To be honest, there weren’t very many performers at this years Paid Dues that piqued my interest at first. Not because none of the slated artists were any good, but because I didn’t know how fucking good they actually were. You’ve got to understand that I’m very finicky about what I listen to. Until this past year, I’ve tended to stick with the classics that I grew up with. I never really liked new artists. I haven’t listened to the radio in years (for obvious reasons), and most of the alternative underground MCs I’ve always dismissed as being pretentious and annoyingly self-righteous. Thanks to my recent discovery of the hip hop blog, this has started to gradually change in recent months. The only early performance at Paid Dues that I was really looking forward to was Blu and Exile. I was pissed to find myself stuck in heavy traffic on the 10 freeway at 3:30 in the afternoon. I knew I wasn’t going to make it by their 4 o’clock set time. Thankfully I didn’t actually miss them. I found out later that they’d been stuck in the exact same mess that I had been crawling through at 10 miles an hour and missed their own performance.
At 5:30 I finally got to the NOS Events Center, but spent a half hour driving around talking to inept security guards and trying to find out whether or not there was a section for press parking. By the time I’d gotten my credentials from will call and crossed the checkpoint, Eligh and the Grouch were just ending their set. I got a drink and eased myself into the crowd. The Stylistics sample from the opening track of B-Real’s Smoke and Mirrors was blasting from the PA to bring him out to the stage. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, I wasn’t the only one who was pleased when he subsequently launched into “How Could I Just Kill A Man.” I got a text from Tech N9ne’s publicist and got called off to do our scheduled 7:30 interview slightly earlier. As I headed back toward the press building I got an unmistakable whiff of potent Cali bud as B transitioned into “I Wanna Get High.”
By the time I’d finished talking to Tech and buying another screwdriver in the VIP building, Brother Ali had already begun his performance. The two kids waiting in line for drinks in front of me were so damn excited that they scurried away to go catch the performance from the beginning. I was indifferent. This May sound like blasphemy but I’d never really listened to Brother Ali. I didn’t know what I was missing. The carefree whistles of “Walking Away” had the crowd in a trance as I rejoined them. Ali is a big man – and he also most certainly has a big stage presence. His soulful sing-songy vocals are far more captivating when you hear them live. I watched intently as he completed his set. Now I was a fan.
I started to head off to buy another drink when he finished, but had to run back at top speed when I happened to hear Slaughterhouse being introduced. They were the act I had been looking forward to most and there was absolutely no excuse for missing their premier West Coast performance. It was classic – Royce in his blood spattered surgical scrubs, Joell in his similarly spattered butcher’s apron, and Joe Budden in his orange prison jumpsuit seemed to make it perfectly clear that the latest hip hop supergroup was not intended to be a flash in the pan. I watched them perform “Slaughterhouse” from the far left side of the crowd before I realized that I could use my press pass to get right up next to the stage. I managed to get some good video of Joell performing “Hip-Hop” before security decided that the press area should be cleared out for some odd reason. Even from deep in the crowd, I was thrilled to watch Royce, Joe, Crook, and Joell trade off verses during their closing performance of “Onslaught.”
I used the break between sets to go buy another drink, make a few calls, and buy a burrito. When I got back, the members of Living Legends were onstage engaging in a mock freestyle battle. It was good to see Murs back with his MC brethren. When they left, I took the opportunity to strategically position myself in the tiny press area for Tech N9ne’s performance. He appeared in a hooded black robe and tore it down. I’d never seen an MC perform with such raw energy and showmanship. There was no lackadaisical meandering across the stage whatsoever. He, Krizz Kallico and Kutt Calhoun were like some kind of demonic hip hop Temptations – animating their rapid fire rhymes with staccato gestures and wild movements that seemed just as erratic as it seemed organized. Before closing with “Caribou Lou” Tech left the crowd with powerful words, “We ain’t shit without the muthafuckin’ fans and these pussy-ass rappers need to realize that. Whenever you ask them to sign their fuckin’ name and they treat you like a punk, say ‘fuck you, nigga! I listen to Tech N9ne anyway!’”
With a performance like that, I had no idea how Atmosphere was going to be able to pull off closing the festival. As with Brother Ali, I had underestimated them. Slug came bounding out with a huge warm smile on his face. He opened with “God Loves Ugly,” and the crowd went nuts. Then he brought Brother Ali out to perform “Cat Van Bags” and they damn near lost their minds. I was most impressed with the way Slug handled the crowd. It was almost like he was actually interacting with them – not just spitting rhymes at them. He was like some kind of hip hop mentor, and they were hanging onto his every word. The last surprise was when he brought out his old pal Murs – the mastermind behind Paid Dues – to reunite Felt.
After working the crowd into such a frenzy, Slug and Ant tapered off the energy with class with their last two songs. I watched the tears stream from the eyes of the girls pressed up against the barricade as Slug delivered a beautiful performance of “Sunshine” followed by the heartbreaking “Yesterday.” There was no better way to end it. Slug said it best during his performance, it had been a day filled with artists that were all “different branches of this huge tree we call hip hop.” He was just the glue that held it all together. As the mass exodus began, I could see the long line of fans at Tech N9ne’s booth waiting to get autographs. I caught a glimpse of him posing with fans for pictures and diligently scribbling away. He was a man of his word.
Related Reads:
VIDEO: Joell Ortiz @ Paid Dues
VIDEO Tech N9ne at Paid Dues
VIDEO: Atmosphere x Brother Ali @ Paid Dues
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