I Want More?!!!??!

The sun was blaring. Some patches of rocky dry earth were moistened by the unfortunate beads of sweat that found their way down the blotchy backsides of several hundred viewers sitting on several hundred damp beachtowels.

The party had not quite started yet. Besides a handful of bouncing tweens near the front, it looked like most of the crowd was lagging about, licking ice creams and nodding their greasy heads to the beat of some tame adult contemporary. But instead of being QM/FM, they called themselves Bedouin Soundclash. It wasn't the radio at my dentist's office, it was Bedoiin Soundclash. It wasn't exactly bad, it was just Bedouin Soundclash.

Only a serious Roots fan would wait through their lagging set to claim a good spot up close. The crowd finally applauded their bland cadence and that was my cue to push through the stampede of exiting tweens.

How lucky was I? Yours truly was front and centre - dead centre - I had a full view of the stage. In my visual horizon stood BlackThought's mic - blessed and gleaming - preparing itself for mouffuls of lyrical brilliance beneath a dignified white towel.

At half past four, the collective anticipation of those several hundred was stewing with the afternoon heat. I was running low on smokes.

And then they came. One by one, each took his place on stage. The first broke the silence with menacing riffs, as the next entered on percussion, beating life back into that buffalo skin. The third joined with a polyphonic melody and they were followied by a deep bass rhythm before the Maestro took his place behind the drum set. For one great moment we enjoyed a euphoric instrumental in the Whistler amphitheater. And then the MC walked his all-white 1s to the centre of the stage and tossed that fucking towel on the floor.

Here right in front of me was the Legendary Roots Crew.
And they were gonna show me how they emerged from Philadelphia High School to world wide fame to their 10th critically acclaimed album twenty years later.

Their nearly two hour set was hip hop at only it's very best. I doubt I will ever see a performance as amazing as this unless I see them again. I really doubt that I will ever see them perform again right in front of me. But I would be glad to be made wrong.



 
Permalink!