H to the Izzo K to the Wizzay!

"Yeah I wanna go Gold, Platinum, Uh huh Etc. but why put out some wackness when no one will respect ya."
A Tribe Called Quest - Peace, Prosperity, & Paper

"Damn, they don't make 'em like this anymore
I ask 'cause I'm not sure
Do anybody make real shit anymore?
Bow in the presence of greatness
'cause right now thou has forsaken us
You should be honored by my lateness
That I would even show up to this fake shit"
Kanye West - Stronger

"Only rapper to rewrite hisory without a pen, No I.D on the track let the story begin...begin...begin......."
Jay-Z - D.O.A (Death of Auto-tune)


Ok the countdown continues.................... well technically not a countdown as no chronology to the order of my listing of these gigs but am sure you guys know what I mean!!

Kanye West - Brixton Academy 2005 (?)/O2 2008

Kanye is an artist I have real mixed feelings about, do I like his music? - I should do, his credentials are completely atuned to my music sensibilities and before his "College Dropout" album I was always a fan of tracks he had produced such as Jay-Z's "Izzo" and "Brown Sugar" by Mos Def and Faith Evans from the movie of the same name.

To be fair the "College Dropout" album is still a great album to me and I was fortunate enough to see that tour. It was also my first visit to Brixton Academy and also my first time in "standing" and being the naive person I was back then decided to wear 4" heels. this was a big mistake - those of you who've been to Brixton Academy will know that it has a sloping floor so wherever you stand you get some sort of view of the stage and as you ladies know heels+slope =pain!! Poor Mr H, my good friend who attended with me spent half of the gig alone as I was at the side of the floor pleading with the steward who looked after the disabled seats to let me sit down ( the nagging worked!). Back to the '05 gig - Talib Kweli opened and thankfully was great ( unlike my next encounter with said Kweli) and anticipation was high for Mr West. You have to remember this was pre gimmicks, some indication of his ego was present, but what I remember from the gig was how happy he was to be there and how much he interacted with us - he even played a medley of tracks he had produced and all in all I came out of the show satisfied ( even if my feet did not!)

Fast forward 3 years, in that time Kanye had produced another 2 albums ( Late Registration and Graduation) and was about to unleash his 4th Album "808's and Heartbreaks". The "Glow in the Dark" tour in the US was a mammoth deal - Kanye, N*E*R*D, Lupe Fiasco and Rhianna all on one bill performing together. The UK as per usual only got Kanye and for probably the same price as the US punters paid for all 4 acts. This time Kanye played at the behemoth entertainment venue that is the O2. Now the O2 get a bad rap sometimes for being too commercial, but I personally think it is an excellent use of this otherwise useless space and has shown the now very tired Wembley Arena how it should be done - I also think the indigo2 within the O2 is an amazing venue and have not had a bad night there yet! This time I managed to get hold of 6 tickets, 4 standing and 2 seating ( the 2 seats were for myself and my friend Puds, who being small yet perfectly formed often seems to act as a tall person magnet and therefore has no view of a gig when choosing standing). My other friends who attended included Mr H who came with me the first time so I was keen to hear what he thought in comparison to our first experience. And a different experience it turned out to be. If I was to describe this gig in five words it would be:

Cirque du Soleil "hood" style

Was the staging spectacular? - yes
Were the band tight? - yes
Did Kanye "act" well - kinda..................

and this was the trouble this was NOT a gig, it felt like a west end production, and I can sort of see where Kanye was going with this. After reading all the plaudits ( inc. Diddy's famous youtube vidblog proclaiming this show as the most earth shattering event to happen to hip hop since public enemy told us all to fight the power!) I was looking to be blown away - and I was not even feeling a slight breeze.

It felt like Kanye was going through the motions and was generally not happy to be there - it is true this was around a year after he lost his mother and the one time I felt some emotion from him was when he performed "Hey Mama" and freestyled a verse in tribute but apart from that it was really difficult to engage with the gig. The audience were actually spectators and even though I could see 5 rows ahead of me 3 boys rhyming flawlessly along with Kanye it all felt a bit sterile, the only saving grace was the frankly "cheap shot" of bringing Estelle on to sing "American Boy" which got the crowd up on its feet - but any slight warm glow from that performance was short lived as a bad tempered Kanye stalled and stomped off thestage twice before completing a rendition of "Love Lockdown"

All in all we ALL felt it was a lacklustre experience - I probably would have got the same feeling from watching a blu-ray HD of the gig.

