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Went to the Kings of the Mic tour this weekend in St. Louis. De La Soul, Public Enemy, Ice Cube and LL. Obviously, being that this is an amp forum, I am fond of rock and metal. You know, where amps are used That being the case, I have always dug specific bits and pieces of rap/hip-hop. Something about being a 19 year old Slayer fanatic then being exposed to NWA

It was indeed a great show. I have seen live hip-hop but it was in a festival setting (Lollapalooza) as opposed to an all rap bill. To be frank, I thought I might feel like this:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKlDBi0cyIA[/video]
...minus the paranoid door-locking. But that wasn't case lol

Good vibes and the performances were great. De La Soul I expected nothing of, as I wasn't a big fan but they were surprisingly energetic and got the crowd going quite nicely. Public Enemy followed and I have to say Chuck D has one of the most commanding voices ever. Awesome stage presence and performance. There was actually a band playing with them which I thought was nice. I had to laugh when Chuck told one of the audience members to get up and move as they were all 50+ and were going insane on the stage. Flavor Flav (lol) was there and he actually did the material justice. He played a bass solo and drums on a track and it was surprisingly good haha Chuck pointed out that he was "more than a f**king TV show" which I thought was interesting.

Ice Cube followed and killed it. Did everything from Natural Born Killers to NWA stuff to solo stuff (obviously). I dig some gangster rap As stated above, the vibe struck me at the right time in the right way. I never tried to look the part ; but I have always dug the gritty vibe from Dre, Ice T, NWA, Snoop. Good grooves and I can appreciate skill in a non-guitar focused genre. Cube definitely hit the spot for that and then some. He had some funny merch as well:


LL followed it up and surprisingly, did much better than I expected. I dig his old school, more aggressive stuff; but most of the newer things and his more sappy songs I don't like at all. His DJ started the set spinning some records. He had skill, but I found it funny when he announced that this show they were "doing it for real", holding up his records. Supposedly, there is a way where you can be be a DJ without using vinyl? It was kind of Inception-ish to me ("WE ARE REALLY NOT REALLY PLAYING ACCOMPANYING MUSIC. AS OPPOSED TO THOSE GUYS WHO ARE REALLY NOT REALLY NOT REALLY PLAYING LIVE ACCOMPANYING MUSIC.") I digress. LL came up on a platform and did hit after hit. He brought people on stage to dance, which was cool to see especially in a post-Dimebag/Randy Blythe world. He was handing out flowers to ladies in the audience and they were digging it haha He brought Chuck D up to do a duet (lol) on a track from his new cd (Whaddup) and it was great as well. No new EVH track and no new Brad Paisley track

From a cover band musician point of view, it was very interesting to see how they all strung their sets together. Hit after hit after hit, very minimal breaks mixing one track into another and keeping the crowd moving and excited. There were lessons to be learned, genre differences aside.

To bring my metal equilibrium back in check, I ended up buying a Disincarnate cd on the way home for $5.99. Good times indeed

The first few Ice Cubes albums are really fucking good. In particular AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Lethal Injection. White Cave Bitch.

I prefer Cube when he was pissed at the world and hated white people.

As far as the DJ thing goes... These days they have all sorts of different ways to emulate that stuff. I want to say there is a way to play the music off a lap top that actually feeds to a turn table so you can still scratch. There are also those cheesy ass CD turn tables. That said its been awhile since I've looked into it.

Nice review. I've seen Public Enemy live and they are awesome. Flav is a hell of a musician, despite his comedic act.
Ice Cube is great too, I met him a few years ago at a Toys R Us store, I was with my son and he was with his son shopping for toys etc... my kid recognized him and he was really nice and really took his time with him, even introduced his son etc.. I have a lot of respect for the guy as a person.

Telephant wrote:The first few Ice Cubes albums are really fucking good. In particular AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Lethal Injection. White Cave Bitch.

I prefer Cube when he was pissed at the world and hated white people.

