#TheGZA

Classic Hip-Hop as The Sugar Hill Gang Celebrates 40 Years, Wu-Tang Return to the 36 Chambers & more

The Sugar Hill Gang Celebrates 40 Years of Hip-Hop w/ The Furious Five & More – August 30th – Gas Monkey Live – Dallas, TX

This will take a bit of unpacking: As a life-long fan & student of Hip-Hop, how could I resist the originators right? I actually saw The SugarHill Gang in Austin at SXSW almost 20 years ago in the most unsuspecting of circumstances (that also involved a funny story regarding Damon Albarn & an impatient bartender but that’s a tale for another time).

Sugarhill Gang is celebrating the 40th anniversary of their iconic hit ‘Rapper’s Delight’ which sold over eight million copies since it came out in 1979. I had to be here for this right? But I wasn’t sure what time they were going on & I’m not 19 anymore so I don’t have the time (or the patience) to get there 3 hours before they go on. I gotta get in & get out & that’s what I planned to do on this night but this venue often doesn’t make the kind of info necessary to do such things available as often that would be ideal. So I arrive, feeling like I was way too early, & that was only confirmed by the nice girl at the Will Call window (who was kind enough to let me photograph the set times:)

Yup I was about 90 mins early – But man I had a good parking spot and had already eaten so I thought, “Ill just chill here in the car, catch up on messages” etc. Weren’t very many cars in the parking lot so I was sure I wasn’t missing anything inside. Suddenly my attention is forced to notice the blaring siren of an ambulance pulling into the parking lot and rounding the back of the venue. I’m not jaded to ignore a tragedy so trust me when I say that it didn’t appear my attention to it was needed 30 secs after it was given. In a flash, the 90 mins had ended & the ambulance seemed to be long gone as well, when I loaded my camera & headed inside.

Once in, it was deafening how empty the place was, easily less than a 100 people in a venue that can hold 3,000. I was standing there with appeared to be the only other photographer when I struck up a conversation with him. I’m as social as they come but normally the conversations I’m forced to have with other photographers at live events is excruciating. It parallels schoolyard one-upmanships with (usually) men I wouldn’t let in my house, so it was refreshing the meet this dude whose Instagram handle is BurphDate Lasagna which as I learned is a tribute of sort to his mother who no matter how poor or old, would always make lasagna for her children on her birthday. If that doesn’t sound heart wrenching beautiful a) Check your pulse & b) You should hear him tell it.

So rare to connect with anybody these days but especially a complete stranger & for whatever reason we just really bonded and small talk led to real & meaningful conversations & that’s how I was able to get to hear that story that touched me so much I couldn’t wait to write about it & share it with my own family. Cheers to you my friend.

Now as much as I was enjoying chatting with BL, it did start to occur to me that man, quite a bit of time has passed & what the hell was going on???
That’s when BL informed me that he was in fact there as a hired videographer for the previous opener & that ambulance I had heard? Well it was for one of those guys who sadly had somehow broken their freaking leg during their set (Note to self: Never miss Cure For Paranoia ever again). I asked BL if he was here when it happened & he said no as he also had just arrived.

Finally after another large chunk of time passes, the show finally begins:

The Sugarhill Gang is made up of original members Wonder Mike (Michael Wright) & Master Gee (Guy O’Brien) as sadly Big Bank Hank (Henry Jackson) passed away at age 57 in 2014 due to complications from cancer.

Now I was a bit confused as it was supposed to be The Furious Five (minus leader GrandMaster Flash) but now we went straight to Sugarhill so I was thinking that with all the ambulance shenanigans that somehow the FF were not gonna get to play due to time constraints.  However I quickly learned (much to my delight) that to mark the 40th anniversary along with fellow Hip Hop architects Grandmaster Melle Mel and Scorpio of The Furious 5, they have joined forces to form a supergroup. This is a hugely significant event in Hip Hop culture, these two groups put the genre on the map.

Grandmaster Melle Mel and Scorpio, along with fellow MCs The Creole Kidd, Keith Cowboy, and Rahiem, have created some of the genre’s most iconic songs, including platinum selling classic ‘The Message’, the first Hip Hop group to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Anti-drug song ‘White Lines (Don’t Do It) was covered by mega new wave band Duran Duran in 1995 & hits like ‘Beat Street’ and ‘Step Off’ have become genre defining classics.