Kanye West - UFONWK - Kanye posts a "girl of the week" on his blog "kanyeuniversecity" and has chosen such beauties as Eva Mendes, Angelina Jolie, Gisele and...... Jennifer Metcalfe aka Mercedes from Hollyoaks!

Jay Z - Wembley Arena 2003

Jay - Z is a hip hop mogul, some would say an urban Donald Trump - treading that fine line between commercial and credible, he has shown entrpreneurship and also appreciation of culture ( I watched with interest his "imagine" show on BBC1 with Alan Yentob where he discussed without irony his love of modern art) - plus he is married to one of the hottest chicks in the game ( sorry went all blokeish there!).

I went to see him at probably the worst venue ever for a hip hop gig - Wembley Arena and I remember 5 things distinctly:
1) The support act was really good - the Clipse who's excellent first album had just been released. Still remember the beats from "Grindin" blaring out and singing along to "Ma I don't love her" and really enjoying their performance.
2) I had awesome seats block A2 row 8
3) These awesome seats euphoria was quickly negated by the whole of "blazin squad" turning up in front of me in row 6 - the polo shirts with upturned colours and strategically placed spikes in hair combined with their dire attempts at getting rowdy obscured my view and my mood!
4) Jay Z's ( and my) utter dismay at the fact that few people in the audience reacted when the first bars of " Can't knock the Hustle" dropped ( for those who don't know click/cut and paste here -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sFW-3vGv4) - seemed like all were waiting for Big Pimpin and Hard Knock Life!
5) Damon Dash is a cock - no more explanation needed

I think this was Jay-Z at a commercial high, but credible low and it is a credit to him that he has upped his credibility to the point now that no question in his hip hop credentials - and dropping that idiot Damon Dash from his posse has done him no harm! If you want to see Jay Z at the top of his live game either check out his unplugged session for MTV ( with The Roots as his band) or his set at Glastonbury where he disproved the sadly naive Noel Gallagher's prediction that he would flop at Glasto - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrDIOVXx-y8

Jay - Z - UFONWK - Jay Z's middle name is Corey and he is still considering buying a stake in the greatest football club known to man the mighty Arsenal and if he does will ensure he becomes my favoruite rapper EVER!

For those who don't know Jay-Z and Kanye West are inextricably linked - Jay signed Kanye, and Kanye started off as a producer on Roc - A -Fella Records producing hits for Jay himself as well as Ludacris, Alicia Keys, Common and Brandy to name a small selection. They are still collaborators and I like to think friends and there is no doubt in my mind their importance to hip hop as a genre but looking back I have to say their concerts were not particularly amazing experiences for me - but if they ever do go back to playing smaller venues with just them and a DJ I am sure I'll do my best to be there!

Peace out Naima

P.S. I am waiting with extrememly high anticpation for Jay's "blueprint 3" album - particularly if the track "D.O.A (Death of Auto-tune) is anything to go by - sums up my whole anti autotune/eurohouse rap song stance!

It's Bigger than Hip Hop, Hip Hop.............................

"Right here what we gonna do is go back

Way way
Way back

I met him when I was a little girl he gave
He gave me poetry and he was my first
But in my heart I knew, I wasn't the only one
Cause when the tables turned he had to break up
Whenever I got lonely, needed some advice
He gave me his shoulder, his words were very nice
That is all behind me,
Cause now there is no other
My love is his and his is mine,
My friend became my....
Love of my life, you are my friend
Love of my life, I can depend
Love of my life, without you baby
Feels like I sampled true love, yeah"

Love of My Life (an ode to hip hop) - Erykah Badu

"Rap is a gimmick, but I'm for the hip-hop, the culture.
Method Man "


So after first blog post and mainly positive reviews from friends I was pondering on next topic to blog about. I thought that the best place to start would be me trying to write a comprehensive list of who I'd actually seen in concert since my first real concert experience (INXS - 1991, Wembley Stadium a pretty good way to start) - and having the organisational skills of my good friend H aka Puds rubbing onto me sub divided list into the following genres:

Hip Hop
Pop
Soul/RnB/Dance
Other <---- By this time figured to sub divide further may mean lists with one act

I don't know if sub consciously I put hip hop first but I did and lo and behold what genre had the most concerts, hip hop.

