Long posts normally bore people out and keep them from reading the whole thing, but this article was something I thought should be shared with you all. If anything, just read the stuff that's capitalized. Anyway, hope you enjoy:
Somethings To Ponder: No More Bad Shows-Rehearsal is Not A Bad Word
by Davey D
I have been doing this Hip Hop thing for over 20 years, and I finally had enough. For now on my motto is ‘No More Bad Shows’. I’m not sure what’s going on. Nor am I sure as to why, but with Hip Hop being more than 30 years old, there is no excuse for continuous bad shows and I’m sick of it…Over the years there have been more than enough examples of stellar artists who deliver tip top performances. KRS-One, Naughty by Nature, Outkast, Public Enemy, Kool Moe Dee, The Roots, Hiero and Run DMC are among those who get busy on stage.
In a previous column, I mentioned my conversation with rap pioneer Mele-Mel who broke it down and stressed the importance of being able to do live performances. His point was if an emcee can rock a party and have his performance felt then we really need to re-evaluate his emcee status.
Grandmaster Flash also spoke to this a couple of years ago when I interviewed him. He bragged about how back in the group's hey days they would pride themselves on going out on stage as an opening act for top tier groups at the time like the Barkays or Confunkshun, and rip their performances so hard that the crowd would be left exhausted. Flash noted that it wasn’t always a good thing to have them open up a show, because they would take advantage and win the crowd over. He talked about how the group would do their set and then knock on the dressing room doors of the next performer and wish them good luck while laughing because they knew it was hopeless for anyone who followed them.
Nowadays, I’m not sure if artists don’t pay attention or have a false sense of reality, but I been to one too many shows where I finally had to say enough is enough… No More Bad Shows. In 2005 there is no excuse to see a group on stage that hasn’t mastered holding the mic correctly. I’m tired of hearing a cat yell 15 times for the soundman to turn up his sound. I’m tired of seeing the artists on stage with 55 homeboys from his neighborhood who all wanna shout into the mic at the same time…
Gone are the days when people would actually rehearse for their shows and work on well timed routines. Far too often it feels like the acts I’m watching got word several minutes before they came on stage that they are performing. The word ‘Rehearsal’ seems like a foreign concept and unfortunately no one has been honest enough to let cats know that getting high or getting drunk before you hit the stage will improve your performance. But hey, we live and learn-so today I’m gonna pass along a few gems.
Below are some 5 hard and fast rules that I want everyone to pass along to up and coming artists so you don’t have to pay hard earned money to see a popular act that can’t hold his weight. I included one bonus Golden Rule
1-DON’T TELL THE SOUNDMAN TO TURN YOU UP- If you’re not the headlining act you will only be given so much sound… The problem here is a lot of acts don’t show up for sound check and they basically wind up working things out on stage in front of a live audience.
The other mishap is that they have not recruited their own trained, professional sound guy who can take over the boards while they are performing and make sure everything is just right… Acts like KRS or PE always have their own qualified people working the boards during a show.
Last, make sure to get some good monitors or make sure the ones you have been provided with are good. What usually happens is a guy is on stage yelling “turn it up” because he can’t hear or feel himself in the monitors. By the time the house sound is turned up we the audience are subjected to distorted speakers.
2-ALWAYS LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE-This applies to new groups. Look, let’s be honest, if you new to the scene, do 2 or 3 songs and bounce. Don’t do an entire album worth of material. Don’t do your old demo songs before you got signed. Trust me, no one wants to hear all that. They are waiting for the headliners. Come in do a couple of songs. Do them well and leave the crowd saying ‘Damn they were good I WISH they did more’. Don’t leave the crowd saying ‘Damn I WISH he'd hurry up and get off the stage.’
3-ALWAYS HAVE PLAN A, PLAN B AND PLAN C- Look, we all been to enough shows to know the sound is always messing up or that the turntables are gonna skip or the CD player isn’t working correctly. This has occurred enough times for us to know that a prudent rapper will have back up plans ready to go in case of a malfunction.
I know a lot of artists who pride themselves on carrying a set of choice battle rhymes in the back of their heads just in case they are called out. They clearly understand the importance of anticipating and being prepared. With that in mind, I’m confused as to why that same artists does not have a few stage shows prepared for those ‘just in case’ moments.
If the sound is bad I suggest an act cut his set short and tell the crowd the sound is bad so while the house gets it fixed up, he’ll rock it accappella. A really good artist will have a nice accappella show prepared as back up. By doing this the artists keeps the crowd entertained and sympathetic to his plight. He puts the house on note that it’s their fault, not his for the messed up sound.
The other thing is for an artist to shorten his songs. If the sound is bad a good act should have a music medley set ready that contains shortened versions of his hit songs. The worse thing one can do is try and rock an entire song when the sound is faulty. Keep it moving is the name of the game.
4-DON’T BRING 50 PEOPLE ON STAGE UNLESS THEY ARE INVOLVED IN A CHOREOGRAPHED ROUTINE.-This has got to be the biggest complaint folks have about rap shows. You have a guy who is either insecure in his showmanship abilities or he feels like he owes his homeboys a thing or two, so he invites everyone on stage who in turn decide that they wanna be big stars like the act we paid to see. This is extremely wack.
