Q-Tip and Friends played Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival
July 19th, 2011 by chocko
I almost missed the big hip hop event of the year, but after I woke up from a long nap and rolled out of bed, I went straight to Brooklyn…just in time for Q-Tip’s headlining set last Saturday under the Brooklyn Bridge. The folks at Brooklyn Bodega put together a week of hip hop events and I can’t stress it enough to get a ticket in advance for the main day. There was a long line of people stranded by the gates, not sure if they got in, but with my ticket I printed out at home, I was whisked away from the sweaty crowd and thrown in the sea of happy faces. I’m sure the day of hip hop music was a great one (I missed Random Axe-Sean Price, Guilty Simpson and Black Milk…Damn!), but one of the most influential and smoothest emcees was on the microphone. Q-Tip’s catalog runs deep and had solo songs as well as A Tribe Called Quest songs. The crowd got moving as soon as “Anita Applebum” started. Q-Tip was accompanied by Brooklyn’s own J. Period on the turntables and a band which had dudes on the keyboards and the bass. Business started picking up when his friends were invited on stage. First, from Flatbush…Shawn Pen. I never heard of him, but he sounded great. Next “Buddy” a song off the classic De La Soul album “3 Feet High and Rising” got going and Monie Love hopped on stage and joined in for a verse. Before leaving the stage, Monie performed some “Monie in the Middle” and got the crowd in a frenzy. Each guest got the crowd more hyped up….Black Thought from The Roots came through. When Busta Rhymes came out for “Scenario” and did his verse you know the one…”Rawr, Rawr like a dungeon dragon!” the audience went buck wild, jumping up and down and rapping along to Tip and Busta’s verses. Busta stayed for some rapid fire, tounge twisting rhyming and admitted when he was on a lot of Tribe records and samples back in the day that he was having problem with his own crew, The Leaders of the New School, and was THISCLOSE to joining the Tribe. Q-Tip nodded in agreement. Busta left the stage and thanked the crowd and especially Q-Tip for the “Scenario” money that still to this day pays for his “fly shit.” That could’ve been it but once the song “Dark Fantasy” started and Kanye West came out, backward baseball cap and all…forget about it. Kanye jumped into the crowd and started up “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and came back on the stage for some “All of the Lights” and A Tribe Called Quest’s “Award Tour.” Those are the kind of moments one can only wish for at a hip hop show…classic songs you remember and love and surprise cameos. Q-Tip also mentioned the Tribe Called Quest documentary “Beats, Rhymes and Life” out in theatres right now and suggested people go check it out. For the encore, Q-Tip performed “Can I Kick It” and capped the night off with his solo track “Vivrant Thing.”
Posted in music | Comments (1)
July 28th, 2011 at 1:19 am
Man this looks dope! Good share brotha.