Yes to quote the urban dictionary ( which does have 41 definitions of hip hop):

"A culture and form of ground breaking music and self expression with elements that consisted of the elements of graffiti art, DJing, MCing, and breaking."

or

"What urban music was before gangster's got their hands on microphones. Known for smooth, soothing beats; intelligent, sincere rhymes; and a solid representation of urban life. Most commonly from areas in and around New York City. (See A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul.)"

I like the second definition as it sums up where I pitch my hip hop flag - and would like to state right now that apart from a slight glitch in the early 00's ( which will become evident as I go through gigs attended below) - I have stayed true and avoided gangsters where possible.

Now don't get me wrong the one thing I am not is a music snob - I have no problem with a good pop song or mainstream hit - I do have a problem when I perceive the music as "soulless" an obvious attempt at some record company executive jumping on bandwagon to cash in on latest fad in music, or as an extension of a brand and the music is one part of the lifestyle package available...............and hip hop is rife with examples of this.

Right now it seems like all I hear is another "rap-star" taking a 90s eurotrash house anthem and adding a hip hop lyric ( which they probably didn't write) to it - I mean crazy frog is sure to be next on the hit list ( maybe I should get there first any MC's wanna take the challenge??)

Back to the gigs - I thought I would do a 5 line synopsis of all the hip hop gigs I've been to so far with at least one UFONWK ( for those who haven't read the previous blog that ='s Useless Facts Only Naima Would Know) for each act. And I am listing these in the order they came into my head i.e. first one I remembered I wrote down - and these are gigs where the act was the headliner not in support. Where I can remember I have listed the venue and the year ( I cannot voice for accuracy of the year - forgive me as old age is setting in). I am starting with the first 5 that came to mind and they all pretty much can be linked weirdly enough.


1) Q-Tip - Camden Roundhouse (2009)
This was a gig I think I have been waiting for for at least 6 years. Without doubt "A Tribe Called Quest" are in my top 3 hip hop acts of all time and I always used to wonder if and when I would get to see them. I had slight hope when they reformed and toured the US in 2008 headlining the Rock the Bells tour but was not to be even though the tour come to these shores ( sans ATCQ but more about that later). So when randomly browsing on the net - I couldn;t believe it when I saw Q-Tip coming here to do one gig at the roundhouse in Camden, to mainly promote his excellent album " The Renaissance". With the small hope that he may do 1-2 Tribe songs and seeing that it was for the bargain price of £20 ( with an unheard of £1 booking fee!) I snapped up 4. I went with a mixed crew some heads who put my hiphop knowledge to shame ( but hey "for a girl I'm pretty cool" to quote them) and 2 girlfriends who love music like me but not not really knowing much about Q-Tip but willing to take that chance upon my recommendations.

Needless to say I was not let down - it helped that Dj Semtex warmed up the crowd nicely ( by smartly choosing to play most of the illmatic album by Nas) so we were charged when the great man himself came on stage ( first time in 17 years in the UK) and we were duly rewarded. With the right mix of new stuff and then at least 6 Tribe songs and not choosing to do the overkilled "breathe and stop" as his finale but the awesome " Award Tour" he had me completely satisfied by the end of the gig. The crowd were all still shaking their heads in disbelief, leaving the venue, with many saying the same as me " he did so much Tribe"

I remember emailing the people I went with afterwards and all of us upon reflection feeling that same sense of knowing we had witnessed something special...... and I typed in an email.........

"so many people have been waiting for this and for him to just bring it at that level beyond any expectation - thats why for a lot of it I was stunned - couldn't quite believe what I was seeing and hearing.

A lot of the time my " serious music head" friends tend to be in the indie/alternative camp and mock my love of hip hop - but its shows like that which prove to me that I am completely in love with that genre the most - it just gets to me and makes me so happy :o)"

Q-Tip - UFONWK - Q-Tip produced the song "Honey" by Mariah Carey and the criminally underated "Fine" by Whitney Houston.
(NB - yes I know slightly more than 5 lines but its Q-Tip!!)