Ok great, but how was THIS show? – The shame of my lack of trust in their abilities to wow us poured over me within the first ten seconds of their set, they KILLED. From the get-go the SHG members Master Gee and Hen Dogg were in high intensity at its best, bringing no cheesy clichés, just pure slick values. Even Hen Dogg pulled off his top hat, shades, tracksuit and cane get-up. Their coolness was paired beautifully with their reflective jokes on their age and the journey they’ve been on to get to the now.

Melle Mel didn’t miss the chance to spread a positive message either, commenting on the quality and meaningfulness of their lyrics: “We ain’t here to talk about drugs and how many people we’ve shot.” Nor did he neglect his opportunity to show off his muscular physique, which was humbling as this dude is much better shape than I & he’s could easily be my dad haha

Setlist:

8th Wonder
It’s Nasty (Genius of Love)
Ain’t Nothin’ But A Party
Livin’ in the Fast Lane

Furious Five Set:

Freedom
Beat Street Breakown
King of The Streets
Superappin’
White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)
The Message

Encore: 

Jump Around / Apache
Rapper’s Delight

In true hip-hop style, to prove that 40 years later, their music is just as vital and worthy as it was back then, stamping out any doubts that legendary performers could live on in such an honest, sparkling, smooth form.

Wu-Tang Clan: Return To 36 Chambers – October 4th – The Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX

It is no broad boast to call “Enter the Wu (36 Chambers)” — the first album from the Staten Island hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan — one of the most powerful and influential debuts of the last century.

From its incendiary 1993 start, Wu-Tang Clan had an auteur’s cinematic touch (credit producer and film fan RZA) and an aggressive rawness that, when mixed with the rap ensemble’s superhero-inspired takes on martial-arts movies and the art of war, was unique.

Add to that a street vibe that miles away from the rap that was popular at the time  — which ranged from the jazzy optimism of De La Soul and Digable Planets to Dr. Dre and Snoop’s smooth West Coast G-funk — and Wu-Tang Clan was, as they often say, nothing to f— with. And it was that hard-edged debut that Wu-Tang Clan was celebrating for the 25th anniversary of that landmark album.

Here, original Wu members RZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Master Killa, GZA and U-God, with auxiliary members Cappadonna & DJ Mathematics performed a happily sloppy but no less incisive version of their debut album, along with multiple other group and solo tracks.

Amazingly they were all here! haha I’ve seen Wu Tang shows in the past were their was always at least one missing (& other cases where far more than one).
Ol’ Dirty Bastard was represented onstage by his son named, naturally enough, Young Dirty Bastard who aptly took on tracks that featured his dad, such as “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and “Got Your Money.” YDB’s growling raps and lurching stage moves proved that the Wu fruit had not fallen far from the tree.

The group members staggered their stage entrances, starting with a throbbing, menacing “Bring da Ruckus.” By their third track, however — “Clan In Da Front” bumped up against “Wu-Tang 7th Chamber” — the ensemble was in full flower and full flow. With its layered raps, cackles, barks and shouts of “Wu!,” their a chorus of chaos nestled against slamming stammering beats. To go with its punkish verbal energy, the Wu’s staging was a fast mess of constant motion, with each man bouncing before or behind the other.  Often times RZA or any other member would come to the front of the stage & start dousing the crowd with champagne. They were definitely ready to party. And so was the crowd as this place was packed so far to the gills that at times not only was it uncomfortable but even perhaps unsafe.

Method and Raekwon were the most vocally commanding members of the group at this show, with RZA and Ghostface the most subdued. But still, audiences members could easily single out the nuances of each man’s voice during their turns or verses at the mic. Cappadonna’s hyper-quick verse during Ghostface’s “Winter Warz” and the flighty fight songs between Masta Killa and Ghost — such as “Duel of the Iron Mic” and “4th Chamber” — allowed each actor a dramatic, angry soliloquy.

Still, a united Wu-Tang Clan is always better than its separate parts — in fact, what truly came through during this set is that Wu-Tang is as much a family as it is a group.

“How often do you get the full Wu-Tang together?” asked Method Man.

Not enough.

