Photo by Lexi Tannenholtz/RESPECT.

Real hip-hop fans accept that hip-hop comes in many forms and at SOB’s Thursday night, real hip-hop fans were definitely in the building. Though the crowd was drawn to the event by Elzhi, the people’s champ of Detroit emcees, they accepted the various acts that preceded him with open ears.

The night began with a brief set from Joe Cool, a young emcee from Louisiana. Cool started off with some technical difficulties, but his charismatic set and frequent acapella verses kept the party people enthused and animated. The highlight of his set was his track, “I Wanna Sell Drugs,” a painful song about the difficulty of being patient when [legal] opportunities are limited.

Cool was followed by 4th Pyramid, an emcee from Toronto. Accompanied by local artist Double AB, Pyramid promptly started his set, sans introduction. He wasn’t as energized as Joe’s, but the party people’s buzz stayed alive throughout. The most memorable moment of his set was when he donned a boxing robe to perform his song, “So Balboa.” Pyramid looked kind of corny in the robe, but also looked comfortable, as if he was really channeling Rocky, so things worked out. Kind of.

Most members of the crowd expected Elxhi’s entrance to follow Pyramid’s exit, but that wasn’t the case. New York based rapper Sene was next up. Audaciously rapping and singing during his set, Sene was a confident performer. He didn’t manage to quell the anxious crowd – only Elzhi could do that – but he did manage to keep things as sane as possible.

After Sene wrapped his brief set up, Elzhi finally emerged. Humble and respectful, he addressed the crowd with true appreciation for coming out to the show. Because brief introductions were the theme of the night, he began his set posthaste. “I been hotter than these pen jotters,” he spat in his first song. The line stood out because though he is informally known as “Detroit’s Best Kept Secret,” that didn’t seem to be the case last night. The audience effortlessly and excitedly rapped along to his verses throughout the night. The secret is definitely out.

Elzhi mostly performed songs from Elmatic, but songs like “Guessing Game” and “Motown 25” from his debut album The Preface also got some spins, greatly pleasing the crowd. The plucky emcee even performed his verse from the Slum Village song “Do You,” afterward shouting out to his former comrades and wishing J Dilla a peaceful rest.

The crowd was exuberant throughout Elzhi’s set, but songs from Elmatic had the crowd particularly amped. The album’s fusion of the old with the new really resonated with the SOB crowd, an intriguing mixture of hip-hop “purists” and “futurists.” Simultaneously embodying various hip-hop legacies — Detroit’s, New York’s, Nas’,  — the Elmatic song “Represent” resonated most strongly, especially when Elzhi’s DJ intercalated the song with the Wu Tang classic “C.R.E.A.M.”

All in all, it was a night to remember. As hip-hop progressively bleeds more and more into different genres and styles, it doesn’t lose its life force, but becomes stronger, more vital. It’s kind of counterintuitive, but definitely a positive state of affairs. With artists like Elzhi and fans like the people who came out to SOBs, things will only get better.

Look out for exclusive concert pics in the near future.

The post Elzhi, “Detroit’s Best Kept Secret,” Proves to be No Secret in NYC appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

It was dreary weather in Toronto last Friday. Rain poured heavily on the streets all day, so much that Union Station flooded and commuters had to rely on other methods to get to and from work — or they simply had to walk. Yet, as it got to be rush hour, and the sun went down behind a shroud of storm clouds, as well as the Absolute World Towers to the West, a wholly different vibe swept across the docks of Queen’s Quay. Hip-hop fans of all stripes and colors — stoner kids, backpackers, hip-hop geeks, Rastas, Somalians, Islanders, whatever – showed up at the Sound Academy on Polson Pier to see Talib Kweli perform alongside native openers 4th Pyramid and J. Pinder.

First to perform — not counting the DJ, Big Jacks, whom I have in my Gonzo notes as a “master of expressing different voices emanating from his sound machine” — was 4th Pyramid. According to 4th himself, who recounted his origins during a mid-show skit, he “packed his bags when [he] was twenty and got signed to a little label called Def Jux, and then released [his] single, ‘Aquatic.’” Now, a couple years later, 4th is out with his new LP, The Pyramid Scheme, which he claims was at least “five years in the making.”

At around 10:30, 4th swaggered confidently onto the stage in a pair of Guess jeans, his trademark braids, and a black New Era cap pulled down over his brow. He spit fire on “So Balboa,” “Creep Quick,” which is a phonky beat by Toronto rapper/producer Rich Kidd, “Webslinger,” the first single off the project, and “Can’t Stop.” “Can’t Stop,” performed live, may have been the only misstep in a convincingly taut set. The record is a melancholic lament on the loneliness of being an artist, but somehow it clashed with the reality of 4th performing the track to the couple hundred curious fans.

After 4th was a second opener by the name of J. Pinder, another local fare. Although Pinder commanded the crowd well, I have in my notes that he was merely “young,” for better or worse. His music sounded like the theme song to a Japanese cartoon.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t until after midnight that anticipation for Kweli began to swell inside the venue. The place was now packed, at least 1000 people, and fans rushed in from the smoking section by the Lake to get a good spot for the main show. When Kweli rushed the stage in a Warhol-inspired ODB t-shirt he did so with his two bandmates, a bass guitarist, and a shirtless rock n’ roll drummer with dreads swinging – a true rock n’ roll-meets-hip-hop crew. Kweli and co. dove right in to records off the new album, Prisoner of Conscious, ascending rock n’ roll anthems, and then mellowed things out with some tracks from the Black Star collaboration. The highlight of Kweli’s set however came via a rock n’ roll rendition of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” which Kweli has reinterpreted, in classic hip-hop fashion, to knock harder and rise higher. As Kweli extended his arms to the sky, his brusque black frame shining amongst the strobe lights, belting along to the female-assisted chorus of “Lonely People,” fans got a true taste of why they still go out to shows in the wake of the blogosphere phenomenon: to ‘feel’ the magic and to dance.

And so, it wasn’t until at least 2 a.m. that the 1,000 or so sparkly-eyed hip-hop enthusiasts filed out of the Sound Academy into the cool night air. The rain had stopped and the mist was clearing from overtop the breaking waters of Lake Ontario. From the parking lot of the Sound Academy ($20 for the whole night) you could see the entire Toronto skyline, the tall buildings holding firm against the strong June breeze. Somewhere among those buildings was Union Station, flooded and out of service, but after 4th, J. Pinder, and Talib Kweli’s electrifying performances, no one was complaining about walking home.

The post Recap: Talib Kweli & 4th Pyramid @ Toronto appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Get your tickets now at Tickmaster and take a cruise up North to see the T-Dot in the Spring time.

FYI, our cops still ride horses.

The post Event: 4th Pyramid/Talib Kweli in Toronto appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.