Things have been pretty quiet around here lately. I think everyone is headlong into their summers and with that our Web 2.0 is neglected (except here).
I wanted to quick comment on New York’s own latest lo-fi noise maker to rear his head above the din of the rest, Beach Fossils. See Real Estate or Desolation Wilderness for reference- a lot of reverb-soaked guitars and vocals and themes of lazy days, stoner nights and summer. It is no secret that I’m a fan of Real Estate and Beach Fossils continues where my love affair with them has left off- a perfect foray into your summer activities. Look at the song titles: “Vacation,” “Daydream” and “Lazy Day.” As if those aren’t telling enough.
On “Vacation,” Dustin Payseur’s vocals are tinged with a watery delay that justifies his name and his obsession with well, the beach. It must be hard for this young Brooklynite to satisfy his tropical urges. He’s got The Rockaways and not much else (I guess he could swim at Coney Island). Maybe that’s why he sings “I’m getting on that bus / got to get out of town” and then concludes “I might not come back home.” Sounds like the musings of a displaced and restless twenty-something.
Beach Fossils is sure to make a lot of waves this summer, at least amidst the concrete of New York. He recently played Todd P’s Unamplified Acoustic BBQ at Fort Tilden Beach with Ponytail, Phosphorescent, Real Estate and a slew of other bands and is set to play the Captured Tracks/Woodsist Festival in Bushwick over the Fourth of July weekend.
You haven’t yet heard from me, but I’m around.Hopefully I’ll get my act together and start writing for this damn blog (for which I was an advocate).
To recap the weekend would be a task far too great for a first-time blogger, so I am taking a baby step, one in the direction of elaborating on Saturday night, The Diplo show at Der Rathskeller. What a show. I mean, aside from the abundance of sweaty chest bumps and hundreds of rancid grinding freshmen, the show was a huge success; yeah totally massive success (Thank you Matt Forrest (repeat x3)…future Music Committee Director).Not only was the Rath packed, but Diplo was awe-inspiring.I didn’t cry, but I wanted to. I danced instead.
A friend and I watched from the back of the stage and couldn’t help but giggle and reminisce of high school dances past, while watching the “train wreck” that is a drunken boy trying to molest his wobbly enthusiastic dance partner, from behind.So good . Like really, a new favorite moment of 2k9.
Next, after the show ended (all too soon), about 4,500 (40) music committee members, made their way over to some soggy basement for an afterparty (which Diplo was kind enough to play at, again, thank god) and danced their asses off until the wee hours of the morning.If you weren’t there, I’m pointing a finger at you and laughing right now. And if you are reading this to get a better picture of the mayhem that was the basement….(Jealous? That could have been you).
Anyway, it truly was a fantastic Saturday.That’s all I can handle right now. But I’ll be back.
I want to sound cool and say that Blank Dogs performance at the Good Style Shop on East Washington yesterday was some what of a secret show…but it was publicized via the Good Style Shop’s Myspace. I saw a bulletin from the Good Style Shop late Tuesday night, reaffirming why I still have a Myspace account (my name is “For the Workforce, Drowning“). I put out a call to the Music Committee and newly selected Summer Coordinator Ryan “Beligeront” Vergeront heeded it. We ventured from the Union at 5:30pm down to the Good Style Shop. When we showed up the band was just setting up and no one was around yet. When things finally got going at 6:30pm, the alts and punks hanging on the street corner sneaking swigs of Pabst crammed into the very tiny vintage clothing store for the Blank Dogs mid-evening set. From the first few chords and grumbles into the reverb-soaked mic I knew the performance would be anti-climactic. Ryan remarked to me as we walked away from the shop about a song and a half in that he was skeptical of too many indie bands washing their vocals in reverb. It’s a valid remark. I think it comes down to how well it is used. Many Slumberland recording artists use it to their advantage. Some bands abuse it to make up for their lack of singing ability. I know I would too. Don’t write them off too soon as Blank Dogs are at least worth a cursory listen. Maybe a fitting soundtrack to a drunken binge or an overdose (not that I’d reccommend it).
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Here’s some bands I’ve been enjoying:
Teenage Cool Kids: Kind of sound like Pavement or Oxford Collapse (at times). Denton, TX knows how to rock.
Bad Sports: Sound like No Age without the pretense. Found them via Teenage Cook Kids’ myspace. Church.
How was Heiruspecs you ask? I’d be happy to enlighten you.