Setlist:

36 Chambers Set:

Bring da Ruckus
Shame on a Nigga
Clan in da Front
7th Chamber
Can It Be All So Simple
Da Mystery of Chessboxin’
Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit
C.R.E.A.M.
Method Man
Protect Ya Neck
Tearz
7th Chamber Part II
Conclusion

Run (Cappadonna song)
Reunited
Severe Punishment
Duel of the Iron Mic (GZA/Genius)
Ice Cream (Raekwon song)
4th Chamber (GZA/Genius song)

ODB Tribute

Shimmy Shimmy Ya
Got Your Money
Brooklyn Zoo

Encore:

Gravel Pit
Triumph
C.R.E.A.M (reprise)

Photos –

Roy Turner

SXSW 2011: The Parties – Perez Hilton, Village Voice, Fader, Spin & Vice Bring the Noise

So now getting into my fourth day at SXSW and its usually around this time that I’ve only slept for a few hours a day and surviving on free bbq and beer, and with constant ringing in my ear, my ability to absorb much more becomes a bit cynical haha.

 

Perez Hilton One Night In Austin

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton drew a huge crowd for his annual SXSW show at the new ACL Live venue Saturday night.
I was here for one reason only & that was to se Taylor Momsen & the Pretty Reckless. I had caught her live a few times already and she is the real deal. Forget all that shit about her being an actress that is trying to sing, this is where she belongs & will be so from now on.

Taylor Momsen

Village Voice Showcase – Austin Music Hall

I got there pretty early (around 7pm) and the place was already a madhouse of people swarming to get in. This was one of the most anticipated showcases of the entire festival. I go up and get my credentials that thankfully (and I don’t care about being pampered and all that shit) gave me access to a private room with a nice bathroom, couches, earplugs and free booze, cause this place was like the fraternity in Animal House.

After taking advantage of that situation I went out to the main room to check out Wild Flag that couldn’t possible have lived up to their hype. The band is made up of key members of Sleater-Kinney and the Jicks, and while I’m a fan of both of those bands, and clearly I’m not the only one feeling the absence of SK, but you would think that Led Zeppelin had re-formed with the press they have been getting. So, either their following was far more dedicated than I realized, or they have a killer PR team – and with singer Carrie Brownstein post SK foray into journalism, I’m thinking that she knows just how to get it done.
Regardless, they were pretty good and exactly what you think it would sound like, the songs that Brownstein sung for SK, not an antithesis of Black Flag.

Wild Flag

 

–  Fishbone who was up next (and probably the act I was looking the most to seeing)  probably played for less time than it took to set up all their horns and the Theramin-in-a-suitcase. Lead singer Angelo Moore, was behind the stacks wearing an Andy Warhol wig and practicing his cartwheels, so this was gonna be as nuts as he is and I was getting excited but were taking forever. 
With the crowd getting antsy, they sent out comedian Donald Glover (who I had just seen last night host the MTVu Woodie Awards) to do a brief set as his rapper alter ego, Childish Gambino – it felt planned, but it gave the party an awesome burst of spontaneity and he was super entertaining that you had already forgotten the shittiness of the previous two acts and did exactly what it was designed to do, get you hyped and keep you entertained.

Fishbone finally takes the stage and shit gets real weird/awesome real quick –

Their shit was so great, how are you gonna top that? Well again I’m a hip-hop fanatic and a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan, but if you have read this blog or had the misfortune of trying to see any of them in concert, individually or collectively in the last 5 years, you don’t know what to  expect, which is half the fun/misery, but I’ve learned sadly, not to expect much.
Having said that, they still managed to greatly disappoint with their shenanigans they just keeps lowering their stock and legacy, who but me will still keep putting up with their shit?
Their was literally over 90 mins after Fishbone finished before they finally got their asses onstage – and during that time, I had personally seen two dudes piss themselves, three get escorted out of the music hall, and the bartenders had basically given up trying to keep service in order. It was that kind of party – As always, when its billed as Wu-Tang, their shit is so dysfunctional, the thing you do is try to guess/hope who is actually going to show up. For those who have been down this road a few times, you know to automatically dismiss the notion of the RZA and while your at Method-Man. It’s like you have to go “Ok, which ones’ career is suffering the most right now?” and that’s how you can guess accurately of who your gonna get.
After all that wait, only four of the nine members showed –
The GZA
U-God
Inspectah Deck
..and surprisingly – Ghostface Killah

They did their run of the “classics” with irritating mic problems the whole show (hey guys, with all the people onstage with wireless mics, that might be your problem?) that lasted about an hour. The best thing about the show was their joined by Erykah Badu for the last couple of tunes. Even with the feedback problems she still sounded great as always.
Around 2 a.m., Wu-Tang Clan called it a night and turned the party over to Badu, who switched to her other identity, DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown and played a great set of vintage dance tunes and modern hip hop for the stragglers who had made it through the night.

