New York’s legendary
S.O.B.’s was the spot and AllHipHop’s Breeding Ground Showcase was the event
Tuesday night as some of the hungriest up and coming acts in Hip-Hop got
together with EPMD and a reunited State Property combined to make history.
After the first couple
artist got minimal response, the first rise of the night came from group Sic
Osyrus. The hype man certainly earned his check. Solid production and good stage energy even though his steeze with bleached out jeans and Reebok classics was kinda meh. With
a stylist some work and good production he could make some noise.
Next notable artist was Tabi
Bonney straight from West Africa by way of
DC. He had definite charisma even
thought his songs had few words. 808 heavy retro 80’s beats. Floating phrases a la the Beasties/ DMC
style. He’s got a buzz from his joint “Put Me In Your Pockt” tht the crowd
responded to well.
Representing the West Coast
was Ya Boy who cocked over Dre’s “Keep Your Heads Ringing” to get over the
crowd’s non familiarity. He dropped his
song “Floss” which was also bass heavy.
Not spectacular but enough to keep the bounce. Production seemed to be the real difference
in crowd response up to this point.
Underground femme fatale Nina
B was the first surprise of the night, easily blowing everyone before her off
the stage with an a capela when they couldn’t find her music. After that she did about as well as a non
star could do with breath control, stage presence, and clear lyrics. Nice flow,
no gratuitous tough talk. She rapped
over “I Get money” which is almost impossible to be wack to, but then gave the
80’s grownups some brain freeze by killing it over Madonna’s “Material Girl.”
Some guy in the front is a lil too excited but hey, rock out. Pleasant
surprise.
Next up was Skyzoo, who has
been killing the underground lyrically in recent months. Rhymed over a medley
of old bangers from the 80’s as well.
When he did rhyme he looked very polished and he had good crowd
control. His stage show was uneven
though, as he spent a lot of time talking while beats played. Had he rapped more he certainly had the crowd
with him and he looks like he can go in this game.
Veteran Sha Stimuli stepped
to the stage with a freestyle to die for with a alphabet song. Illness. He’s got
a ton of talent and skill. He’s
certainly got charisma and presence, but you can’t put your finger on why he’s
not on that next level but he’s clearly polished as a performer. His show gained strength the longer he was on
stage and culminated with a furious burst that brought the crowd to frenzy. If
you don’t know about this guy then please get familiar.
The undercard
was EPMD. No matter how many times you
see them they are very dependable. They
WILL rip. They mainly stayed to the
first two albums, probably due to the absence of DJ Scratch. I can’t lie, even though their show DJ was
adequate, it’s very strange seeing them rock without Scratch. Hope they work it
out. Keith Murray showed up for a crowd
pleasing rendition of “Most Beautifullest Thing,” and the stage was set for
history.
The Dynasty is
dead, regardless of what Jay-z says. The
reason for that is because the State Prop part of the Roc was not together
anymore. AllHipHop put the hammer down
and got the bulk of them (sans Neef and Oschino) back together with a bit of
Peedi Crack on top. They looked like
they never missed a beat. Passing the
mics back and forth with ease like they’d been practicing 5 Heartbeats style.
What was so
ill was that they didn’t depend on Free and Beans to bring the heat, they all
went in. I can admit I was a Peedi doubter but he got it off. So did young Chris (conspicuously the only
one still wearing the Roc chain) and Sparks. No forgotten lyrics, no miscues and fluid transition. These guys are professional, don’t try this
at home. After sitting through so many
acts you would expect audience fatigue but there was none to be found. Philly
was in the building and the Prop didn’t need the ROC to Rock. ‘Nuff Said.
Shout to all
the performers, shout to the fans for supporting, shout to the AllHipHop staff,
shout to Syn City, Hot 97’s DJ Envy for hosting, and peace to S.O.B.’s one of
the true Hip-Hop venues who support the culture implicitly.
