The Roots, Lupe Fiasco
and Chuck Brown Washington D.C. March 9, 2007
By
Gerald Lowery
When I go to concerts, I make a bee-line for the front of the
stage and stay there all night, acting a fool, up close and
personal with the performers. When I heard The Roots were
headlining an evening with Lupe Fiasco and D.C. Go-Go great
Chuck Brown, I kopped tickets immediately, even though I was
concerned about the venue. For the first time as an adult, I
went to see a hip hop concert in a sit-down theater –
Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Even though The Roots have
been playing these types of venues for some time now, I didn’t
really know what to expect. It ended up, however, being one of
the best live shows I’ve seen.
Lupe opened the show. I saw him before as
the headline act at a smaller concert venue, The 9:30 Club
in Washington, D.C., where I was very impressed with his
stage presence. He had more interaction with the crowd at
The 9:30 since it was a more intimate setting; he could talk
to the people and the people could talk back - feel me? At
Constitution Hall, he was further removed and he used his
hype man, Bishop G, a lot more. Though I was pleased with
Lupe’s performance, I was disappointed in the length of his
set. At just about 20 minutes, he was only able to breeze
through the more popular songs such as, “I Gotcha”, “He Say,
She Say” and “Kick Push”, do a few more, then exit.
Next up was the Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck
Brown. If you are not familiar with Go-Go,it’s
percussion-heavy music created and patented in the nation’s
capitol. Remember E.U. and “Da Butt”? That’s Go-Go. A lot of
Kid-N-Play songs and early Salt-N-Pepa had a Go-Go vibe as
well. I will be the first to tell you that I am not a fan of
Go-Go music. Saying that I enjoyed the show would be a bit
of a stretch. However, I will say that the musicianship of
Chuck’s band, which featured everything from a brass section
to congas to tambourines, was truly appreciated and you have
to respect the love he got from the crowd.
But for the most part, we had all come to
see The Greatest Live Show on Earth, a.k.a. The Roots. I was
expecting not to enjoy the show as much as in the past,
because I wasn’t on the floor. And, as I’ve stated, that’s
how I like to do it: on the floor, in front, wildin’ out.
Right before the set, the house DJ hit us with a couple of
Dilla tracks to get the crowd going and it definitely got me
up.
Next, the lights fell and you could hear a
real funky beat playin’ but couldn’t see where it was coming
from. There was trumpet, trombone, sax, sousaphone and a
cowbell… Then they emerged from the back of the crowd, going
down center aisle toward the stage. (Are you kidding me?!)
That’s when The Roots sign lit up on the back of the stage
and you could see the ?uestlove fro silhouette. The crowd –
myself included – went nuts!
Rakim said emcee means move the crowd, but when you watch The
Roots and Black Thought, emcee takes on an entirely different
meaning: mic control. More than anything else, I watched in
amazement as Thought controlled the mic. When the band jumped
from playing the beat it recorded over to some kind of sped up
jazz version or a rock version, ya boy Thought would jump right
with them and not miss a beat. Not only was he doing his own
verses, but he did every guest verse on the song, like the Peedi
Peedi verse on “Long Time” from Game Theory. In the
middle of the concert when The Roots pretty much had a party,
playing songs like “HipHop is Dead” from Nas, “Brooklyn Zoo”
(R.I.P. ODB), “Method Man”, “Lost One” (Hov!!), and “Throw Some
D’s” by Rich Boy, there was Thought jumping from song to song.
It was like we had a mix tape playing and Thought was the artist
on every song. Equally as amazing was the way the band crisply
segued from song to song without interruption or pause. Amazing.
The true highlight of the show was when ?uest got on the mic and
announced that they were about to do a song that was recorded 40
years ago. These dudes did Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” with ?uest
on drums, Damon Bryson on sousaphone and Capt. Kirk on guitar
and vocals. It was absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever
seen. The song went on for like 15 minutes. We were treated to a
drum solo from ?uest that sent chills up my spine and an equally
amazing guitar and vocal display by Kirk. I sat in my seat
paralyzed by the greatness I was witnessing.
The one flaw in the show was that it was March 9, 2007, the
10-year anniversary of the Notorious BIG’s death, and there was
never a mention of him. Still, this was easily the best
performance I have ever seen. If/when the show comes to your
town – GO! You will thoroughly enjoy it.
--Gerald Lowery
Gerald can be reached at geraldlowery@thisisrealmusic.com.
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