Next Day….

Spin Magazine Party – Stubb’s BBQ
   We get down there around 4pm and get checking in and take time to say hello to some of the staff that are friends of mine before heading toward the stage. The Spin Magazine party used to be the premier party during SXSW before turning into a day thing at Stubb’s a few years ago, and its still cool and always one to look forward to. One of the things you survive on during this festival is the free boze/soda/food – and its almost always not what your first choice would be, as anything free usually isn’t. It’s most likely something you have never tried/seen before because the sponsors use the festival as a test market, so you will find yourself drinking chocolate flavored water and chewing fish flavored gum.
Today, we each grabbed a tall can of this lemonade drink – that’s kinda like Sparks – and though I know I’m a serious lightweight when it comes to drinking and it was early in the day, I swear we both were shitfaced after three sips of this poison.
With my new drunk induced inflated ego, I seriously almost punched this total asshole that was being insufferable as the Killls were starting their set.
They were having serious sound issues – so much so that I thought they were actually doing a soundcheck onstage, because they were stopping and starting literally dozens of times – it wasn’t until singer Alison Moyer – finally relented and quietly made a few apologies.
I can’t make my mind up about her – I like the Kills and I’m all about the Dead Weather, her voice and image and super-cool swagger is totally hot. However sometimes I see pictures of her and I’m kinda like – meh – and sometimes she seems a little too cool. But hey she probably is – they finally got it together and turned in a decent set.As always they had DJ’s playing between sets and between these two acts, Skrillex (didn’t I tell you this guy was freaking everywhere) doing a set –  His extremely punchable hipster face is enough to make me want to take him out, but holding him responsible for the rise of dubstep is truly worthy of ball-kicking trespass –
Up next was TV on the Radio who has just attacked this festival – usually a band with their visibility comes here to do one high-profile show and doesn’t really have to slog through multiple-show days like the smaller bands unless they just want to, but TVOTR I think had like 8 gigs this week. Like I said earlier, Jah from The Death Set is playing drums for them now and he couldn’t have been more excited.
(Check out the awesome Clutch sticker hanging there in the back)

This show was really good and they are an incredible live band – sadly however this was one of the last performances with bassist Gerard Smith as he died just a few weeks later of lung cancer.

 The Fader Fort Party –

After TV on the Radio finished at Stubb’s we ran across the freeway over to the Fader Fort (running from show to show is a time honored tradition at SXSW) As a testament of how busy I’ve been this week, this was my first (and only) sojourn over to the Fort this year. This place is usually a destination for me and last year I practically lived there all week. Where else in the world let alone at SXSW can you go to a place for free, drink free booze and soda all day, get fed, free clothes, free internet, free magazines and get entertained by the best at that time? – The place is a goddamn utopia and my greatest dream of a totalitarian state come to life, and this year didn’t disappoint either.
Remember my earlier post about open RSVPs? – The Fader Fort is the most popular of them , (see above description as to why) and if you just do the open RSVP you have little or no chance of getting in – those public wristbands are worthless, you gotta go the extra mile if you wanna get in – thankfully I had an advantage – and we were ushered right in – I’m not talking about some elitist, velvet rope Studio 54 bullshit, I’m just giving a tip, that its best to contact someone involved ahead of time so that you don’t waste your time standing in line when you could be doing other rad shit.

As we are heading backstage, we are finally seeing Odd Future and what all the hype is about as they are causing a literal riot with them as the aggressors. Various members would either flat out threaten photographers in the photo pit and others would challenge the entire crowd to a water bottle fight. Debris, empty bottles, clothing and other general garbage started flying during every song –

Near the end of their set, the group prompted the entire audience to chant “Fuck tha police!” – Together, they are truly aggressive to the point of intimidation. Though I appreciate how youthful and overflowing with energy they are, I have to admit, instead of just having some good fun, it really seemed like they are assholes, going out of their way to be bigger assholes.