Minneapolis and Chicago natives and First Wave favorites PhoneticONE and Dizne opened up with a really fun set. The floor was about half full, which is pretty good for an opener (putting 9:00 on all the posters and then starting at 9:40 may have helped that a bit). In an exclusive facebook chat interview with PhoneticONE he said “the show went really well and the crowd was dope.” They seemed to be having a really good time and got bonus points for dropping references to Dizzy and Bird.
PhoneticONE
I don’t have much to say about DLO. It was pretty standard hip-hop, nothing too exciting. The crowd seemed to be getting a bit bored during their set, I saw more than a few people texting and talking out of boredom. It was decent though, and a lot of people may have just been getting antsy waiting for Heiruspecs to come out.
St. Paul natives "Heiruspecs"
Heiruspecs was as some might say (Matt Forrest) a “live ass show”. The whole floor was pretty much full and there were quite a few people behind the stage as well. They played a good variety of old and new tracks. People were getting really into it, but nothing got too out of hand (no drunk douchebags bum rushing the stage) and for once I don’t think we had any problem with security intruding just because it was Hip-Hop. There were a fair amount of older people that, at the very least, didn’t leave when they realized it was a rap show. What makes Heiruspecs so cool is that they bring so many different influences into their music, blending elements of punk, funk, and old school hip-hop into a really distinct sound. One of my favorite parts of the show was when Felix said that they were gonna play something for “people who are into some real ass music”, and they did a short instrumental jam with Peter and Twinkie Jiggles kickin out some funky ass grooves.
Overall I would say the show was a success. I’d definitely love to have them again, so stay posted next year to see if they come back.
Wow! Have I ever been happier to see a weekend come to its conclusion!
Initially, I was looking forward to the weekend of shows we had: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, WAVVES and Heiruspecs. Not bad for a bunch of college “kids” I’d say.
On Friday at Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin I told Sam I was actually going to stand in front and enjoy myself at the show and he was cool with it. Everything was going really well until a few songs into Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s set, two obviously drunk and obviously underage kids decided to jump up on stage and become part of the performance (I’m sorry I don’t have pictures). It resulted in me conferring with Sam and running up to the office to get my badge to show my authority and a few seconds deliberation with the band leading to a quick stifling of the two drunk underagers’ antics. Both Sam and I had to pull them off stage multiple times. By the end of the show we decided to send one of them packing which compelled him to call me an “ass” and give both of us the gooney bird. By the way, this was on Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s twitter: “driving to Dekalb. Last two shows have been like Girl Talk shows , but with way better music.”
On Saturday at WAVVES, Brandon, John and I must have turned away at least 50-75 people from The Project Lodge (capacity of 75). That was to be expected but you don’t expect when telling someone “sorry, we’re at capacity and not letting anyone in right now” that it is up for discussion. Do people in Madison have a sense of entitlement or is that just the frame of mind that free shows create? I don’t know how many times I had to argue with people about why they couldn’t come in.
“Dude, I have a ticket. You’re letting in people without tickets.”
“Well, if you would have read what was on the ticket, you would have realized that it was only good until 7:30pm and it is now 8:30pm.”
“I guess I didn’t realize…”
“Well, that’s why you aren’t getting into the show right now.”
What drives me nuts is that if a show was sold out at the High Noon Saloon, you wouldn’t be arguing with the doorman about what that means and that you should get to go in anyways.
There were also some local Madison musicians who thought they could subvert the system and either sneak in the back door (Zola Jesus, Burial Hex) or bum rush the front door (Deep Shit) at 10pm when WAVVES went on even though everyone else who got into the show had been waiting since 7pm to see WAVVES. Is there an unwritten code about shitty local bands thinking the world owes them something? I encourage you though to listen to “Sea Talk” by Zola Jesus. It is a really good song.
The real kicker of the night was WAVVES’ Nathan Williams only leaving his van for the 25 minutes it took him to play his set, then ducking into the alley to smoke a joint and then back into the van. He didn’t even help load-in, albeit he was sick. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. People seemed to have fun and walked away pleased.
How was Heiruspecs? I couldn’t make it. Too exhausted. At least I made it out of the weekend in one piece.
Day 3 kicked off for me at the Pitchfork/Windish Agency Party. Well technically it kicked off at 5am with intense side cramps from sleeping on the floor but the part you cared about started at this really neat venue called Emo’s which basically looks like they found a pit, poured concrete in it, put up a fence and some shamble roofing, and when something breaks they take some 2×4 and plywood and slap that over it.
