The Hip-Hop Gods tour rolled through New York City on November 29th, hitting Irving Plaza with a three-hour review of classic rap music.
Johnny ‘Juice’ Rosado was the DJ for the evening, and set the tone for an amazing variety of performers: Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers, Dinco D from Leaders Of The New School, Monie Love, Schooly D, X-Clan, and headliners Public Enemy. All the acts played great sets, but a couple were worthy of particular note: Schooly D held crowd rapt with nothing but his sheer charisma and a single microphone, performing outstanding versions of his classic tunes (including ‘Gucci Time’ and ‘PSK What Does It Mean?’). And Monie Love not only rocked the audience with her hits (‘Monie In The Middle’, ‘Ladies First’, ‘It’s A Shame’), but addressed head-on the issue of female representation in Hip-Hop culture, and spoke directly about the difficulty of finding role models for women in rap.
And then, of course, Public Enemy tore the house down. Riding high off the success of their two new albums, and with decades of strong material to pull from, they delivered a breathtaking performance. The S1Ws marched, Professor Griff contributed interjections and backing vocals, DJ Lord dropped beat after funky beat, the backing group (the BaNNed) gave a masterclass in hard-hitting musicianship – and of course, frontmen Flavor Flav and Chuck D led the attack as only they can. Flav hopped, high-kicked, shouted, played bass, drummed, sang, rapped, and danced; a nonstop whirlwind of manic energy. And Chuck was the center of the storm, commanding everyone’s attention, firing off flurries of words, inspiring with his voice, his words, and his unshakeable sense of righteous showmanship.
The Hip-Hop Gods tour continues across America through December 13th – full tourdates and information can be found on the official website.
Photos © 2012 Marnie Ann Joyce. Additional photos from this event can be seen here.