Sometime around 1990, two guys went into a college radio station late at night and spent the next few hours playing hip-hop records and cracking each other up. They called themselves Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia, and both went on to become well-respected guys in the hip-hop and dance music scenes. The Stretch And Bobbito Show (as it was usually called) ran for a decade, introduced important records, promoted rappers who would go on to long and legendary careers, was required listening for a generation of New Yorkers, and swung in a moment from cutting edge hip-hop tracks to on-air giggling fits. And last night, there was a show at Le Poisson Rouge celebrating the 20th Anniversary (give or take a year) of their radio program.
And, like the radio show that it paid tribute to/revived, the gig was a strange and unique mix of street smarts and silliness. The advertisements out front read “Stretch Armstrong And Bobbito (with special guests)”, and that vague description was more than enough to pack the mid-sized basement venue… A couch off to the side served as both VIP area and seating for press, a couple turntables and a laptop were set up in the middle, a projection screen loomed in the rear, and a whole bunch of people milled around nodding their heads to the music. Stretch spun tunes, low-fi video clips of live radio sessions from the 90s played, and then (eventually) someone would make their way to the front of the stage and begin rapping.
Doors opened at ten, I got to the venue a little after midnight and secured a spot off to the side to watch the proceedings. (First rule of NYC hip-hop shows: nobody ever missed anything important by being a couple of hours late.) I got to see some amazing performances by hip-hop royalty over the course of the evening, heard some amazing songs that I’d forgotten about (and quite a few that I was unfamiliar with), and mostly was just one of a bunch of people there to have a good time and hang out.
There were plenty of great moments: Raekwon and Masta Killa performing “C.R.E.A.M.” over the instrumental to “Shook Ones Pt. II”; the criminally underrated Artifacts reuniting to perform “Wrong Side Of The Tracks”; performances from Buckshot, Masta Ace, Rock from Heltah Skeltah, Natural Elements; Lord Sear freestyling a love poem of sorts; Nice & Smooth doing a mini-set of their classics, with DJ Premier joining them for “DWYCK”; Beatnuts entering the stage to the strains of their seminal “Do You Believe?” and ripping through a three song mini-set like their lives depended on it.
The momentum stopped and started, there were long quiet stretches alongside moments of great excitement, and at the end the crowd slowly dissipated and the music kept playing while a bunch of people walked around hugging and shaking hands and posing for photos and putting on their coats. In all, it was a fun little evening that perfectly evoked the radio show it commemorated: two guys playing records they love, and everyone enjoying themselves.
[Footnote: if you’ve never heard an episode of the original S&B program, it’s highly recommended… Home-taped copies of the shows still circulate, mp3s are pretty easy to find on the internet, and Stretch himself has a blog where he’s posted some files.]
Photos © 2011 Marnie Ann Joyce. Additional photos from this event can be seen here.
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