Intro

On Nationalism

Emancipated Music

Speechism

Ethiopianism

Arif Wear

NYU Habeshas

Amadou's Reminiscing

Kimo's Korner

A Hazardous Peace Of Mind

Hi My name is...

Aman Mchugh

Poetry: Rahel Hailu

In your AREA

Photo of the Month

Artwork

Webpage

<-mikeONE {middle}, with Kamal and Scratch (Roots) picture taken from http://www.okayplayer.com

DISCLAIMER
For those of you that come to abesha.com to get your monthly (or more like whenever-ly) fix of everything relevant to abeshadom, this article may be a slight let down. Well maybe not the article itself, but perhaps the "Surprise Still Pending" tag that the scripts and speeches of the cyber world have precluded it with. See if you're "unhip to hip-hop" like mchetabish on the discussion boards, you'll undoubtedly roll your eyes and leer at your monitor wondering "Is this what I've been waiting for?" out loud. In which case I guess I'll see you next click.

(okay I guess the disclaimer thingy is over now, so if you're still reading you must be hip, or faking the funk in some fashion.)

Prelude (not that Honda you wish they brought back)

If you were not one of the approximately 2500 people in New York City at Lincoln Center's Avery Fischer Hall on January 17th 2002, then this is definitely for you. The bill advertised the world famous Roots crew and a slew of guest artists and surprise acts. For thirty eight big ones (and change for the pimps at Ticketmaster - this is a whole other article) you get to see one of the greatest bands playing. Period. So I snatched up my tix, and hopped on the 1 train.

The Spot (Uptown goes Midtown for a night)

Quick background on the venue: Avery Fisher Hall is one of the performances spaces that incorporate the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Home to the New York Philharmonic, Symphony, Ballet and host to visiting classical musicians the world over, it is one of the most prestigious places to put on a show. For our more jiggy or TRL-viewing readers Lincoln Center was the site of last years' MTV Video Music Awards. Live hip hop music, long relegated to backwater clubs and smoky downtown joints was coming out in style sans red-carpet of course. (coz we'd track mud on it with our Timbs) This was only the second time ever a hip hop act has played at Lincoln Center with The X-ecutioners and 5th Platoon having Christopher Columbus-ed the spot a year ago. (How's that for a quick background?J)

The Show

So I get to the spot, pick up my tickets and head in. The coffee shop chicks 'n white dudes aesthetic is in full effect. Some folks are burning el-s, the bar line is ridiculous, sistahs have come (in)correct with the two sizes too small leather pants. Ahhh will Lincoln center ever recover? I proceed to my seat, which is about two miles from the stage, so I finagle my way up front (arada-style). The opening act is already on stage and he seems pissed at something, perhaps the distorted static (Roots fans that one was for you) coming from his mic. I almost don't recognize that it's Large Professor. Man that right there is hip-hop. Nas before he was stillborn (or is it stillmatic?) The crowd wasn't showing him love, and that brought to mind another Roots moment. Things Fall Apart anyone? I leave for a minute to see if the lines have gotten any shorter. They have and I grab a Miller Lite (if my name was Billy Bob - no I grab a Heineken) and head back. The stage is dark now and the Roots have taken the stage. There's something about hearing them live that just awakens something within me. Believe me I know that sounds corny, but from the opening bar it's a trance-like experience. I've seen dozens of shows in several genres and nothing quite captures the raw emotion the way they do. My sole disappointment of the night was that they didn't do "Clones" one of my favorite tracks. They played a few more cuts (including an old-school offering that had the world-famous Rock Steady Crew come out and bust a few moves) and then introduced Talib "try-saying-it-phonetically" Kweli. It was a sight seeing him command white kids from Long Island to "lick shots in tha air".I wonder, could everyone here really be from Brooklyn, and procede to lick shots just like all of 'em. (Bx allegiances had to be put aside for a minute.) He's come along way and his stage presence is now amazing. I'm thinking Mos Def will be begging him to do another BlackStar album soon. The pace wouldn't let up. Black Thought got back on stage (mind you the rest of The Roots were the house band and were backing all the guest artists) and they played some new joints from their up coming album Phrenology. The crowd was fully into the whole fare, which is what I like about Roots shows: call and response (a bastion of hip hop tradition) takes on a whole new meaning here. [When I say this show y'all say BOMB. This show: BOMB…okay lemme not try to artificially recreate the vibe.] Then another nostalgic hip-hop moment with Kool G. Rap taking stage. This was where the generational gap in the crowd manifested itself. The Brentwood, Long Island youngins had the "who's that up there look," while those of us who've adopted "I used to love H.E.R." as a mantra were in utter bliss. He dropped some gems and exited stage left. By this time the realization that I was in the midst of something historic was fully creeping on me. A few Roots joints later, up and coming artist Jaguar Wright (check for her debut Denials, Delusions, Decisions coming soon) gave the stage the dose of estrogen it was lacking. But don't get it twisted; sistah will lay you out if you mess with her (or her man). Part Millie, part Janet (at seven months pregnant) she was all Wright. (okay that was corny, so a career in catchy tag-lines isn't for me.) Watch her blow up and know where you heard it. Anyways, the show wasn't exempt from the usual his-haps. A loosely tied speaker fell off the stage and landed on a reveler. The girl had to be carried out, but as they say in Hollywood "the show must go on." And now New York, welcome Jay-Z. Yeah just like that HOVA, Jigga, whatever y'all wanna call him took the stage. As "the" surprise" guest he took almost everyone by surprise. Say what you will about him (I wasn't a fan till The Blueprint myself) but besides Eminem and DMX he's probably the largest personality in hip-hop right now. The crowd went wild. He ripped three joints (with Jaguar backing him up on "Ain't No Love" and left. Several people sat down in their seats in protest. (Of these several people 99.9% of them were white. There was one latina midget that sat, but I later found out that she was just mad that he didn't show lil' women love on "Girls Girls Girls"). All the artists take center stage, take a bow, lights dim and it's over. Not really. After a minute The Roots re-take the stage and proceed with Hip Hop 101, the staple of their shows. Each member does a solo. Highlights: ?uestlove (the drummer) doing shit on drums that Swizz Beats couldn't program. Ben Kenney (the guitarist) playing a medley of AC/DC, Guns 'n Roses and Nirvana (rock heads wyled out) and the vocal percussionist wizardry of Rahzel and Scratch.

After the show it's the …
(no after party for me)
After three plus hours, my vocal chords were in agony, but I was ready to leave knowing that I now had an excellent excuse why my article was late. Hip-hop broke one more frontier that night. It might not register on Billboard or MTV, but the artists showed that black people playing black music can do it on their terms too. That's Emancipated Music y'all.