was there for the show (I was there since 5pm) and not once did any of the staff say anything to me about bookbags, especially since they saw me standing outside with my bookbag on since 5pm, and since the doors were made of glass…the cat that I was talking to didn’t know shit from piss, telling me that he wasn’t informed on the bookbag policy, and it got to the point where he closed the door in my face…however, I waited until they got some one to help me out, and like a dumb fuck I stood there in 40 degree weather (w/ rain) with only a little sweater on…I stood there smiling at the staff members holding up my ticket and smiling at security who were clearly getting annoyed…however, my dumb ass ended up winning, because the president of haraya (who set up the whole show), came through and got me in…so shout out to him, and shout out to myself for being a stubborn motherfucker…
Big kap was the DJ for most of the show…he’s a cool cat, but he played a whole slew of songs that sounded like they were ripped from Hot 97….meaning, foxy brown, lil kim, 50 Cent (jesus fuckin christ, don’t ever play 50 cent in jamaica; it’s liable to start riots)…
The first act was Omega Moon (I believe)…she was nice, she kicked a few acapellas and some original songs…she sounded like a mix between apani b fly and canibus….she was talking about abortion, straight up battling shit, overall it was dope…however, most of the crowd wasn’t into that type of “underground” shit…she was on for about 20 minutes…
The second act was jahme…he’s a cat from brooklyn who was pretty ill…when he started rocking over the “bucktown” I knew he was going to do some ill shit for the remainder of his set…he also started rocking over some old wu beats, and did some original material…he was on a concscious, “fuck bush” type of vibe…he was on for about 20 minutes…
Next was the people’s army, who have done songs with dead prez (as a matter of fact M1 made an appearance)…they were on some hardcore “fuck bush,” “fuck cops,” “fuck white people” type of shit…I felt sorry for the white people that had to pay money to go to that show, cause they were throwing out more *******s than a Nabisco promotion…aside from that though, they did say a lot of real shit, and had a variety of beats…they were on for about 30 minutes….
Next were the Lone Catalysts….at this point, J. Rawls took over the turntables from Big Kap, and J Sands ripped the whole show with a lot of new and old shit ( I can’t remember some of the old shit)…he also redid, “simon says,” “sucker mcs,” and “electric relaxtion”…it was a dope performance, but again, they didn’t receive that much love from most of the audience, minus myself and some backpackers….they were on for about 20 minutes…
Next were the arsonists, minus Jise (just Q-unique and Swel)…they really had the crowd amped jumping around the stage like a bunch of crazy bastards…they did, “burn it out,” “self righteous spics,” “blaze,” and a few other joints and freestyles…the worst thing about this set though was that Swel forgot his words so many times, up to the point that Q-Unique made him do 10 " bitchass" pushups (as he put it)…other than that, the performance was really ill ( I would imagine that when the arsonists were a 5 man group, their shows would be even crazier)…Swel also said that D-stroy was in the audience but I didn’t see him…they were on for about 20 minutes…
Next was Black Rob, who had like 6 cats with him on stage hyping him up…next to talib, he was the second most hyped up act…he came out and started doing, “I love you baby,” “bad boy for life,” “dame espacio,” "get this money" and “whoa”…it took him 3 times to do “whoa” because of sound problems…when his mic got shut off, he started to chant “fuck the sound man” and started to do “whoa” without no sound, and with the crowd’s participation…then his mic got turned on again, but then the DJ started to have problems (this wasn’t Big Kap, I don’t know who this cat was)…the third time, he performed “whoa” without problems and it ended well…he was on for about 15 minutes….
Next was Talib who came out with 2 backup singers ( I believe Tiffany, and if I’m not mistaken, tracey moore from the JazzyFatNastees)…He also had brought out a DJ named DJ Chaps from the 12” Assassins…the singers were dope, and DJ Chaps started to do some turntable tricks (like the kind you would witness in a DJ battle, nowadays)…he quickly got into songs like, “move somethin,” “get by,” “good to you,” “definition,” “eternalists,” “rush,” “too late,” “ghetto afterlife,” "africa dream," "the blast," “gun music,” and some freestyles where he started a “fuck bush” chant...he also talked about the war in iraq, and how poor people are the ones going to war, and how bush is a terrorist; the crowd was really feeling this…
I started to feel stupid when he brought out his 3 guests because by that time I wasted all of my film…anyways, his first guest was the legendary Masta Ace, who came out and kicked a verse, showing that he's still nice…then talib brought out Consequence, a Queens emcee who worked with ATCQ, and I believe he is related to Q-Tip…he kicked a verse, and was aight…then Talib brought out Kanye West who kicked two verses; his verse from “the bounce,” and the wire joint I believe…for the rest of Talib’s set he acted as talib’s hypeman…when the lights started turning on, talib said fuck that shit and kept on with his show…the show ended around 1am, and was well worth it, especially for the price of $5 (believe me, this price is reasonable considering the tuition that I have to pay at SJU)…talib was on for about 45 minutes…
When I get the photos developed I’ll see if I can find a way to post them…anyway, for my first show, despite the entrance bullshit in the beginning, it was dope (I don’t go to shows mainly because I don’t believe in paying some of those ticket prices; this show was really cheap)…
