When say, Rick Ross wanders across the stage, out-of-breath, and fumbling over his basic-ass raps, it’s really hard to believe this dude ever had his shit together enough to deal a million-trillion dollars in coke. If he can’t even organize a like, brief set at Summer Jam or some shit, how’d he run a drug cartel?! When Clipse bounced up to the moderately-sized Artscape stage, it’s way easier to believe them when they say shit like “Same hustle/’cept my hustle’s now flows…”, because the hyper-focused, distant but technically precise approach a dealer takes to dealing, Clipse take to performing.
Pusha T especially, would bob his head in conjunction with his cadence and his eyes would grow furious and wide on a particular punchline–especially when the crowd screamed them along with him–but then the beat stopped, you got that glass-breaking or plane sound effect from the ‘We Got It 4 Cheap’ tapes, everyone would clap and Pusha and Malice would take a break from the intensity and smile, but then, back to hustling, but remember that hustle’s now flow.
They were scheduled for 7:30 and got on a few minutes late and ended about seven minutes early–maybe in part, because stuff like Artscape must end on-time–and I could’ve taken fifteen more minutes or so, but the in and out, all business approach is good given the nature of most rap shows, especially free ones. The only show-offy, hip-hop show cliche was on show opener ‘Grindin’ where the beat dropped out numerous times and they rapped the song beat-less but totally stayed-on enough for the audience to follow right along. It turned out to be a P.A system problem, but the way Clipse did it, it seemed less like technical difficulties and more like this bad-ass way to open the show. But it was still more an example of their calculated professionalism–they can stay that on-beat without the help of a beat–than any attempt at showing-off for the crowd..
That’s not to suggest Clipse don’t care about rap or rapping–they care a lot and that’s obvious–but they see it as something to master and do really well and they’re pretty much there right now. This explains the lackluster third volume of ‘We Got It 4 Cheap’ and ‘Hell Hath No Fury’s half-hedging-its-bets sequencing, but it also explains why they can rush onto a stage at a free festival in Baltimore at 7:30 in like, 90 degree weather on Sunday, and go right into ‘Grindin’, never miss a line or rhythm when the shopping-carts crashing beat continually drops out, give one another annoyed/frustrated looks but never get all pissy about it, totally destroy the whole song, laugh about the sound problems, move on to ‘Momma, I’m So Sorry’, ‘What Happened To That Boy?’, ‘Cot Damn’, ‘Ride Around Shining’, and ‘Mr. Me Too’, thank the crowd, politely apologize for “the technical difficulties” and exit.
For all this talk of calculation though, there’s a hard-edged immediacy to a live Clipse performance as well. All those punchlines that smug rap fans take a shit on and even fans admit are getting pretty played-out feel alive again when spit, like actually spit–Clipse rap fierce–from Pusha and Malice’s mouths. There’s a strange paradox of an entire, diverse group of hip-hop heads, pop-radio rap fans, weirdos who wandered over, and Whartscape gawkers knowing every word to every song so much that they fill-in the curse-words Clipse tried hard to avoid (because it’s a public event) and it still felt new and real, like the first time you heard: “Ech! Another soul lost/Had to make a shirt match my blood colored Porsche”. And those beats! When the speakers worked, those beats blasting out of some outdoor P.A, surrounded by way too many hardcore fans doubly amped on seeing this shit for free, as these two dudes with basically, these beautiful speaking/rapping voices launch enthusiastic threats around for twenty minutes, was pretty intense. Of course, you’ve read all this hyperbole before, but it’s easy to forget or grow tired of it in this internet-insane rap world where shit blows-up and then goes away before it ever really got the chance to stick around.
Of course, Clipse aren’t that interested in sticking around, they were in and out in twenty minutes and left everyone in a daze. Nerds and thugs and everybody in between sheepishly hovered near the stage in denial that it was all over. Would it be in bad taste to compare all of us, kind of moving away from the stage, kind of looking back hoping it was over/wanting more, to zombified addicts? It seemed once again Clipse, rooted in lessons from their dope days, did that pusher bait and switch of giving just enough to satisfy but not enough that we don’t immediately want more.
-Photos by Monique Rivera.
-Also, Metal Lungies was there, and they posted a performance of ‘Cot Damn’: Clipse Tidbits. I guess that’s something I forgot to mention. Ab-Liva was there. He’s a great hypeman, kinda even crooned some of the Pharrell hooks, did his two verses with confidence equal to Clipse’s but in a very different way, and looks like if Larry Blackmon of Cameo and Baseball Hall-of-Famer Dave Winfield had a kid.
-I spotted and briefly talked to Baltimore’s E-Major, whose album ‘Majority Rules, I’m still really into. DJ Face also of the group We & Us did a DJ set before Clipse–and in lieu of Wizz Khalifa’s absence–and between ‘Stronger’ and ‘Roc Boys’, he dropped E’s ‘Know That’, which is pretty awesome. *Also, in that E Major link, note that We & Us is just the name of the group, not the members as I previously thought.
-And finally, some really sad news is K-Swift, a Club legend and performer at Artscape this weekend, died at 28. She was a ubiquitous Baltimore DJ, hosted 92.3 Club nights, released indispensible compilations–responsible for breaking say, Blaq Starr’s ‘Hands Up Thumbs Down’ which some readers might know–and was just really awesome. Especially sad for something like Baltimore where club DJs hold as much weight as club producers. She wasn’t just some Baltimore DJ as I fear, some outsiders might think (not that there’s anything wrong with being just a DJ…).
Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader?
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really motivated me to do so. Really nice post!
Angelique Lorona
25 Sep 10 at 10:10 am