I know I’ve been somewhat absent as of late. I seemed to have lost focus. Believe you me, I’m back with 20/20 like Dilated on the last album. It’s been a busy weekend. First and foremost I went to “Rock the Bells”. (Or shall I say “Paid Dues pt. 2” but that’s another story) I’m not gonna go too in depth on the whole show today, but it was alright. That took up my whole Saturday. The highlight of Sunday you ask? I found out one of my favorite game stores (What up Game Play…hook it up with a discount for advertisement!) had been selling Madden 08 since Thursday (it’s not supposed to drop till Tuesday). I went and copped that and some Japanese soda and took my happy go lucky ass back to the crib. So as you can guess my weekend was good. I find myself glued to my CPU because during the Rage Against the Machine performance, I was smacked with some reality. While I was never one to cry out Hip Hop is dead, during the Rock the Bells show I realized some things WERE missing. Luckily Rage made sure they brought them to the show. Keep in mind, I’m not saying Rage did or was a part of anything that doesn’t exists at all in the rap game, just things that should be more prevalent.

1.       Respect ya Elder’s son….

I’ve fucked with Rage Against the Machine for awhile now. While I’m not gonna front like I know their CDs word for word, but since the mid-90’s I’ve felt them when I heard them. Back in the mid-90’s Rage would have been opening up for Wu-Tang Clan, however, at “Rock the Bells” it was quite clear they were the headliner. It’s no surprise that De La Rocha gave props to Public Enemy during their set, (As it’s obvious they are/were heavily influenced by P.E.) but he definitely didn’t have to do it. I mean sure, “Rock the Bells” is a hip hop show, but by the time Rage came on, “Rock the Bells” was a whole different world compared to what was going on earlier. Gone was the heat, and out came the bonfires and mosh pits. W’s no longer waved in the air, and most of the shirts with yellow W’s vanished also. When Rage Against the Machine came on, it was no longer “Rock the Bells”, it was just another “Rage Against the Machine Reunited” concert. Yet and still they acknowledged the hip hop group that paved the way for acts like themselves to do what they do. None of the three major hip hop radio stations from Los Angeles (The Beat, Power 106, and Kday) were present at the show (at least as much as I know). Add Rage to the Bill and KROQ, Los Angeles’ biggest rock radio station, was there in full effect. It’s obvious that Rage took over Rock the Bells. Shit, the ticket price damn near doubled from last year when they weren’t performing, but they still showed love to the originators, something missing from the world of hip hop where rappers with “young” and “lil” in front of their names reference artists dropping their 3rd CD as their major influence.

2.       Energy/substance

Your favorite rapper can’t perform for shit. I’m not gonna go too much into details, but the “Paid Dues” stage ripped the “main stage” a new ass hole. Sorry, but it’s true. While Murs and the acts he brought along with him were thrown off to the side, they definitely showed they deserved to be at Rock the Bells by their performances. Most of the artists on the main stage seemed…..boring. I’m not really surprised. It seems as if the bigger an artist gets, the weaker his performance gets. I guess once you start getting that album sale money your live show isn’t as important. Then again I’ve been to shows of artists who haven’t moved units and still couldn’t rock the mic if it was tied to a swing. Overall, most of the best emcees in the game I’ve seen perform were whack. Artists like Nas, and Lupe Fiasco, while definitely dropping some of the best music as of late, should have dropped themselves off a large building before giving the lackluster performances I seen them give. It’s rare now-a-days to have an artist who spits about shit that matters give a quality performance. You’re more likely to get a great show out of a David Banner or Lil Jon, yet walk away with a lower IQ, then get a good show from Nas and feel like you need to change some shit. Rage slacked none. I don’t know, maybe it’s just a rock and roll thing to not give performances that could have been pulled off in a solitary confinement cell, but De La Rocha was all over the stage. Shit, most the rappers on the bill made Rage’s lead guitarist look Vince Young as far as mobility goes on the stage. They weren’t just onstage running around and hollering random shit though, it was music with a purpose, squashing the idea that you can’t do music about shit that matters without having to perform it live sitting still on a milk crate. Even when I couldn’t hear the lyrics due to the bad sound equipment/loud crowd etc. etc., I was still more pleased with their performance than most hip hop acts that bring half of their energy to the stage. I’d much rather not be able to hear the lyrics to Rage and see them perform than see Ying Yang twins and hear them loud and clearly.

3.       The fans

Meka said it, A Plus said it, Bun B said it. The reason things are the way they are in this hip hop shit is largely due in part to the fans of the music. If the fans of “REAL Hip Hop” gave half a shit like they say they do, things wouldn’t be the way they are. You’d think since fans are saving more energy as of late by downloading their favorite artist album instead of going to the store to buy it they could at least wave their hands for a couple seconds. Fans at hip hop shows are the same. The live cats get there early. They go to the front near the stage and hold down that section the whole show. They jump up and down, they wave their hands around as directed to by their favorite emcees, they scream, they recite the words to the songs, etc. etc. Everybody else just chills. The closer to the back you look, the less active people are with the show. When Rage was on stage it was a whole different story. Muthafuckas everywhere was going crazy. Even the females new the words to the songs….and not the chick songs either. People in the back was hopping up and down screaming “fuck yea” after every song.These muthafuckas get so amped up when Rage hits the stage, they’re running around fire. Jumping over flames and shit cuz their favorite artists are on. I know it’s not safe, and I damn sure wouldn’t do that even if Murs did a 5 hour show, but you gotta admit that’s some dedication. Something hip hop fans lack. I remember in some Steve Harvey stand up he was talking about hip hop (or as he phrased it…”Rap”) concerts. He said “You have me pay all this money to get in, then, you want ME to wave MY hands in the air?”  It’s the least muthafuckas could do, especially in the downloading age. If you wanna just stand around you might as well throw the CD on and chill at your crib. Rage fans jump over fire, Kweli fans won’t even request his video on “106 and park”.

Like I said, this shit is non-existent, it’s just needs to be more prevalent. Fans have to show more supports. Artists need to step their performance game up, and they should show more respect to the REAL trail blazers, not the first artists to get big off his own mixtapes. Hip Hop is definitely alive, but all that eating it did in the late 90’s with the platinum and shit gave it the itis. I’m off to get my pay check, then play some more Madden, PS3 LB_Brillyance, hit me up if you think you got skills. Much love to everyone that said what’s up at the show, keep supporting real music.

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