Speaking of overflowing energy, (but used for something COMPLETELY different) it was after 7pm and somehow I had gone all day without seeing Matt & Kim (something I had yet to do all week) so here they come and the crowd greeted them ecstatically.
Toward the end of their set, making her second cameo of the festival,  they were briefly joined by Erykah Badu who I saw strolling around backstage.
…and not to be outdone by the previous antics of Odd Future, what is normally a staple of their live show, this time Kim’s bootie dance atop the crowd seemed to have an added interference.

The Vice Party –

The Vice Party has replaced what the Spin Magazine party used to be: a last night of the festival blowout in some hidden/non-obvious location that you wouldn’t think/know about till the night of, where doors don’t even open till midnight and it goes all night, way past 2am and this one was listed as going till 6am.
This time it was at the Starr Building, some non-descript place you would imagine holding law firms not some crazy party and the bands that were set to play were Keith Morris’ (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) new band Off! and one last detonation from Odd Future who has literally stunned this festival. You couldn’t go anywhere without people talking about them and having some story involving carnage in their wake. I personally have already seen two partial performances this week and I think tonight was something like their 12th show of the week, (and third of the day).

We get there and of course the entry to get in looks like Tienanmen Square – just complete and utter chaos. You would think people’s infant children were trapped inside the way they were rabid to get in. The hype of Odd Future plus the exclusivity and free booze in an environment that craves such things? It was 1984 and this was the only place that had Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I’ve been around this stuff for over 10 years and it even frightened me a bit, and poor Erin has never seen shit like this before, but suddenly a knight in shining armor arrived.
Eric and Kim Castillo, a couple from Houston that are good friends of mine and who I stay with when I have the misfortune of being in Houston, arrive.
Eric is a professional DJ, who goes by Ceeplus Badknives and has been on the scene for a long time, and we have done gigs together in Houston and during SXSW for the last several years. His wife Kim is the salt of the earth and one of my favorite peoples.
Though we all had invites they were at capacity but Eric had the juice and got us in no problem and ironically said that they had just been talking about me and was hoping to see me. Boy were we glad to see them.

We get in and the four of us grab some of the free booze and this place just looks dangerous – like total lawlessness.
Perfect for a punk legend to fuck shit up – and that’s exactly what Off! proceeded to do:

They were crazy, unreal loud – and it had that feel that it should – volatile punk band playing at 2 in the morning in some abandoned building. Totally brown –
Outside I could only imagine what people were dealing with to get in to catch the Odd Future 3am slot – the hype was off the charts – this was their last show of the festival and given the late hour probably the last show of the festival, its 3am and its gotta top all of the other ones, so this was the one to catch according to the hype. Matt was texting me from outside so I told him to go around back and I had security let him in.

Going from Hardcore Punk to Hardcore Rap seamlessly is what makes an event like this so memorable and fun to attend. It’s 3am and here comes Odd Future:

Their show was as violent as the punk of Off! but I have to say I was more impressed with the intensity as well as the crowd as compared to any real musical gratification. In fact I would have to say, it was so super sloppy, it never seemed like the show ever actually started. It just seemed like Tyler the Creator and company, came out, got the crowd worked up, complained/cursed alot, and seemed to go out of their way to be destructive assholes.

Now I’m not exactly old, just a bit older, but I will be the first to admit, that this probably has something to do with why I just simply can’t relate to these guys. In a generation of constant self-promotion and being ruthlessly crass breeds huge rewards by your peers, that’s something I will never identify with. But as a life-long student of Hip-Hop, it really wasn’t that good – I was super excited about seeming them, and I loved their story. Totally all about their DIY punk ambition and did all of it themselves. Some young guys looking like the next Wu-Tang Clan, but I just didn’t get it. They def got some talent, but instead of showcasing that, or even having some knucklehead fun a la Beastie Boys cira License to Ill era, instead that appear as actual dickheads.

I didn’t sweat it though, the spectacle still provided weird entertainment on what had to be one of the weirdest nights of my life.

After they played, the whole place turned into a dance party, with these two DJs playing all this great 60s garage soul music that was fantastic and it 4am in the morning.

We shook our asses in celebration of a long week, and a day that felt just as long, and I just couldn’t leave – I just had to keep going somehow. Finally after the clock struck 5am, people really started to clear out and we danced the last song, to finally put this year’s SXSW to rest.

 

Photos –

Roy Turner
Nate “Igor” Smith
Brenna Rushing
Todd Seelie
Heather Browne
Joe Gall
Max Blau
Samantha Marble