As far as the DJ thing goes... These days they have all sorts of different ways to emulate that stuff. I want to say there is a way to play the music off a lap top that actually feeds to a turn table so you can still scratch. There are also those cheesy ass CD turn tables. That said its been awhile since I've looked into it.

You know I dug Cube in the context of NWA, but I didn't follow him much after he left. The second NWA cd was awesome and I didn't feel like he was missed. Straight Outta Compton was awesome in an old-school way but they got 10x more inappropriate when he bailed.

The DJ thing (controversy? ) is, I think, about using Serato (sp)? I have a friend that DJs. The real kind lol. I don't ask him about it as that would lead to a philosophical discussion (argument) about the definition of musician (someone who plays an instrument as opposed to someone who plays records on a turntable).

I've seen Public Enemy as well and I remember thinking it was better than expected. Part of the reason those early Cube albums are so banging is cause they did the beats!

GuitarBilly wrote:Nice review. I've seen Public Enemy live and they are awesome. Flav is a hell of a musician, despite his comedic act.
Ice Cube is great too, I met him a few years ago at a Toys R Us store, I was with my son and he was with his son shopping for toys etc... my kid recognized him and he was really nice and really took his time with him, even introduced his son etc.. I have a lot of respect for the guy as a person.

He had a meet and greet option that was actually pretty reasonable. I passed because I didn't want to spend the $ for two of us and then go NWA-fanboi on him

cavitation wrote:

Telephant wrote:The first few Ice Cubes albums are really fucking good. In particular AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Lethal Injection. White Cave Bitch.

I prefer Cube when he was pissed at the world and hated white people.

As far as the DJ thing goes... These days they have all sorts of different ways to emulate that stuff. I want to say there is a way to play the music off a lap top that actually feeds to a turn table so you can still scratch. There are also those cheesy ass CD turn tables. That said its been awhile since I've looked into it.

You know I dug Cube in the context of NWA, but I didn't follow him much after he left. The second NWA cd was awesome and I didn't feel like he was missed. Straight Outta Compton was awesome in an old-school way but they got 10x more inappropriate when he bailed.

The DJ thing (controversy? ) is, I think, about using Serato (sp)? I have a friend that DJs. The real kind lol. I don't ask him about it as that would lead to a philosophical discussion (argument) about the definition of musician (someone who plays an instrument as opposed to someone who plays records on a turntable).

Ya I go back and forth with the DJ thing. Dudes like Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys) and Cut Chemist (Jurassic 5) make me take it seriously though. Lots of talent there..

Telephant wrote:

cavitation wrote:

Telephant wrote:The first few Ice Cubes albums are really fucking good. In particular AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Lethal Injection. White Cave Bitch.

I prefer Cube when he was pissed at the world and hated white people.

As far as the DJ thing goes... These days they have all sorts of different ways to emulate that stuff. I want to say there is a way to play the music off a lap top that actually feeds to a turn table so you can still scratch. There are also those cheesy ass CD turn tables. That said its been awhile since I've looked into it.

You know I dug Cube in the context of NWA, but I didn't follow him much after he left. The second NWA cd was awesome and I didn't feel like he was missed. Straight Outta Compton was awesome in an old-school way but they got 10x more inappropriate when he bailed.

The DJ thing (controversy? ) is, I think, about using Serato (sp)? I have a friend that DJs. The real kind lol. I don't ask him about it as that would lead to a philosophical discussion (argument) about the definition of musician (someone who plays an instrument as opposed to someone who plays records on a turntable).

Ya I go back and forth with the DJ thing. Dudes like Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys) and Cut Chemist (Jurassic 5) make me take it seriously though. Lots of talent there..

LL's DJ was very skilled. Z-Trip was his DJ name. He was caucasian and there was an awkwardness to his crowd-hyping skills. There are a lot of obviously-race specific things that a white person cannot do or say in that situation for obvious reasons. Once he stopped talking and starting working the turntables, his skills were undeniable in that area.