What I suggest is that if you really must bring the entire posse on stage make sure they 1-Aren’t holding any mics. 2-Ask them to make like Fat Joe and ‘Lean Back’ so that the performing artist is the center of attention.
If one must bring a whole bunch of folks on stage try and put them to work. Have them all dress the same or have them do some sort of choreographed routine. Good examples of this might be Public Enemy’s S1W soldiers or Bay Area artist Paris who during a recent show had his homies all wearing black hoodies while they held up signs emphasizing the points Paris was making in his songs. At the very least have them develop some sort of synchronized routine or walk through the audience carrying banners but by all means get them off the stage.
Lastly if we gonna have a bunch of cats on stage holding mics, please make sure they don’t all talk at once. Back in the days, groups like the Crash Crew and GM Flash or the Cold Crush excelled in harmonizing. If you gonna get on the stage and be a group, act like one-complete with well rehearsed routines that are reflected all the way down to the way you dress.
5-LEARN TO WORK THE MIC- It seems simple enough, but apparently for many artists the simple task of holding a microphone correctly alludes them. Please stop cuffing the mic. Hold it away from your mouth so we can hear you clearly. Carry an extra set of batteries so you can recharge the wireless one just in case the house is in short supply. Most good emcees actually invest in their own mics which they bring to shows. This is no different then a good deejay who shows up with his own needles. Kool Moe Dee speaks a lot about this. He wants folks to learn how to be clear on the mic and it starts with you having good mic technique. Instead of having all your homeboys on stage, send a few out in the audience where they can positioned in the front and the back and can signal to you when you arejn't sounding clear or your distorting.
BONUS RULE-STOP YELLING ‘EVERYBODY SAY ‘HO’-Yes I know getting a crowd to respond to your every command can give one a sense of power. How can you not be seduced? But like I said before, Hip Hop is 30 years old and when pioneers like Keith ‘Cowboy’ came along back in the mid 70s, he started off that ancient ‘call and response’ routine’. Over the years that whole bit has been done and redone with different variations and new words infused designed to get us hype. But let’s keep it real folks. For most people who do the whole ‘Get the Crowd’ hype thing, it’s a crutch designed to hide the lack of skillz. Furthermore, we in the audience know it’s a crutch. Yes, Lil Jon can do this well. That’s his MO. It’s his area of expertise and it shows when he rocks a party. He took that whole bit to new heights. So for the rest of us please let’s leave the call and response thing to him and move on.
Also let’s please refrain from doing that tired bit where we try to see which side of the room is the loudest. It’s old. It’s worn. It’s 2005 lets try something new.
Somethings To Ponder: No More Bad Shows-Rehearsal is Not A Bad Word
by Davey D
I have been doing this Hip Hop thing for over 20 years, and I finally had enough. For now on my motto is ‘No More Bad Shows’. I’m not sure what’s going on. Nor am I sure as to why, but with Hip Hop being more than 30 years old, there is no excuse for continuous bad shows and I’m sick of it…Over the years there have been more than enough examples of stellar artists who deliver tip top performances. KRS-One, Naughty by Nature, Outkast, Public Enemy, Kool Moe Dee, The Roots, Hiero and Run DMC are among those who get busy on stage.
In a previous column, I mentioned my conversation with rap pioneer Mele-Mel who broke it down and stressed the importance of being able to do live performances. His point was if an emcee can rock a party and have his performance felt then we really need to re-evaluate his emcee status.
Grandmaster Flash also spoke to this a couple of years ago when I interviewed him. He bragged about how back in the group's hey days they would pride themselves on going out on stage as an opening act for top tier groups at the time like the Barkays or Confunkshun, and rip their performances so hard that the crowd would be left exhausted. Flash noted that it wasn’t always a good thing to have them open up a show, because they would take advantage and win the crowd over. He talked about how the group would do their set and then knock on the dressing room doors of the next performer and wish them good luck while laughing because they knew it was hopeless for anyone who followed them.
Nowadays, I’m not sure if artists don’t pay attention or have a false sense of reality, but I been to one too many shows where I finally had to say enough is enough… No More Bad Shows. In 2005 there is no excuse to see a group on stage that hasn’t mastered holding the mic correctly. I’m tired of hearing a cat yell 15 times for the soundman to turn up his sound. I’m tired of seeing the artists on stage with 55 homeboys from his neighborhood who all wanna shout into the mic at the same time…
Gone are the days when people would actually rehearse for their shows and work on well timed routines. Far too often it feels like the acts I’m watching got word several minutes before they came on stage that they are performing. The word ‘Rehearsal’ seems like a foreign concept and unfortunately no one has been honest enough to let cats know that getting high or getting drunk before you hit the stage will improve your performance. But hey, we live and learn-so today I’m gonna pass along a few gems.
Below are some 5 hard and fast rules that I want everyone to pass along to up and coming artists so you don’t have to pay hard earned money to see a popular act that can’t hold his weight. I included one bonus Golden Rule
1-DON’T TELL THE SOUNDMAN TO TURN YOU UP- If you’re not the headlining act you will only be given so much sound… The problem here is a lot of acts don’t show up for sound check and they basically wind up working things out on stage in front of a live audience.