2) Common - Shepherds Bush Empire (2003)

One of the first hip-hop gigs I went to. Was just after the release of the Electric Circus Album. Was a pretty good gig - considering I was sat up in the balcony. I enjoyed the show a bit more as went with K, and he did all the songs I was expecting him to do. What I wasn't expecting him to do was a) spin on his back ( he did) b) be bald ( he always wore a hat and I know on the electric circus album he has shaved head but when he took his hat off he had bald haircut like my dad!)

Common - UFONWK -Common made an appearance on The Jonas Brothers most recent album, "Lines, Vines and Trying Times" as a guest rapper for the group's song, "Don't Charge Me for the Crime." Now my mini obsession with Joe Jonas can have some credibility since he's hanging with Common!

3) The Roots - Shepherds Bush Empire (2007)/Somerset House (2007)/ Forum Kentish Town (2008)

This group and the 3 gigs cannot be justified in 5 lines - in fact they warrant a whole blog post in themselves which I will post at a later date but in case you haven't heard about them - they are from philadelphia and I urge you to type their name in spotify/last fm and listen!!! One of the few hip hop acts who consist of musicians as well as MC's.

The Roots - UFONWK - The Roots have performed on the kids show Yo Gabba Gabba ( which was made by people who had a very tripped out experience on Acid I'm sure check it out on youtube if you get a chance) with the song "Lovely Love My Family" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAndmB5NLI0&feature=related

4) Mos Def - Shepherds Bush (2007)
Another gig where I was anticipating a great show, as Mr Def is one half of one of the greatest rap duos who ever existed (and recently resurrected in the 2009 Rock the Bells tour) Black Star. Unfortunately didn't help that this gig was inflicted by the curse of the late start which seems to happen all too often - but keeping an expectant crowd waiting for over 50 mins from the scheduled start time ( and that's taking into account he additional 15 mins you add on anyway so was over an hour late in reality), Mos was good and did all the standards. Few surprises, only one black star track and a surprising love fest/tribute to Kanye West which kinda detracted from the point, i.e Mos Def himself but overall glad I got to see him live.

Mos Def - UFONWK -He has 8 kids and has designed some shoes for Converse.

5) De La Soul - Jazz Cafe (2008)

Being one of the first hip hop groups I remember being aware of and liking ( 3ft High and Rising one of the first albums in this genre I remember buying when I was 13) I was really wanting to see them and especially happy to see them at such an intimate venue as the jazz cafe. A few things stick out for me:

1) Before the show started, myself and my friend "N" were heading through the crowd to go outside and meet another friend who's ticket we had. Whilst going through the crowd we suddenly spot Maseo of De La Soul heading towards us. Am sure "N" has rehearsed many a time what to say when confronted with a musical icon such as Mase, perhaps a nonchalant "whatup?" or a "how you doing - loved your work on ...." but no "N" proceeded by tapping Maseo on the shoulder, and after he's turned around waving franctically and saying "Hi" whilst grinning sheepishly - i.e like a complete fanboy. Maseo with a slightly bemused expression murmured something back and carried on through the crowd - and at that point the realisation of how uncool "N" had been dawned on his face - a sight I will never forget as it was so funny!

2) They seemed to go through a lot of songs which was good at the time but then I realised it was because they only did one verse and the chorus the majority of the time.

3) Maseo chucking the free fruit from their green room into the audience including apples which narrowly missed our heads!

4) They didn't do "Keepin the Faith" from the De La Soul is Dead album - my fave track of theirs.

5) The feeling of not gettin 100% value for money particularly felt in hindsight with the Q-Tip gig costing half that of De la Soul.


De La Soul - UFONWK - NME named 3ft High and Rising as its Album of the Year in 1989


OK thats my first 5, 5 more to follow soon..........................

Peace
Naima

Entering the Blogging Universe - my rhyme and reason

" Music , what I live for.......
Music Carries Feeling...............
mixed with passion , oh so healing.

Do as lovers do
and it will take you through
to the other side
where expression you just can't hide ......

Nothing comes close to the feeling"

Music - Omar 1992 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv8X4tNvvDc)

So here I am - finally putting pen to paper - well digits to keyboard to screen - to share my thoughts and views on mainly all things music and perhaps as a sign of this being a good thing for me Marvin Gaye has just come on the radio!

For awhile now I have been thinking about this whole blogging thing - and wondered whether I should start writing down all the thoughts, opinions, ideas, reactions,emotions I feel when I think about music, listen to music, discuss music, have rambling daydreams of "Naima Fest" which one day will surely happen and especially my views about the gigs ( and yes there have been many!) I go to.

