As usual, Nas was incredible at Eastern Michigan University on February 6. The Queenbridge-bred rapper performed songs from Illmatic, all the while celebrating the seminal album’s 15th anniversary. Nas told the crowd, “Some of y’all were two when this came out.” A telling but true statement of how legendary of an emcee he remains to be. Still, his relevance dimmed in no way as every song her performed was a crowd pleaser.
Opening act Royce Da 5’9″ brought some big time friends along when he opened for Nas at EMU. Joe Budden, Crooked I, and Joell Ortiz rocked the packed arena as the lyrical monster Slaughterhouse. It wasn’t the first time an audience has been treated to this group. The group started out as a song of the same name. It begs the question: did one of the best songs of 2008 create one of the best new groups of 2009 or vice versa?
Complete with nifty t-shirts with their names on the back, Slaughterhouse did their thing and completely warmed up the excited college crowd. Their presence in Michigan almost guaranteed that they were recording. While nothing was confirmed, the smirks on their collective faces suggested an affirmative.
All in all, it was a great show that won’t be quickly forgotten. Here are some clips.
Slaughterhouse – “Live at Eastern Michigan University”
Royce Da 5’9” – “Boom”
Nas – “Sly Fox”
Nas “Made You Look”
Nas performs “N.I.*.*.E.R.”
