Rock the Bells mo’fucker. Better late than never (seems to be the theme of all my posts) but last Sunday me and the Green Hornet were at Randalls Island getting soaked checkin’ out this festival. Speakin’ for myself I thought it was dope especially considering I got cheap tix and there were a lot of groups I’ve been listenin to for years that I finally got to see. When I first got in I was at the Paid Dues Stage and caught the tail end of Mr.Lif which wasn’t as dope as I would have imagined although he’s a really nice guy and I was lucky to meet him later in the day.
Next up was Cage and Yak Ballz two of my guilty pleasures in the underground hiphop scene. Along with Cage came the rain and everyone got drenched but luckily his performance was dope and they made up for it. I dunno if it woulda been as nice for someone who wasn’t as familiar with the songs but it hit the spot for me. Brother Ali was next and he’s always been impressive live. That albino gets the crowd goin' every time and his set showcased mostly his new album, a sick acapella and a couple older favorites . Felt was up next and Slug and Murs were in good spirits getting the crowd into it. Slug and Ant pulled out godlovesugly to please the Atmosphere fans but right bout then I left for the main stage.
Erikah Badu pulled a no show so Cypress Hill set got bumped up and I ran over there to join the crowd and pull a blunt break. Seemed like it was a greatest hits set for them and I was kinda out of it (go figure) but they played Hits from the Bong, Dr. Greenthumb and I wanna get High which sounded pretty tight. After that Public Enemy came on but I wandered back to catch Living Legends and get some grub ($8 Philly Cheese Steaks – fuck that). Living Legends were on for awhile and shit kinda lagged towards the end even being familiar with most of what they played. After they got off we waited again for DOOM to turn up and the DJ bullshit over the mic. I’ve seen DOOM a few times now and he always makes the crowd wait and this time was no different. When he came on he dropped a couple Dangerdoom tracks he’s never done live and Monkey Suite which was a treat but the rest was pretty standard and he only was on stage for 30 min even though he was scheduled for a full hour. My guess is he cut it short cause over half his crowd bounced when Wu Tang was came on stage in the middle of his set.
Wu was dope and Method Man took the front man roll and held the act together. I’m not a huge Wu fan so I’ll let Green Hornet chime in on this one for a better run down on their performance. Rage came after and it sounded liked 1996 all over again. Nice to finally see them live and they were tight as could be with a trimmed down set-list hittin all the favorites to fit their time slot. Great show overall and I’d do it again if I had the chance. Here’s a couple youtube clips from the show, enjoy.
Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill a Man
Rage - Know Your Enemy Clip
Hot 97 Interviews/ Run Down