The other mishap is that they have not recruited their own trained, professional sound guy who can take over the boards while they are performing and make sure everything is just right… Acts like KRS or PE always have their own qualified people working the boards during a show.
Last, make sure to get some good monitors or make sure the ones you have been provided with are good. What usually happens is a guy is on stage yelling “turn it up” because he can’t hear or feel himself in the monitors. By the time the house sound is turned up we the audience are subjected to distorted speakers.
2-ALWAYS LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE-This applies to new groups. Look, let’s be honest, if you new to the scene, do 2 or 3 songs and bounce. Don’t do an entire album worth of material. Don’t do your old demo songs before you got signed. Trust me, no one wants to hear all that. They are waiting for the headliners. Come in do a couple of songs. Do them well and leave the crowd saying ‘Damn they were good I WISH they did more’. Don’t leave the crowd saying ‘Damn I WISH he'd hurry up and get off the stage.’
3-ALWAYS HAVE PLAN A, PLAN B AND PLAN C- Look, we all been to enough shows to know the sound is always messing up or that the turntables are gonna skip or the CD player isn’t working correctly. This has occurred enough times for us to know that a prudent rapper will have back up plans ready to go in case of a malfunction.
I know a lot of artists who pride themselves on carrying a set of choice battle rhymes in the back of their heads just in case they are called out. They clearly understand the importance of anticipating and being prepared. With that in mind, I’m confused as to why that same artists does not have a few stage shows prepared for those ‘just in case’ moments.
If the sound is bad I suggest an act cut his set short and tell the crowd the sound is bad so while the house gets it fixed up, he’ll rock it accappella. A really good artist will have a nice accappella show prepared as back up. By doing this the artists keeps the crowd entertained and sympathetic to his plight. He puts the house on note that it’s their fault, not his for the messed up sound.
The other thing is for an artist to shorten his songs. If the sound is bad a good act should have a music medley set ready that contains shortened versions of his hit songs. The worse thing one can do is try and rock an entire song when the sound is faulty. Keep it moving is the name of the game.
4-DON’T BRING 50 PEOPLE ON STAGE UNLESS THEY ARE INVOLVED IN A CHOREOGRAPHED ROUTINE.-This has got to be the biggest complaint folks have about rap shows. You have a guy who is either insecure in his showmanship abilities or he feels like he owes his homeboys a thing or two, so he invites everyone on stage who in turn decide that they wanna be big stars like the act we paid to see. This is extremely wack.
What I suggest is that if you really must bring the entire posse on stage make sure they 1-Aren’t holding any mics. 2-Ask them to make like Fat Joe and ‘Lean Back’ so that the performing artist is the center of attention.
If one must bring a whole bunch of folks on stage try and put them to work. Have them all dress the same or have them do some sort of choreographed routine. Good examples of this might be Public Enemy’s S1W soldiers or Bay Area artist Paris who during a recent show had his homies all wearing black hoodies while they held up signs emphasizing the points Paris was making in his songs. At the very least have them develop some sort of synchronized routine or walk through the audience carrying banners but by all means get them off the stage.
Lastly if we gonna have a bunch of cats on stage holding mics, please make sure they don’t all talk at once. Back in the days, groups like the Crash Crew and GM Flash or the Cold Crush excelled in harmonizing. If you gonna get on the stage and be a group, act like one-complete with well rehearsed routines that are reflected all the way down to the way you dress.
5-LEARN TO WORK THE MIC- It seems simple enough, but apparently for many artists the simple task of holding a microphone correctly alludes them. Please stop cuffing the mic. Hold it away from your mouth so we can hear you clearly. Carry an extra set of batteries so you can recharge the wireless one just in case the house is in short supply. Most good emcees actually invest in their own mics which they bring to shows. This is no different then a good deejay who shows up with his own needles. Kool Moe Dee speaks a lot about this. He wants folks to learn how to be clear on the mic and it starts with you having good mic technique. Instead of having all your homeboys on stage, send a few out in the audience where they can positioned in the front and the back and can signal to you when you arejn't sounding clear or your distorting.
BONUS RULE-STOP YELLING ‘EVERYBODY SAY ‘HO’-Yes I know getting a crowd to respond to your every command can give one a sense of power. How can you not be seduced? But like I said before, Hip Hop is 30 years old and when pioneers like Keith ‘Cowboy’ came along back in the mid 70s, he started off that ancient ‘call and response’ routine’. Over the years that whole bit has been done and redone with different variations and new words infused designed to get us hype. But let’s keep it real folks. For most people who do the whole ‘Get the Crowd’ hype thing, it’s a crutch designed to hide the lack of skillz. Furthermore, we in the audience know it’s a crutch. Yes, Lil Jon can do this well. That’s his MO. It’s his area of expertise and it shows when he rocks a party. He took that whole bit to new heights. So for the rest of us please let’s leave the call and response thing to him and move on.
Also let’s please refrain from doing that tired bit where we try to see which side of the room is the loudest. It’s old. It’s worn. It’s 2005 lets try something new.
