A towering figure, both figuratively and literally, takes
the stage without fanfare.
It’s a sweltering, muggy night in the town of Bristle. The room is packed. There are breakdancers on stage; this is live
Hip Hop of the realest kind.
The last time I saw KRS was at Motion several years
ago. I was working shifts in them days,
7-7, nights and days. The day after the
show, I was working at 7am. The night
was advertised as 10-4, so we thought, being the headliner, The Big Man would
be on around midnight, maybe 1ish…he went on at 3. I had a few beers waiting for the main event,
then danced like a madman, raced home on my bike for a quick shower, and then
headed straight to work. That’s all
possible when you’re young, isn’t it?
(And/or when you have a job you can sleep through when you need to…)
This time, however, is a contrast: it’s a much smaller
venue, and because there’s a club night after, the curfew for KRS is 10.30
(regular readers will know what I think about these things. For irregular readers: I’m not a fan). Still, seems like the name of KRS ONEis not familiar to everyone at The Fleece...
It’s very kind of the organisers to consider
my advanced years – they know that I am older but still well in to KRS, still
like to go out but very rarely stay out all night…is KRS getting older? Well, we all are, obviously, but he shows no
sign of it. If you’ve read The Gospel Of
Hip Hop, you will understand why.
So, anyway, I meet up with the lads (Big Ups Maccy B and Bev
– no Ups Hi-D, who lunched it) nice and early, after a brief key-related
irritation. (Was runnin late, so decided
to ride, got all the way to the place – shit, where’s the key for my bike? Oh
shit, so now I gotta ride home again to get the key to come back to the spot so
I can lock the bike.)
The show starts and the first “hold up, hold up” where the
MC stops the DJ to change it up happens early.
KRS, known to some as The Greatest MC Of All Time™, launches into some
freestyle rhyme. It’s a good move,
because the sound isn’t that great and both MC and DJ are asking for it to be
turned up quite a lot. In fact, it’s as
if they’ve not had a sound check…which is a bit disappointing, as the sound for
the last few Hip Hop shows I’ve seen at The Fleece has been spot on (regular
readers will know how often I’ve seen rap groups with poor sound). Anyway, The MC will be heard, one way or
another (his new album is called Now Hear This).
As he used to with tapes, The MC invites us to film him and
share the videos. He jokes that he wants
20%, before granting everyone their own copyright. Once again, he’s more generous and real than
any of the competitors he has outlasted…
It might be tricky for an artist with 20 albums made to
choose tunes to play in a 90-minute(ish) set, but KRS has been dropping
consistently good albums with a stand-out hit or two on them for 20
years…tonight, we get treated to classics from the 90s, like Step Into A World,
Sound Of Da Police, MCs Act Like They Don’t Know and The MC, even some BDP
(Boogie Down Productions) jams from the 80s – South Bronx and The Bridge Is
Over, the records that made his name in the NYC Hip Hop scene. (He even manages to include a personal
favourite of mine in A Friend).
Hip Hop Lives also gets in there, which is great news. The record, made partly in response to Nas’s
Hip Hop Is Dead, was made with Marley Marl as a way of finally ending the beef
that ran from 1986 and made KRS such a well-known hard-rhymer in New York (look
it up, it’s interesting. If you’re into
that sort of thing). The founder of the
Stop The Violence movement is on point yet again, consistent for years, but
still keeping up with the times, an educator not afraid to challenge orthodoxy
– both politically and in artistic output.
Even if you don’t like Hip Hop, or aren’t familiar with the pioneers,
you can see him as a Hip Hop James Brown, a real leader and teacher. (Or Teacha, in Hip Hop parlance – seriously,
read The Gospel Of Hip Hop.)
Late in the gig, The MC spies someone at the front who has
something of interest; turns out it’s a portrait of him. So he gets the artist up on stage and she
gets a warm reception. It looks pretty
good from where I’m standing, and The MC looks touched to get it.
Afterwards, The MC walks through the venue, with a crowd
around him getting photos and autographs and Big Ups, just like at every show
he plays. It’s a smaller crowd than the
one at Motion years ago, but the vibe is the same. The energy is up, and there seems to be a
healthy mix of those who remember BDP from the late 80s and those who look too
young for that.
This whole gig is a moving experience, and it would be
impossible for me to review it like I would review anyone else. I can’t be snide and sarcastic about it, or
even critical really, that’s how into it I am…#chchchchanges. (But I would be
honest if it wasn’t good.) If you have
even a passing interest in Hip Hop, you will probably know KRS. If not, get yourself educated. Forthwith.
I’m not one for hero worship, I like to stay critical
(mostly constructively (I hope)) but it’s fair to say the KRS is that towering
figure to whom I look up, someone who has mastered the art and stayed true for
a loooooooong time – the whole time. The
man has lifetime achievement awards from mainstream players and is still doin
DIY albums. He’s written a book about
Hip Hop and does lectures on the history, with a strong spiritual story of the
development of the culture. He’s got
some very interesting perspectives to bring – check out his lectures, there’s
several available online. Dude takes this shit serious. This is a vocation.
An inspiration.
Hip means to know
It’s a form of intelligence
To be hip means to be update and relevant
Hop is a form of movement
You can’t just observe a hop,
You gotta hop up and do it.
Hip and Hop is more than music –
Hip is the knowledge,
Hop is the movement.
KRS-ONE
& Marley Marl, Hip Hop Lives
There it is!
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