I almost didn’t make it into the show, which started at 8 pm (doors opened at 7 pm), because I brought my north face bag with me and they had a strict “no bookbag” policy…what was really fucked up about the situation was that I was the first person who was there for the show (I was there since 5pm) and not once did any of the staff say anything to me about bookbags, especially since they saw me standing outside with my bookbag on since 5pm, and since the doors were made of glass…the cat that I was talking to didn’t know shit from piss, telling me that he wasn’t informed on the bookbag policy, and it got to the point where he closed the door in my face…however, I waited until they got some one to help me out, and like a dumb fuck I stood there in 40 degree weather (w/ rain) with only a little sweater on…I stood there smiling at the staff members holding up my ticket and smiling at security who were clearly getting annoyed…however, my dumb ass ended up winning, because the president of haraya (who set up the whole show), came through and got me in…so shout out to him, and shout out to myself for being a stubborn motherfucker…
Big kap was the DJ for most of the show…he’s a cool cat, but he played a whole slew of songs that sounded like they were ripped from Hot 97….meaning, foxy brown, lil kim, 50 Cent (jesus fuckin christ, don’t ever play 50 cent in jamaica; it’s liable to start riots)…
The first act was Omega Moon (I believe)…she was nice, she kicked a few acapellas and some original songs…she sounded like a mix between apani b fly and canibus….she was talking about abortion, straight up battling shit, overall it was dope…however, most of the crowd wasn’t into that type of “underground” shit…she was on for about 20 minutes…
The second act was jahme…he’s a cat from brooklyn who was pretty ill…when he started rocking over the “bucktown” I knew he was going to do some ill shit for the remainder of his set…he also started rocking over some old wu beats, and did some original material…he was on a concscious, “fuck bush” type of vibe…he was on for about 20 minutes…
Next was the people’s army, who have done songs with dead prez (as a matter of fact M1 made an appearance)…they were on some hardcore “fuck bush,” “fuck cops,” “fuck white people” type of shit…I felt sorry for the white people that had to pay money to go to that show, cause they were throwing out more *******s than a Nabisco promotion…aside from that though, they did say a lot of real shit, and had a variety of beats…they were on for about 30 minutes….
Next were the Lone Catalysts….at this point, J. Rawls took over the turntables from Big Kap, and J Sands ripped the whole show with a lot of new and old shit ( I can’t remember some of the old shit)…he also redid, “simon says,” “sucker mcs,” and “electric relaxtion”…it was a dope performance, but again, they didn’t receive that much love from most of the audience, minus myself and some backpackers….they were on for about 20 minutes…
Next were the arsonists, minus Jise (just Q-unique and Swel)…they really had the crowd amped jumping around the stage like a bunch of crazy bastards…they did, “burn it out,” “self righteous spics,” “blaze,” and a few other joints and freestyles…the worst thing about this set though was that Swel forgot his words so many times, up to the point that Q-Unique made him do 10 " bitchass" pushups (as he put it)…other than that, the performance was really ill ( I would imagine that when the arsonists were a 5 man group, their shows would be even crazier)…Swel also said that D-stroy was in the audience but I didn’t see him…they were on for about 20 minutes…
Next was Black Rob, who had like 6 cats with him on stage hyping him up…next to talib, he was the second most hyped up act…he came out and started doing, “I love you baby,” “bad boy for life,” “dame espacio,” "get this money" and “whoa”…it took him 3 times to do “whoa” because of sound problems…when his mic got shut off, he started to chant “fuck the sound man” and started to do “whoa” without no sound, and with the crowd’s participation…then his mic got turned on again, but then the DJ started to have problems (this wasn’t Big Kap, I don’t know who this cat was)…the third time, he performed “whoa” without problems and it ended well…he was on for about 15 minutes….
Next was Talib who came out with 2 backup singers ( I believe Tiffany, and if I’m not mistaken, tracey moore from the JazzyFatNastees)…He also had brought out a DJ named DJ Chaps from the 12” Assassins…the singers were dope, and DJ Chaps started to do some turntable tricks (like the kind you would witness in a DJ battle, nowadays)…he quickly got into songs like, “move somethin,” “get by,” “good to you,” “definition,” “eternalists,” “rush,” “too late,” “ghetto afterlife,” "africa dream," "the blast," “gun music,” and some freestyles where he started a “fuck bush” chant...he also talked about the war in iraq, and how poor people are the ones going to war, and how bush is a terrorist; the crowd was really feeling this…
I started to feel stupid when he brought out his 3 guests because by that time I wasted all of my film…anyways, his first guest was the legendary Masta Ace, who came out and kicked a verse, showing that he's still nice…then talib brought out Consequence, a Queens emcee who worked with ATCQ, and I believe he is related to Q-Tip…he kicked a verse, and was aight…then Talib brought out Kanye West who kicked two verses; his verse from “the bounce,” and the wire joint I believe…for the rest of Talib’s set he acted as talib’s hypeman…when the lights started turning on, talib said fuck that shit and kept on with his show…the show ended around 1am, and was well worth it, especially for the price of $5 (believe me, this price is reasonable considering the tuition that I have to pay at SJU)…talib was on for about 45 minutes…
When I get the photos developed I’ll see if I can find a way to post them…anyway, for my first show, despite the entrance bullshit in the beginning, it was dope (I don’t go to shows mainly because I don’t believe in paying some of those ticket prices; this show was really cheap)…
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