Rock the Bells Festival shows hip-hop has reached middle age

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Death loomed large over the next act, Slum Village. In recent months, rappers T3 and Elzhi were rejoined by original group member Baatin to record a new album. On Saturday, word came that Baatin, who had a history of psychiatric issues, had passed away earlier in the day, at his home in Detroit. Somehow, T3 and Elzhi carried on with the show, both men expressing their deep regret and pain, and turning in a brief and energetic set that seemed miraculous for having happened at all.

      The festival might have been aimed at rap fanatics, but the crowd was far more diverse than the bill suggested, ranging from the core of cargo-short-sporting guys and their female counterparts in varying states of undress to the occasional chaperoning parent, not to mention one older couple snoozing on a blanket beyond the food vendors.

      The line for beer was never less than a half-hour long, and the battle for real estate in the shade was fierce. If you run into a 20-something dude this week with a sunburn on his forehead and lily-white skin around his eyes, chances are he was wearing sunglasses at Rock the Bells.

      Chances are, too, that he was losing his mind as Slaughterhouse paced the stage, representing everything that’s wrong with so-called real hip-hop. Self-billed as a supergroup, Slaughterhouse is a last resort to boost the careers of its members: Joe Budden, Royce Da 5’9”, Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I—third-tier players all. Something’s deeply amiss when four nominally expert rappers can’t string together a 30-minute set of their own material, relying instead on their DJ to play other people’s records to chew up time.

      Slaughterhouse is a good name, actually: someone should put these guys out of their misery.

      Much better, strangely, was Tech N9ne, a cartoonish dude with marginal skills whose style is like ’90s pop-rap (think Wreckx-n-Effect) crossed with the theatrics of Insane Clown Posse. The letters S-I-C-K stencilled in war paint on his forehead, the Missouri native scored points with all the suburban loogans, singing odes to “drinking, smoking, and humping” (“Bout Ta’ Bubble”) and calling on women at the front to flash their, ahem, titties. Without any video screens to show those breasts on, though, it all seemed like a waste—but the man deserves points for trying.

      Scheduling issues caused a lull after Tech N9ne, as show hosts Supernatural and B-Real filled time before Common, the high priest of orthodox rappers. Leaning heavily on material from 2005’s Be, the Chicagoan recycled the banter he used on his last visit to Vancouver, right down to the fake, “this-happened-to-one-of-my-friends” setup for “Testify”, a misogynistic tale about a woman who frames her man on a murder charge.


      Watch Nas and Damian Marley perform at Rock the Bells at Deer Lake Park on August 1, 2009.

      The Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA soon took over, running through two of the group’s classics (“Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothing to Fuck Wit” and “C.R.E.A.M.”), and then delving into his solo catalogue. Near the set’s end, the heavy-lidded New Yorker astutely commented on the cause of the current recession (“It’s because they done fucked up the money!”) and then trotted out a strange little man called Boy Jones, the first-born child of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

      ODB’s son played a song called “I Want a Million Dollars”, which consisted of him repeating the title phrase at length, each time more desperately than the last. As performance art goes, it was a Dada masterpiece.

      Having missed their scheduled appearance due to a missed flight, Talib Kweli and producer Hi-Tek snuck on for a 15-minute set before the headliners, too brief a performance to adequately judge the fruits of their recent reunion in the studio.

      As night fell, Nas entered to the strains of “Hip-Hop Is Dead”, his eulogy for the form he so dearly loves. A few songs later, he welcomed Bob Marley’s son Damian, with whom he’s been recording a project called Distant Relatives. Backed by six instrumentalists and two singers, the American and the Jamaican promised an intriguing hybrid of hip-hop and reggae, but what came out instead was soppy rap-rock like “Strong Will Continue”, a trite motivational number that was neither musically adventurous nor particularly energetic. If hip-hop is dead, this is no way to resurrect it.

      Comments

      56 Comments

      Grizz

      Aug 2, 2009 at 10:25am

      You sir are a moron

      Nas

      Aug 2, 2009 at 12:12pm

      Take the pickle out of your ass you moron.

      Drizz

      Aug 2, 2009 at 12:39pm

      I am going to have to agree with Grizz on this. The author of this article, Martin Turenne, is an absolute moron. First off, slaughterhouse is amazing. You don't know what real hip hop is. You have no business reviewing hip hop acts because you clearly don't know a thing about it. F*st yourself

      matthew

      Aug 2, 2009 at 12:42pm

      This review sucks and was obviously done by an idiot who doesn't know real hip hop

      ks

      Aug 2, 2009 at 1:28pm

      yeah wow you are a goof buddy! try approaching a concert review objectively next time you idiot.. if you hate hip hop so much why agree to go?

      boss

      Aug 2, 2009 at 2:02pm

      shut up...u dont know anything about hiphop...stick to the jonas brothers
      this concert was great

      Pauleywood

      Aug 2, 2009 at 2:04pm

      Nas was excellent and so was Damian Marley. I can't understand how anyone could not grasp that especially during 1Mic. Some reviewers need to stop thinking about clever things to say for the next article and go back to what is really important. THE MUSIC.

      P.S. I agree on Teck N9ne though. Strangely good but definately not my kind of hip hop. Refelction eternal was good but too short. RZA was good but i've seen the whole Wu so compared to that a bit of a let down. Slum Village basically does what they do and when you have the late Dilla as your main producer then you really don't have to do much. Chali 2na was great. Its too bad that he went so early. Slaughterhouse was intriguing but agreed. Hip Hop is dead for sure, but there are people still holding it down. Lyrics Born, DJ Shadow, hell even guys like Nas and Jay Z. Oh yeah and my man Ohmega Watts.

      jade

      Aug 2, 2009 at 2:41pm

      what a horrible review...were you ever their...Nas and Damian killed it...you definately do not know your hip hop

      Arthur

      Aug 2, 2009 at 5:34pm

      Indeed author, you are a moron. Your lack of enthusiasm for hip hop showed and your commentary opinion had nothing to do with this event but your own dislike or disappointment with hip hop. Your eyes are totally glued and you dont get to realise just how much hip hop has risen to a high despite still having some corny hustlers who r killing it. Stop authoring

      Jason Lamb

      Aug 2, 2009 at 6:15pm

      What a poor review. It was a fantastic day of sunshine and music. I came away feeling like I had celebrated the best in hip hop music and culture. I'd also like to point out that I didn't see a single fight or confrontation. However, I saw three fights later that night after the fireworks downtown. This reviewer obviously was there against his will, and the sun made his brain stop working.