July 30, 2007 @ 1:01 pm

Rock the Bells, Randall's Island, NY (review)

by: Brent S. Grier

Braving heat and dehydration to bring you an artist-by-artist takedown of this major hip hop tour.

The Rock the Bells Tour, comprised of mostly '90s East Coast rap, is indirectly touted as one of the last venues of what some people call "real hip hop." Luckily, the phrase wasn't jammed down anyone's throat the day thousands of fans packed onto Randall's Island, NY, Saturday, July 28, to see some of "real hip hop"'s biggest names. Accordingly, former Roots beatboxer Rahzel and rapper Supernatural hosted, though Rahzel kept the beatboxing to a minimum and primarily served as Supernatural's hype man. When he did do his own thing, the crowd cheered in admiration for the "Human MPC," as Supernatural called him. Supernatural himself is an interesting figure. Known primarily for his freestyle skills, both he and Rock the Bells acknowledge him as the Guinness World recordholder for the longest freestyle ever (although Supernatural states his time at nine hours and 15 minutes, while Rock the Bells has him three minutes shorter). As a rapper, he's pretty decent and he includes the crowd in his freestyles, but the most entertaining part of his onstage time was a series of dead-on impersonations of Slick Rick, Busta Rhymes, Biggie, and Wu Tang (though his Method Man could use some work).

Supernatural.

Immortal Technique has long been a political megaphone, so it fit that Saturday's main show officially began with his performance. Supernatural introduced him as the "hip hop Che Guevara," which is a pretty lofty comparison to make. But it's hard not coming away with some tidbit of Socialism after hearing a few songs... and it was a few songs. Immortal Technique has a pretty small catalogue compared to some of the other luminaries on the bill, but he worked around it, allowing his crew to get a few verses off and letting his DJ, G.I. Joe, perform a short set on the turntables. Immortal ended his set with "Bin Laden," which has a good message, but fell short since Mos Def didn't pop out for his verse (he understandably stayed behind the scenes until Talib Kweli's set). Even so, Immortal impressed. Pharoahe Monch followed, beginning with cuts from his latest, Desire, which is one of the better albums released this year. Unfortunately, he performed with a live band that effectively drowned him out until he went into his verse on Styles P's "My Life." The crowd collectively went insane when he got to "Simon Says." Seeing as there were no seats, it made telling the crowd to "get the f*ck up" all the easier. EPMD was up next and kept the crowd jumping, although the duo of Erick Sermon and Parish Smith seemed a little preoccupied with the fact that they were one of the older acts of the day. "You Gots to Chill" and "So What Cha Sayin" are great examples of sampling done right and DJ Scratch's turntables skills are as good now as I've ever seen. EPMD left the stage promoting their upcoming album, We Mean Business - which is totally unnecessary, but okay. Of all the day's performances, Talib Kweli's was by far the most polished, as he unapologetically burned through "I Try," "Move Something" and "Say Something." Talib's been pegged as an artist struggling to stay strong to his ideals while achieving crossover success, and an opening like the one at Rock the Bells does nothing to stop that conception. He brought out Mos Def out to an ovation that rivaled his own, and the two went into their Black Star shtick, which is a good thing, followed by Mos singing (?) for most of his set, which was especially calming on a scorching hot Saturday afternoon. I kept expecting to hear " Umi Says," but that never happened. By this time the crowd was pretty amped, but quickly losing life because of the intense heat. Beverages were somewhat nearby, but the combination of insane prices and the fear of losing a prime viewpoint of the concert kept most of the crowd right where they were.

Public Enemy.

Public Enemy were the elder statesmen of the show, but the Rock the Bells crowd, along with Flavor Flav's recent resurgence in popularity thanks to his reality show made the band as relevant as any of the other acts. They still can put on a good show even though they showed their age when Flav brought out his kids to greet the crowd. Chuck D running around the stage in all his fist-pumping glory is still a sight to see.

?uestlove of The Roots.

The Roots gave one of the more mellow performances by the days standards, but while a few acts experimented with live bands, the group showed an unmatched mastery that you have to respect. Something about Cypress Hill brings out the inner crazy person in a lot of people and it's kind of cool, until you find yourself in the middle of impromptu mosh pit. They're the closest act on the Rock the Bells line-up to Rage Against the Machine, in the sense that they incorporate heavy metal into their songs, but nowhere close to Rage. "How I Could Just Kill A Man" is still a powerful song and I've got the bruise to prove it.

RZA.

Save for Rage, the star power that the tour boasts seems to be irrelevant after you mention Wu Tang Clan. During the nearly two-hour journey to Randall's island there were less inquiries to whether "Are you going to Rock the Bells?" and more "Are you going to see Wu?" To this day, it's still a pretty amazing sight whenever the entire Clan shows up to do a show. With an image of the Shaolin temple behind them, the Wu took a crowd that by this point was running on fumes, and gave them a second wind. The audience itself seemed to swell and a few brave souls managed to crowd surf for a few seconds before crashing back down to the ground. The set was relatively short, seeing as their combined discography could have kept them onstage all evening. Their special guest was Redman, who teamed up with Method Man to perform "Da Rockwilder" - that never gets old. After a little more Wu, they filed off the stage and I got the impression fans were disappointed that there was no hint of a new album.

Method Man.

A lot of people came to the concert just for Rage Against the Machine, and it's clear why. Rage gave one of the better shows of the day despite most of the crowd being on their feet for at least eight hours. The set was pretty well put together considering they've only recently gotten back to performing together and given the fact they only have one great album and two other decent ones. They also managed to protest the ills of the world without standing around naked, which is always a plus. Toward the end of the show Rage rapper Zach de la Rocha clarified a statement he made earlier in the year about wanting President Bush assassinated. He stated that he actually doesn't want Bush assassinated, but rather tried as a war criminal, then killed. So at least now that's cleared up.

Rage Against the Machine.

Heat aside, the concert was a good way to see some great acts without feeling totally put off by their stardom. At one point I swear Immortal Technique was walking around the other end of the park, chatting with random people near the promotional booths. How many concerts does that happen at?

Article tags: Rock, Bells, Randall's, Island, NY, Review 

del.icio.us digg Furl Reddit YahooMyWeb

Page printed from:
http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2007/07/rock_the_bells_review/

Return to previous page