I waited through a lot of indie bands the only one of which was really memorable for me was the Dirty Projectors. Their guitar sounds are truly unique (sounds something like what you think indie music in the medieval era would be) and their three front women create some damn good harmony, I mean it is really beautiful (of which Truby is in love with the bassist).
But the main attraction for me was the duo performance of A-Trak and Diplo (who will be in Madison April 11th). What was really interesting about their split bill is that you really could tell the differences between their styles. Diplo started it off with his worldwide gutter shit (meaning sort of electro world type beats with a banger twist) and A-Trak who started off in hip-hop (and rose to the level of Kanye’s DJ) but then made the move to more of a hard electro style but as he showed us he still has that solid hip-hop base with some perfect beat jocking and the best scratching I have seen in a while…on some electronic shit (Abilities and him should square off). Hearing these two styles go back and forth was great and seeing the whole room dance unrestrained was something that doesn’t happen too often. Whats great is that they do what the like and have been before this got popular. That’s what makes it work for them.
Tilley, Truby, and I had some excellent dinner at the Ironworks BBQ which almost made us fall asleep but not enough to miss Hollywood Holt (before the side journey to the wrong venue for some Mexican punk band Pat wanted to check…turns out the venue was next door and the one we were in looked like something out of Blade II). Holt had apparently been crunkin and doing shows all day but that didn’t mean he didn’t give us a damn good 25 minutes of a show. He somehow always manages to give out a ton of energy and even crowd surf with the 30 or so people he packed into the front of the venue. He may be loud and obnoxious but once again in an age where hipster rappers are starting to come from everywhere he is legit and this is what he loves. Its hard to knock that. Plus his shows are just too much damn fun. From lessons in juking to “gold chains hanging low” its hard not to enjoy yourself when Nigel is on stage.
This also made me realize one of the shittier parts of the experience: that there is so much going on, so many of your favorite artists appearing that its impossible to catch every little thing that happens. From what was most likely a wild afterparty with Kid Cudi, to the secret Diplo shows, to Holt’s 5 other performances which weren’t listed that day
I then ventured off to see another one of the “Freshman 10 of Hip-Hop” Mickey Factz, but not before passing the big story of the festival thus far, Metalica‘s appearance at the Guitar Hero party. I guess people had been in line since 5am but with my magic badge I got to jump ahead of them just to catch a glimpse of these folks only to say that I was there…and I was. I couldn’t tell you what song they were playing nor do I care that much. Its just one of those things I can say I did. Church.
Anyways I got to the AM Only party which was at the worst run venue I have been at thus far the Beauty Bar. It took everyone about two minutes just to get into the seemingly half full venue. I made my way to the patio to see Mickey. Not impressed. No Supras performance. He spent the set yelling over electro beats and Daft Punk, bringing girls on stage to dance, telling one to “crawl on the ground like a mouse gurrrrl”, and more yelling. I know he has some legitimate music but its hard to be impressed when you see that shit show.
I was hoping this show would redeem itself with some Tittsworth but despite him putting all his energy into it the awkward ass crowd was just too much to overcome. His set was more electro based than I expected it to be based of the hard B-More club stuff I have come to know but I will hopefully see that live another day.
All in all this was the downer party I went to this week. Terribly organized by both promoter and venue and strange performances from otherwise great artists. Epic fail.
I wandered back to where I was originally to catch the end of Amanda Blank‘s set who I was quite impressed with. Her music isn’t too hardly rooted in hipster electro like the rest of the artists that night like Thunderheist who set was good but had no up’s and downs and never drew me in. Blank is a talented singer and above all a really good emcee. This girl can rap. She varies her lyrical style with speed and precision and its something unique in the emerging realm of hipster-hop. She is definitely an artist to keep an eye on and I’m bummed I wasn’t able to see more.
The next up was Lady Sovereign from dA UK who was quite loud and in your face. Not bad but maybe just a little much. She performed he main song Love Me or Hate Me (Fuck You) to a sea full of middle fingers. Other than that it was an up-tempo electro British rap set to a crowd of drunk UT kids, old brosephs looking to slang, the occasionally hype beast, and chubby hipsters. Yay. Church.
