Hip Hop Shows - An Analysis

24Mar08

Del the Funky Homosapien graced the presence of the Nightclub 930 this evening in a performance that can be described as, “Was anyone else surprised that an actual PERSON came on stage instead of an animated ghost cyber-monkey?” The show was entertaining for the 300 or so people that managed to disgrace themselves and their respective family’s for going to a popular music event instead of celebrating Zombie-Jesus on this Easter evening. Before this boisterous display of room-shaking low-oscillator tones above which Deltron Z spat, quite loosely, tunes from all his albums, there were some really good vocalists who, I believe call themselves Hangar 18, and went as hard as they could despite the less than great turn out. Del and his posse (a turntable guy and a hype man) moved on an empty stage, which basically reminded me of his t-shirts for sale. Simply, they said, “Listen to Del the Funky Homosapien,” in white print on a black shirt. Direct, no flutter or todo. Just a message. Which really is so much different than his verbose, rapid-fire style, cluttered with topics ranging from smelly kids to drinking and driving. While they may not be the most poetic songs in the world (few are), in a genre so specific in topic as hip-hop, Del goes outside set boundary’s to say something that maybe, god forbid, funny.

So, that’s how the show went. Unfortunately, about half way through, I just got bored. A feeling too familiar at hip-hop shows. As someone who has somewhat recently become a fan of hip-hop and rap, yet still had many experiences seeing hip-hop shows, it seems to me hip-hop shows are hard to do right, and hardly accomplish their goal. There was a Mitch Hedberg joke that I’d butcher if I tried to remember verbatum, but the essence was that when people go to rock concerts, they want to hear songs again. When they go to comedy clubs, they want to hear something new, not the same old jokes. That’s how I feel about hip-hop shows, at least ones where there is no live band. Otherwise, watching someone rap some shit they wrote months, even years ago over someone behind a turntable just seems…played. What I like most about hip-hop is the writing element of it, how someone can weave puns and turns-of-phrases into their lyrics, and doing so without sounding like a hack. Repeating these words over and over again, they lose their edge, especially when everyone in the audience can sing along. Another great part of hip-hop, though definitely not necessary, is the speed of some vocalists, but this is also taken away when there is a hype man there to ease the flow of some vocalists. Plus, if everyone in the crowd had enough time to practice it infront of a mirror or in their cars rewinding each individual part by each second (it’s clear what I do with my time), than it takes the talent of the performance away. Finally, the beats. Can’t have hip-hop without beats. Well, most of this beat construction is does at home or in a studio. For those that are actually constructed on stage, I don’t know. Maybe just the fact that I can’t see what is happening to make the music, it just leads me to believe they aren’t doing anything at all. (That’s why I couldn’t go to like a Kraftwerk concert. For all I know, they’re just pretending and standing there doing nothing, having already premade the music.)

So this all combined, for what it’s worth, 9 times out of 10 I’d rather listen to a hip-hop show in my car than stand and watch one in person. Reasonably left out is the notion that I can’t dance worth shit…but the fact that I try and get laughed at might be a possible supplement.

As for necessary side notes: first, I do not mean to put down rappers in any way, or even the hip-hop genre as it stands. I love hip-hop because it is something that I will never be able to do. I could practice to a guitarist, and after 3 solid years of nothing but guitar, I’d be pretty damn good. If I spend the next 70 years trying to be a vocalist…I would still sound like a rapping Rabbi. Second, beat-makers and turntablists are fucking awesome. Don’t mean to sound like they don’t do anything. They do, and when they do a good job, they do a GOOOD fucking job. Third, I guess it’s just a matter of preference. I’d like to see people playing instruments and playing music on stage in front of me as it would be a performance instead of, what could be, just another rehersal. Maybe I’m shortsighted, or missing something. In fact, I probably am missing something. Please someone show me what I’m not getting.

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