I then had some doubts; wondered who would want to read about these thoughts, who would care? Does it matter what I think? Will it take away from the enjoyment of a gig if in the back of my mind I am already trying to form the witty one liners and acerbic or europhic review to be typed at 2am?? But then I thought ( and pardon the language but this is supposed to be an unconscious stream of my thoughts) "fuck it" - I want to do this and after taking inspiration from a few friends who have awesome blogs that I genuinely enjoy reading ( I will name check these guys soon) I decided to take the plunge.

Before I begin in earnest - a few things I would like to state now - the thoughts and views on the music I will discuss are MY VIEWS and mine only - and I will be honest and frank, and that means I may not be objective - there will always be a natural bias in my opinions, especially about something I am so passionate about, and I also hope that those of you reading, do no take any personal offence in what I say, as I can assure you I am not here to offend for the sake of adding some drama to this blog.

Ok so the boring stuff over lets get to the good stuff - THE MUSIC. My inital aim for writing this blog was to review gigs I have attended, but weirdly for me I only have one gig in the diary at the moment (Keith Sweat, 25th September) and that's it - in case you're not familiar with Keith Sweat, my brief biog of him ( from my head) or hereby known as Useless Facts Only Naima Would Know (UFONWK) include:

• late 40 something RnB artist from the USA

• Renowned for his "nasal twang" when singing - distinctive to say the least
  
  
• His first hit was arguably the first ever New Jack Swing Hit " I Want Her" produced by a then 19 year old Teddy Riley
  
  
• Other hits include: Nobody;Twisted;Make it Last Forever;Just a Touch;How Do You Like It (with Lisa"left eye"Lopes of TLC (RIP))
  
  
• Part of "super group" LSG with Gerald Levert (RIP) and Johnny Gill
  
  
• Discovered Kut Klose - who produced one killer slow jam album and then..............

For those interested - here's a video singing my favourite track of his- and surprisingly he has looked pretty much the same since 1987 ( good genes or good plastic surgeon!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbTeyBLmvWc&feature=quicklist

( I bet you're doing the running man in your head listening to this)

Anyways back to the gig thing - I wasn't even planning to go until my lovely friend M offered me a chance to get a ticket and with the gig void in my life I had to say YES. Let's see if he's still got it and can take me back to those heady mid 90s days when RnB meant something even the commercial side of it.

But I digress...................and maybe with reason, in my diary when writing in the Keith Sweat date ( and yes I have a physical diary, not in my blackberry calendar) I skimmed past the Monday 17th August and a wave of sadness washes over me........why you ask? Two initials repeated in a line drawn with such enthusiasm I can see where I pressed the pen into the paper, two initials in capitals all over the 17th August - and am sure you can guess what they were:

MJ MJ MJ MJ MJ MJ MJ

Yes the day where I would have completed the "holy trinity" of my childhood, where I would have been able to say " I was there". I wanted to be able to boast that I would've seen the 3 big influences in shaping my music sensibilities.

• Michael Jackson who was in my music subconscious since the age of 6, when I bought my first record "Thriller". I remember trying to recreate the Thriller video at playtime and wearing out the VHS where I'd taped the Thriller video and then 5 years later wearing out the taped copy of Bad which I begged my mum to record for me as it was on past my bed time!
  

• Madonna who sang about being like a virgin when I was 7 and me singing along not understanding what she meant but with every sigh wishing I was allowed to wear a crucifix and as many black plastic bracelets as could fit on my arms

• and then Prince - who when aged 13 implored me to "gett off" with such passion I was hooked and who forever will mean so much to me as he is the reason I met the "soulmate" I so often heard him and many others sing about..............but that's another story for another day

But the Music God's conspired to not let that happen and for whatever reason they saw fit they took him away.....................and it's the review I wanted to start this blog off with but it was not meant to be, but music is the core to who I am and I hope my ramblings on here, amuse, perhaps enlighten and maybe introduce you to something new, be it a song or a whole new genre. As music is omnipresent in my life I have a feeling many of these posts may not have anything directly to do with music but may be inspired by music anyway. Please feel free to comment, question and even challenge my views but just to let you know I'm usually right :op

Peace Naima