just sharing some old footage of hiphop shows I went to way back for people to enjoy and talk about...leave me some comments so I know yall like the clips, thanks!
Haven't heard this album in years. I remember De La Sol released a album a little before this with the same name though. I have a different version of this album I would love to upload, but RU-vid won't let me load the audio. Hit me up and I am happy to share it with anyone.
I saw Cage with Camu Tao with the Def Jux crew. They blew everyone else off the stage. The intensity was palpable. El-P who I have seen since was just ok, Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif were a snore. I've seen El-P twice since and he was incredible. Once on the I'll Sleep When You're Dead tour and once on the C4C/R.A.P. MUSIC tour. Both awesome shows I saw proto-RTJ. I have yet to see RTJ. Anyway, I put Cage and Camu in the top ten perfomrances I have ever seen regardless of genre. They are in the company of Leonard Cohen, Radiohead, Massive Attack, Lou Reed, Four Tet and a few others including that El-P/Killer Mike show.
23 years later and I'm just seeing my nomination (Evil-E) 😂. Funny because that night I remember someone outside or in the restroom or somewhere telling me they were mentioning me up there. But I was too busy getting wasted and acting up. Probably somewhere saying some more outrageous shit 🤣.... To be young.
Ap hosted a small freestyle battle tournament at(I think?) Central(or maybe it was Eastern?) Connecticut State University when I was in high school. The winner of the tournament got to battle a dude who performed a song or two of his(not sure how he was associated with Apathy.) Honestly, he smoked the guys boots. Then he battled Apathy, and Ap got him pretty good. Also, how incredible(i.e. awkward/embarrassing) were some of these old freestyle battles, particular the reactions of the guy who's not rapping? Don't get me wrong, I could never do it, but it always felt awkward to me how hyped up and manic they were. I'm sure a lot of it is nerves/anxiety(and maybe that's why it's awkward for me to watch as I have bad anxiety) but it's always made me less inclined to watch these types of battles. Well, that, and the fact that A. you often can't hear/understand what they're saying between the crappy audio, the music, and the fans constantly cheering, or more often, booing(which always bothered me too), and B. you have to listen to a lot of filler before you get a big haymaker. Doesn't surprise me at all that battlerap turned into the pre-written, a cappella style that dominates now. I do miss the actual rapping and flow though. That's probably why the dudes who actually rap(meaning in the actual battle, or who make music, such as Arsonal, Passwurdz, Math Hoffa, Lux, even E Ness, like in his battle with Iron Solomon) have always been my favorite. Actually there is/was that league in Atlanta that had pre-written verses over beats, and then one round a cappella, but that didn't work as well as I'd hoped.