Asher Roth was up next and I will say this: he has come a ways from rapping over Milli beats which tons of kids do in their dorm rooms anyways. He came down hoping to start a revolution of some sort, which ended in him roaming the streets looking for pizza at the end of the night. As stated in the previous article he did perform some new songs and is starting to gain a more legitimate sound and in my mind some actual credit for his raps not just someone who I think I could battle over an old Beastie Boys beat because he is too high. Of course he performed his hit I Love College but the highlight was his new stuff which should produce a semi-decent album. You can tell the industry has gotten a hold of him though since he got on stage with no acknowledgment of his gracious host Hollywood Holt and was backed by a drummer, some dude as his hypeman/pusher, and a djay to throw in some scratches all in the set of a pretty planned out set. He is good and he does what he like I am not here to knock that, but the fact that he is so packaged up does two things: one it makes him loose some of his very connective (to the 20 something masses) nostalgia that got him to where he is anyways, and two once his niche closes he is going to be chewed up and spit out…he will just be the first white boy to have it happen. Hopefully he can keep pulling something together like Soulja Boy has.
Kid Sister was the final performer of the evening and was accompanied by her boys Flosstradamus. Her set was live. Her set was short. All was well. She always puts on a very interactive and hype show but this one was just a little too short. Its hard not to get into it when she hits you with Damn Girl then Switchboard followed by Pro Nails and then ends with a Flossy-D Act A Fool live performance. Shit is banging. Also got to end the night with a little duo tag team djay set of Hollywood Holt and Autobot. Juke dem hoes.
One finaly big ups to Holt for hosting the entire night and doing a smash up job djaying. Gotta love some new Orleans bounce followed by Dunn Dunn by Shawty Lo not once but tree times just to get into it long enough so the crowd could got “Got Damn! Must be Two SIDE!”. See why:
Off to the Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish. And my deadly 7:00am flight. FML.
And the second day in Austin has come to an end with some excitements, more hiking near the Hook em Horns campus and late night surprises (aka Pat Tilley CREEEEEPPPIN! not.)
We started the day where all self-entitling hipsters should, at the back alley of an Urban Outfitters with our BFF from the Ill Mill at a PBRty. Yippee.
The first band I saw and the only one I feel like mentioning from this venture was the band Women from Canada. From my limited experience with Indie bands all I can say is that I did really enjoy their drummer. He carries the melody of the group quite well and has several creative approaches to his rhythms including placing the tambourine on the snare and making some strange yet well produced noise.
After a healthy hike back to the downtown area from the UT campus (about 23 blocks more or less) we made it back to the main downtown stretch where I broke off from the main group to help promote the Rhymesayers showcase that eve. The main promo was done at a day party with radio djays where some interesting events took place. Mainly the never to be seen again freestyle on the street collaboration between the Yay Arena’s Mistah Fab and the South MPLS emcee Eyedea of E&A. I shit you not. I wish I had video. This never to be seen again unless a parallel universe opens between the ghost riding king and the long winded fast rapper may be one of the strangest and more epic events I have seen thus far.
The evening show for RSE started at the Havana club with Toki Wright who has just been signed to the label under what appears to be a ‘Showcase Series’ of artists from maybe just the Twin Cities or all over. Or maybe he is just on the label. Well have to see. He played a lot of new tracks which didn’t really differ stylistically from his previous work but still sounds like it will make up a good album.
I Self Devine was the next artist up also playing material off the new album to come “Sounds of Lower Class Amerika”, and also similarly sounding to the previous release “Self Destruction”. He continues to be one of the under-represented artists by the label since every time you catch one of his shows it is one of the livest and most memorable performances you will see.
E&A were up next and performed a few new songs and some of the classics like Now and Birth of a Fish. And of course one of my favorite parts of the whole experience is to see Abilities do a scratch set. Shit is bananas and always something new. This time it was the Mr. Me Too beat and scratching “Yeah…I’m Back” for about 5 minutes straight.
I ran over to the Back Alley Social about 10 blocks away to catch Pac Div the F.A.T. Boys from sunny LA. The 20 minute set was highlighted by 5 minutes of the Mayor dance in the half full venue and only about one verse of their hit F.A.T. Boys. This wasn’t the greatest show but you caught enough of the idea of what they are trying to do so it all works out. And in the end what they are trying to do is somewhere between the Cool Kids and U-N-I. Not quite just hipster rap but pretty close.
I caught the beginning of the POS show back at Rhymesayers before heading off. It was pretty much the same set except a curtailed version as in Madison so you can just read all about that.
