Turns out not all free rap show’s suck. The other night Lord Finesse blessed us with an encore performance that was nothing short of unfuckwittable. Figuring that the Funkyman would do a quick 15 minutes set and maybe spin some records and bounce, it turned out that he delivered an hour of lyrical gems – and then jumped on the decks for another two! Following DJ Boogie Blind’s valiant but largely failed attempt to spark a breaking session, Finesse ambled onto the stage and proceeded to school all those in attendance as to how to rap. Unleashing his formidable catalog of punchline anthems without the need for a hypeman or weed carrier, L.F. also proceeded to snap on the crowd (“Why you wanna film my shoes and shit? Are you Peter Parker or something, working for the Feds?”), son new-jacks (“I’m a grown man. How am I gonna start wearing tight pants and crying over some girl?”) and crack jokes with his DJ (“Oh now she’s blowing kisses at you? Make your mind up, girl!”).
What more could you ask for in a show than dope rhymes, classic beats and wise-cracks? As was only right, I proceeded to post-up at the front of the stage and activate my seldom-used ‘#1 fan’ mode, which basically involves me rapping along to every word and yelling out “Chea!” where appropriate. As to those beside me who were acting like they had a case of Beatlemania? Get your minds right. There’s a fine-line between being a fan and a cot-damned groupie… dedications to Big L and GURU (turns out Keithy EE had told Stu Fine at Wild Pitch to give Finesse a deal after hearing his demo) were kept short and on-point, as was a fitting display of turntable skills as Finesse and Boogie launched into a cutting session in memory of the late, great Roc Raida. Another interesting announcement was Finesse declaring that he had three albums due this year – one of them being the long-delayed Funky Technician Remix Project and an other with a group called The Alumni, which is him, O.C. and Large Professor. Say word?
Perhaps the highlight of the night was when Finesse explained the importance of sticking to your guns, as he explained why he never succumbed to industry pressure to change his style and make a Down South record or anything outside of his comfort zone. And why should he? His first two albums are timeless blueprints of the art of Punchline Rap, which laid the foundation for everyone from Big L onwards to build from. With no need to start dancing or play the harmonica, Lord Finesse proved once again that even the legendary Doug E. Fresh can’t hold a candle to one of the true all-rounders of the hip-hop world. Praise the Lord, indeed.
3 New Finesse albums in a year ? I can give you my top 3 albums of 2011 right now.
Sounds like you were at a really dope show. Good shit!!
So you didn’t know the story about Guru telling Stu Fine to sign Lord Finesse? Guru and Primo have talked about that many times in the past. Here’s 35 minutes of Guru and DJ Premier on the King Tech Wake Up Show back in April 2003 when they were promoting The Ownerz album. They were on the show for the whole 2 hours so I simply (and very cleanly) combined the 4 different talk sessions into once nice clean file. And this is from my own personal archives as I’m the one who recorded this show Live when it aired on 4/12/2003. Enjoy…
http://www.mediafire.com/?bc07s98t7ds12g8
FINESSE ALWAYS GOT THE VIBE, THAT MAKES IT ALL…
O.C., Large Pro and the Funky Man…………..YES
Another interesting announcement was Finesse declaring that he had three albums due this year – one of them being the long-delayed Funky Technician Remix Project and an other with a group called The Alumni, which is him, O.C. and Large Professor. Say word?
Word!!
Been waiting for a Finesse album for years now…
New albums..? Hmmmm.. The other one will be “UnderBoss” Lp then. Cuz he’s been talking about that for over 10 years! His snappin’ was always good at the DMC’s and when I’ve seen him live. Pure class.
O.C and Xtra P…? Word. Bring on The Alumini shit.. That sounds Dizzope!
Honestly, who believes that he will release let’s say an album this year ? Mark my word and let’s see next January. He couldn’t even put out that Remix Project in 2010 which was supposed to be a 20th Anniversary Edition…
If some miracle will happen then he might put out something this year but who hopes for 2 or 3 albums doesn’t know Finesse – I can’t believe he actually said 3…. don’t make me laugh
Was a fucking sick free show. You know it is a good one when you see a whole heap of Melbournes best emcees front and centre chucking it up.
I seen him perform with D.I.T.C. minus Fat Joe.
One of the Illest…still rapped the whole song.
Hopefully we will get the Underboss LP which I am anticipating the most. Alumni sound good aswell – Ness needs to rhyme too.
‘Oh its like that now!’ about time the funky man dropped an album to show lil wayne and Kanye what real hip hop is…
sounds too good to be true… maybe Finesse will drop 1-2 singles – but 3 albums??? no way this is gonna happen… LOL
So disappointed i missed this..
Damn Robbie and the rest of you Melburn kids, I wanted him down here but it was a matter of time and money and both were in short supply sadly, I wouldn’t take the 3 albums thing at face value though.
That is by no means a diss to the great Lord F, but that remix album was supposed to drop a long time ago.
Maybe that’s his thing… not putting out shit for an assload of years and then just BLAOW!! All over the place with albums and mixtapes and Saturday Night Live appearances. People change.
Thats sick news!. I hope that alumni joint comes through at some point; the beats and rhymes on that will be next level.
I been hoping for a Finesse album for so long now…this “Alumni” album will be greatness…just hope it all happens.
that collabo album is gonna be fire, can’t wait to hear that shit.
finesse has been hyping up albums that will never come out for years…and if they do come out most people wont care anymore…
Last year, LF mentioned something about a Tru Origin Project… I wonder if that’s the Alumni joint…
A Public Service Announcement from Lord Finesse
http://www.hiphopisread.com/2010/06/public-service-announcement-from-lord.html
i wonder what the fuck happened to that Remix Project, i wanna hear that soooo bad. sounds like a great show though, but….
“His first THREE albums are timeless blueprints of the art of Punchline Rap, which laid the foundation for everyone from Big L onwards to build from”
fixed :)
definitely one of the all-around greats, new albums or not.
Nice piece, but why did you have to shit on Doug E. Fresh?