Hip Hop Historicism, Live!

The Hip Hop Live Tour – with Rakim, Ghostface Killah and Brother Ali, at the Nokia Theatre last Friday – is a lot like watching three excellent but radically different Westerns from different periods (say, 1956’s The Searchers, The Wild Bunch from 1969, and 2007’s re-make of 3:10 To Yuma ). Like these films and their common genre, the Hip Hop Live Tour featured three outstanding performers doing drastically different things in the same musical style. Like The Searchers with 50s Westerns, Rakim brought hip hop’s classic period to its apex, prepping it for the transition into 90s gangsta rap. Accordingly, his stage presence is organic and doesn’t rely on gimmicks or hype men. As he proclaims in his best boasts – both from classic records with DJ Eric B., and his outstanding late 90s albums – he commands the crowd with an incredible presence and voice. Watching him perform hits from Paid in Full and Follow the Leader to a captivated audience was like being caught in a time warp and thrown back to the late 80s.

Ghostface, on the other hand, took the stage representing the next era: 90s gangsta rap. Like The Wild Bunch in the Western genre, Ghostface comes from that period in hip hop when the violence that was previously downplayed became the focus of lyrical content. His first-hand tales of drug-trafficking and gang violence epitomize the rap style that has reigned for the last 17 years. He regaled the hometown crowd with hits from his prolific solo catalogue and select verses from Wu-Tang songs, while his gigantic posse jumped, ran and danced around the stage, chiming in with the occasional verse to give Ghostface a breather. As much as he brought intensity and energy to the stage, Ghost might also have been out of breath because of the pounds and pounds of bling weighing down on his neck, another 90s trope.

After the model of the hustler-turned-hip-hop-star, Brother Ali represents a return to a more old school style of rapping. Just as 3:10 to Yuma was a re-make of a classic Western with contemporary stylistics, Ali is a classic MC re-made for a generation that’s grown up on gangsta rap. Not surprisingly then, his Friday night set was similar to Rakim’s: just a man on the mic doing his thing with passion and verve.

Criticism leveled against this tour tends to get caught up in biases of taste, not realizing that whatever style of rap one prefers, these three MCs are among the best in their genre. Instead of pitting old school against gangsta and underground rap, Hip Hop Live showcases evolution. That said the choice of a live band as accompaniment, the Rhythm Roots All-Stars, was definitely a mistake. They couldn’t do justice to the complex beats from Ghostface and Ali’s top-notch production, and the ten band-members combined with 10 to 20 posse-members often made for an over-crowded stage. One or several DJs would have been more appropriate to the show’s hip hop historicism, and provided entertainment during the many set changes.

This concert review also appears on the NYPress.com blog, and can be read here.