Finally it was off to Ace’s Lounge for the final act I was going to try and catch that night, Kid Cudi. But it appears the dreams of the room were to be slashed as the rapper appeared to be a no show. The venue manager from SXSW came out to announce the news and was quickly greeted by a beer bottle being thrown on stage and hit back with a very stern look and mean pointer finger at the culprit. Then the actual owner of the venue came out to try and calm folks down but was also greeted in a similar fashion and a stream of people leaving.
About two minutes into his speech however a flood of people came back into the venue and 30 seconds later Kid Cudi jumps on stage, a sigh of relief passes over the club owner, and Cudi yells out “Sorry Ya’ll we flew into Houston!” After a brief sound check the show started which can apparently be seen on Carson Daly’s Late Night programming.
The show itself was quite good. Whenever a new rapper following in the Cool Kids steps (more or less but you know what I mean…hipster rap) comes out its always hard to tell if the can rap or not. Cudi appears to be one of those individuals who actually can. He may not rap fast or show you ten different styles in a night but lyrically he can tell a story and that is more than the Cool Kids can say save the Basement Party track. He broke up the set with short “smoke” breaks on stage and bringing his party girls on stage. And he of course closed with the “popular” radio station hit Day & Nite and then throw on the Crookers remix of the same song to “keep the party going”. And the party did keep on going. More girls came on stage, Million $ Mano started dancing around, and guests from Rhymesayers who I was surprised to see there (Brother Ali, Jake One, Freeway, Siddiq, and others) and the guys from Pac Div showed up even after the main sound was turned off and the monitors were the only music going.
So yeah that show was interesting. We apologize for the lack of photos since our internet is terrible in the hotel. They will be up when we get back. Stay tuned for updates from Day 3 (Hollywood Holt, Diplo + A-Trak, Mickey Factz, Tittsworth, Amanda Blank, Asher Roth, and Kid Sister) and from what should be a good Day 4 (Cool Kids and MSTRKRFT).
October 3, 2006. As far as the history of rap goes, this day was certainly a milestone. Joeseph Guillermo Jones II (known on da streetz as Jim Jones, leftmost in the above picture) stunned the world with what had to be one of the best rap songs in recent memory. On that day, Jones released the quintessential track “We Fly High“, known solely due to its frequent use of the now popular phrase “ballin‘”, and essentially made a name for himself. Then, like many other great rappers, Jones temporarily fell off, in what could have been a career ending move.
He kept his name in the media over the next few years by getting involved in a couple of beefs with rappers Tony Yayo and Jay Z. Then he realized he needed money and went back to the beat laboratory to craft a new hit song. His efforts culminated in the release of “Pop Champagne“, a rather catchy number featuring liberal use of the auto-tune and one of the worst music videos to date. This may have pleased some of his fans, but not me. I wanted more of the old Jones, none of this mainstream garbage. Luckily, this wait was short lived since Jones decided to release another song “Na Na Nana Na Na“.
This track redefines the term catchy. It starts out with some banging drums and Jones reminding us of the current year. From this point on, Jones lays down rhyme after rhyme and really locks into a flow that keeps this song rollin’. It appears the song’s central theme focuses on Jones’ high level of swagga as seen in the lyrics “They only got me cuz they caught it on a camera, they wanna ball but they ain´t got no stamina (they need it).” Soon after this self affirmation, Jones lays down what may be one of the greatest similes since those seen in the writings of Oscar Wilde when he gives a S.O. to his hood and says “Harlem is one big ski slalom, I guess the Hill is like the Swiss Alps, we bring them whips out”. Talk about meaningful.
Following this piece of poetic genius, we hit the chorus where Jones talks about evading law enforcement and “gettin money like nananananana. Thug life. After the chorus, just when you think the song could not get any better, your mind is blown when Jones calls out the haters stating “I got dogs and they not on a leash, so I hope you understand, do you copy? capesh?”. This seems to be a rather dangerous move as it is surely a jab at Jones’ past nemesis Yayo and could incite a future beef. Jones doesn’t seem to care about the potential repercussions of his harsh words though as he mentions how he’s back and is clearly doing rather well since “the money taste sweet like pastry”.
