I’m not the avid concertgoer, but I’m glad I didn’t miss this year’s Rock The Bells concert this past weekend. Every year since it’s been happening, I’ve always wanted to go (especially during the Wu Tang days), but for some reason or the other, never made it out to any previously. The lineups for Rock The Bells is always big name packed, and this year was no different. We got there at around 2pm, and although it was hotter than jalapenos, it was well worth it.
THE ONLY DOWNSIDE WAS THAT ROCK THE BELLS NEVER POSTED A SET SCHEDULE AHEAD OF TIME. I think technically, they posted it the day of, but I checked it the night before and it wasn’t updated. As a result, I ended up missing Cool Kids and Kidz In The Hall, which was two acts I really was looking forward to seeing. But anyhow, the music that I DID see made it still well worth it…
Some acts had already gone on stage before we went there (and there were two stages, one large and one small), but the first act I saw was Rakim! Super ill, I’m just glad that I could see hip hop royalty live. Peep some old school Paid in Full action above with “I Ain’t No Joke.”
Then as if Rakim wasn’t enough, De La Soul came on stage and did a bunch of their newer stuff as well as their old stuff. Although their most recent album “The Grind Date” didn’t get mainstream shine, it was a solid album. Peep “Much More” above, one of my favorites off the album.
After De La, two of my favorite artists of ALL time Raekwon + Ghostface Killah came on stage. I’ve met Ghostface in person before, but never seen either of them live. The first Cuban Linx album is easily in my top 10 albums of all time, can’t wait for the 2nd one to drop soon. They did a lot of the Wu Tang stuff like “Wu Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin Ta F*ck Wit” and Ghost did stuff like Daytona 500, which they also mixed in with Bob James’ “Nautilus,” which was cool. Everyone was throwing up the “W’s” furreal.
Following Rae + Ghost was Redman, who technically was supposed to come out with Method Man. For some reason, Method Man was LATE, so they were gonna cancel them but Redman took the stage by himself and got it started. Meth finally arrived and they did a short set together. Classic Wu is always worth it, and they worked in some ODB stuff as well, which was a nice touch.
The surprise guest followed, which was Black Eyed Peas, sans Fergie (not surprising). Obviously, they wouldn’t show up to a Rock The Bells concert and do “My Humps,” so they appropriately chose to do their older stuff, off their “Behind the Front” album and such. Will.i.am is talented as hell, and I ain’t mad at their more recent mainstream stuff, since they can still rock a crowd. In addition, there weren’t many west coast acts so it was good to see them perform (and according to Will.i.am, they did the performance for free, just cause they wanted to perform). If that is true, then even more respect due.
Fatlip. Imani. Slimkid3. Bootie Brown. If those words don’t ring a bell, and you consider yourself to be into hip hop, you should be ashamed of yourself. The Pharcyde seriously killed it, and it was historical since the Pharcyde broke up a while back and had not performed together since. Even Big Boy from Power 106 was there, and I thought was cool because he used to work security for them on tour before he made it big (no pun intended) into radio. Everyone knows their hits like “Passin Me By” and “Drop”…but maybe you don’t know the one above. Yo mama is so fat, ______________!?! You should’ve been there, Benson.
This post is stupid long I know, but ughnnnn the lineup of Rock The Bells is just nutso, I gotta break it down. After Pharcyde murdered it, mighty Mos Def took the stage. Definitely a vibe change, and I think a lot of the people were expecting Mos to do his more notable hits, but he did a lot of stuff I didn’t recognize. He did end up doing his classics like “Travelin Man,” “Ms. Fat Booty,” and others. I wished Talib Kweli could’ve been there, so they could do Blackstar stuff (ala Rawkus days).
So by this time, I’m in hip hop overload. If you look at the list so far, it’s sickening how many heavy hitters I had seen by this point. Then after a brief intermission, who do they bring out, but Mr. Nasty Nas To Esco To Escobar. Nas came with serious energy, and went through all his hits in proper timeline, and ended with a pretty goosebump performance of “One Mic.” Everyone’s who ever heard of Nas probably already knows his hits, so I’ll break you off with one you might not have heard, called “Just A Moment,” with Quan.
Since Nas had gone on, that only left the main event, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST. The way they chose to do it was Q-Tip came out first, and did a bunch of his hits first. Peep the collabo track he did with Beastie Boys from yesteryears, “Get it Together.”
In some regards, I wish they had played Tribe first, cause by this time it was around 10pm (keep in mind we’ve been in the sun since 2pm) and there’s only so many times a person can THROW YO HANDS UP or say YEAHHHHHHHH (lol). But seriously, Tribe coming back together for a tour is a pretty big deal, and once they all came out on stage it was insane.
The Hyundai Center in San Bernardino is a pretty good venue. I must say that we got there easily, no major lines, no fights, and a GOOD SOUND SYSTEM. Even though we were in the lawn, and it was like the attack of the bass monsters, and the sound was so clean. This was seriously a case of “you had to be there,” cause I really can’t effectively put into words the overwhelming magnitude of seeing all these legendary acts in one day. A purely perfect day for me, on the real.
So let’s recap what I saw, in ONE DAY:
1. Rakim
2. De La Soul
3. Raekwon + Ghostface Killah
4. Redman + Method Man
5. Black Eyed Peas (minus Fergalicious)
6. Pharcyde
7. Mos Def
8. Nas
9. Tribe Called Quest
In addition, I’m not a sucker for concert t shirts, but I HAD to cop the following:
A Tribe Called Quest Tour 2008 tee? WITH the Low End Theory graphics?!? Tell me this isn’t straight fire…and its printed on an American Apparel tee, so I was surprised that they’d put quality into a concert concession tee. They had another Alife “Lyrics To Go” t shirt, but it was $40 bones, and this one had more significance to me. Worth the $30, for cereal!
Hopefully Tribe will continue to tour (I doubt it though), so maybe I could see them in a smaller venue, but if not, at least I was able to see them this time. Peep a previous post where I broke down some of my favorite tracks from them. Check the rhime!
Pictures from concert courtesy of Tuan’s iPhone (not a widescreen lens lol! Ghetto panorama stylee!)