Shows

Thursday night was a celebration of hip-hop at its best. The classy ambience of the Mezzanine was perfectly paired with the futuristic feel of the Tunnel Vision Tour. The night was meticulously constructed, with clear attention to detail, for a complete experience which incorporated sound, visuals, and associated emotions. One of the greatest assets of the Tunnel Vision Tour is the cast of characters involved and their mannerisms; each is varied in their approach to hip hop and brought fresh style to the stage. And then those personalities were mixed and matched throughout the night, with all of the rappers intermingling and playing different roles (as rappers, DJs, and backup). I left the event like someone leaves a 6 course meal– satisfied and with my mind opened to possibilities of hip-hop in our times.

Mr.Lif

I didn’t even recognize Mr.Lif when he began spitting over a Gangstarr track. His cleanly shaven head was a complete makeover from his dreaded self on the cover of all his past albums. While Mr.Lif may have recently spent time as a monk, he is still rhyming with passion about the travesties of the world. Sporting a crisp white shirt, slacks, and vest Mr.Lif took on multiple personas during his set. He began with tributes to classic hip hop: Guru, A Tribe Called Quest and GZA. He shifted to a preacher or poet, with an interlude about the position of Mc.Donald’s in our society (as “second to religion”), which evolved into a acapella freestyle that reminded me of something you’d hear at a poetry jam. Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” made its way into the set list, with Mr. Lif laying some dope rhymes over that. Holding it down on the CDJs was Paten Locke. Mr. Lif took us back to 2002 with hits off Emergency Rations, which the crowd loved. He then turned into a comedian as he weaved a routine around coming back to the Bay Area and ragging on his new corporate job (which he claims will be paying him $650 an hour). Edan walked out on the stage playing the role of Mr.Lif’s new boss and was promptly “shot down” with Mr.Lif’s AK-47, with sound effects included. On a white projection screen, visuals of demolished buildings collapsing and trippy cartoons were looped, chopped, and screwed. Overall, the mood created by the heavy content which Mr.Lif raps about was lightened by an excellent comedy routine and theatrical performance.

Edan & Paten Locke

Paten Locke’s explosive flow opened the act, followed by the non-traditional rapping of Edan. Edan had an effects pedal in hand throughout, using it as a mini-synthesizer. I didn’t particularly like the random, distorted, and often annoying effects produced by the foot pedal. One of the highlights was a performance piece within their set, in which Edan rapped and Locke handed out white roses to audience members. The rest of their set was dominated by Edan’s theatrics– playing kazoo and guitar over a beat and rapping while Paten Locke flashed through album covers in a backhanded reference to Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues music video. The performance was decisively psychedelic, and attempted to take a fresh look at hip hop. I respect Edan’s efforts, but I think the effects and added elements distracted from the cohesiveness of his act. Paten Locke held his own though, and was one of the standouts of the night for me.

Cut Chemist:

I vaguely remember seeing Cut Chemist perform with DJ Shadow back in 2009 at Treasure Island Music Festival and being disappointed with Shadow but amazed by Cut Chemist. The Mezzanine, with its intimate-feeling space and great sound system, was a huge step up and ensured that the performance was in Cut Chemist’s control. McFadden (the man behind Cut Chemist) was dressed casually- wearing an OXFAM T-shirt and old school white Air Force Ones. After some playful highly skilled scratching, he dropped a beat whose bass made the stage shake. Colorful splashes of paint and creatures’ faces were projected onto the screen behind him. The visuals were being manned by Tom Fitzgerald, who could be seen backstage staring at his MacBook Pro. Armed with three CDJs and two turntables, McFadden began moving between them seamlessly.

The magic of Cut Chemist’s performance was how mysterious the production of the music onstage felt to me, since I have no knowledge of DJing beyond the basics. Being so close gave me the opportunity to observe his facial expressions and movements– seeing him pull records out of a crate and put them on the deck. But for those who couldn’t see like I could, three video cameras hooked up to the projector would momentarily flash his hands scratching vinyl or McFadden creating samples on the foot pedal. The three MCs (Mr.Lif, Edan, and Locke) emerged after Nasty by Nas was dropped. They passed the mic off to each other in a relay, with each of them taking a verse over a funky and complex beat. After, Mc Fadden headed stage right to a single turntable, on which he looped segments off almost a dozen records to create a 20 minute piece. He weaved between sounds– world, jazz, funk– and all on vinyl. Cut Chemist debuted material off his new album as well, which got the crowd excited. Cut Chemist captivated me with his creativity and the skills of a classically-trained DJ, while Fitzgerald’s visuals both confused and fascinated me.