After the second chorus, Jones feels it necessary to confirm his wealth yet again in stating “pocket so fat like Raspusha”. This one clearly goes out to his hardcore fans as no fair-weather fan would have the slightest inkling who Raspusha is. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I myself did not know and had to look it up. In doing so, I was luckily able to clear up the confusion via a helpful video on Raspusha’s myspace page. For the rest of the song, Jones lets the listener know just how shifty he is with such lyrics as “bought the new Fiskar flew it through the ghetto” and “we pop champagne until the club let out”.
At the end of the song, we know three things. First of all, “ain´t nuthin changed, just the decimal point, you get the point?” Second of all, Jones has mad bank, and finally, Jones is back on top of his game. In fact, he is more than just back, he is back with a vengeance to take down all competitors in the rap game as seen in his allusion to his masterpiece “We Fly High” through the gramatically correct statement “fly high or get flew over.”
I haven’t seen an album cover that obnoxious in a long time (oh, wait…)
MSTRKRFT’s (pronounced master-kraft) sophomore effort Fist of God ultimately aims to construct a bridge between two audiences: On one hand, the album caters to an indie electronic music community already accustomed to the Canadian DJ duo’s distinctively banging beats. On the other, a more mainstream audience unfamiliar with their work could presumably be drawn in by the multitude of guest vocalists on the album, including E-40, Ghostface Killah, and John Legend. Group members Jesse Keeler (JFK) and Andy Gowans (Al-P) relish once again in the hard, driving synths and frenetic tempo that characterized their first full-length release The Looks and their extensive remix discography. The new track “VUVUVU,” for instance, was inadvertently titled so by Justice member Xavier de Rosnay, who made the noise while trying to describe the sound of their music in his thick Parisian accent. It’s fitting: the track is suffused with exhilarating electricity that has made it a dancefloor killer in their live sets for some time now.
While all the songs on Fist of God share a familiar, almost overbearing vitality that saturates the entire album, the parallel between the tracks with vocals and those without is a major point of contention against its cohesion. MSTRKRFT’s unwillingness to innovate, however, makes it easy for each track to adhere to one of these two styles and deliver accordingly. “Word Up” would be a conceivably much weaker electro-house anthem without Ghostface Killah’s repeated cries of “do it hard” and “eat that shit up” juxtaposed against blaring sirens and crashing cymbal loops. Conversely, “1000 Cigarettes” would undoubtedly be diminished of an epic, final-showdown feel if its snare/cowbell/synthesizer climaxes and nadirs were clouded by the rhymes of some famous rapper. By making small, calculated modifications to their already successful formula, MSTRKRFT will hopefully be able to bring their trademark sound to an entirely new range of listeners.
P.O.S. is a show that you go to and generally expect something a little different each time. And that is what we got. Starting off with some guitar playing and ending by rapping in the the crowd. I wouldn’t go on a limb to say it was a roller coaster but it was…a roller coaster lots of folks have been on several times and know the parts where you make a face for the camera pics at the end.
The set was well strung together with good transitions between songs like using the beat box he brought along to transition into Savion Glover by more or less producing the beat on stage. But also some abrupt transitions like ending Accident, transitioning into a new song about Doomtree’s exploits the past year (a “history” track which we have seen from fellow Rhymesayers’ artist Brother Ali) and then having DJ Plain Ole Bill throw on some Rick Astley and cordially telling the crowd that they had been “Rick-Rolled by Plain Ole Bill).
The set was constructed pretty much as I expected. Starting with some new tracks, throw in the oldie Half-Cocked Concepts by teasing the crowd with the beat intro for about 2 minutes, bringing some of the new Doomtree tracks with “guests” Sims and Mike Mitclan (who both had decent sets earlier in the night), throw in some Basics and ended on some of the down tempo new songs. Then actually ended by rapping Stand Up (Let’s Get Murdered) in the middle of the crowd.
P.O.S. enjoyed the newcomers to his music that graced the audience and revealed the theme of the album to be doing what you want with your life, regardless of how much ca$h you make. All in all a good set.
Audience was a different matter. The thing about rap shows in Madison, specifically any Rhymesayers show is that you get the same group that can be semi annoying if you really want to watch the show. Surrounded by several stumbling drunk kids, people yelling at the performers, a couple of almost fights, smoking in the crowd, and a slew of Minnesota Twin hat sporting bros that Sims so graciously pointed out earlier in the night isn’t the most conducive to watching a good show. But that is where we are at now. P.O.S. has followed the trend of the label the last year by putting out a critically well received album that cuts across demographic lines in terms of its listening audience and the “eclectic” group of concert goers reflected it.
