Uncle Ralph McDaniel‘s Video Music Box broadcast this live showcase of the JIVE/RCA rap roster at what looks like a school prom if those tuxedo’s in the front row are anything to go by. Steady B rocks his standard ‘beeper on the hat’ style while DJ Tat Money goes in, KRS previews cuts from By All Means Necessary with DJ Doc backing him up, Will Smith brings out Ready Rock C and his dancers and Kool Moe Dee sports a cow hide jacket (?).
Legendary New York live rap promoter Peter Oasis, who founded LiveNDirect with Zvi Edelman, shares some of his memories of his long career as a party supplier…
Robbie: What was the first show you ever promoted?
Peter Oasis: Fifteen years ago, the first rap shows that I ever promoted were Dutchmin, who were on Dolo Records. My first show was Dutchmin and another crew called Kukoo and Da Baga Bonez, who ran with Mista Sinista. After that I hooked-up with Joe at Fat Beats and we put together a showcase for the record shop. At the time there were underground shows, but there weren’t mega underground shows, and this one show that we did featured all the Fat Beats artists that they were distributing and selling at the store on 9th street at the time. Company Flow, The X-Men, J-Live – he’s awesome, he’s one of my favourites – The Cracker Jax, Rob Swift‘s group. That was the first 12″ that Fat Beats ever put out on their label. From that show I made relationships with a lot of those acts, and as I moved-up and started booking bigger names I took a lot of those acts and had them open up for bigger shows. For instance, Non-Phixion came back and they rocked at Tramps with Run-DMC and Large Professor. I still have an allegiance and a real loyalty to a lot of those acts – those were the first acts I knew, way before anything. We all started out together. (more…)
Another video from the Hard To The Left event courtesy of DJ Iran, this time capturing a youthful Zev Love X and Onyx The Birthstone Kid on some Kausing Much Damage shit.
It was a big night for non-progressive rap fans in New York, with the first Mobb Deep show in over three years popping-off live and direct next to Times Square. Would Capone sneak in and attempt to hit Prodigy with a bar stool, Keith Murray style? Or would a live rendition of ‘Shook Ones’ lead to a number of drunken brawls in the crowd? The third, and most likely scenario of course, was that none of the above would happen and it would be a uneventful rap concert in the ‘New’ New York, where even the corniest white rap fan could dance around like a moron with no fear of getting smacked upside the head by a less happy-go-lucky audience member. (more…)
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!”). (more…)
So there was a free show the other night featuring Jean Grae and Pharoahe Monch, which isn’t really a big deal since I never really pay to get in anyways and I don’t really know a song that either of ‘em have done for the last five years, but eff it. First thing I noticed that were a lot of broads around, which is pretty unusual for a scumbag spot like this one but always a positive. Did all this gals roll up to hear ‘Simon Says’? On closer inspection, I noticed that 85% of these chicks appeared to be on some of that old rug munch status, and then the penny dropped. ‘Oh shit, Jean got this girl-on-girl rap audience in a headlock!’. There also seemed to be your usual fudge pudge of type-Emo rap fans and J. Bieber wannabes, which seems to be par for the course in this fruit basket we call hip-hop now. (more…)
Shan runs through his timeless classic at a live show/park jam, with DJ Hot Day on the decks. No idea when this was recorded though – I’m guessing late 90′s?
