PERTHQUAKE

It seemed like  just a normal Saturday night at Villa on the 13th of March, little did I know what I was going to be experiencing later that night. It was fair to say that it was a true rap experience, a true rap concert. The first thing I noticed was the sound system, im really reluctant to be criticising because I really had a great time although the sound system was really not suited for hip-hop or rap. It sounded very distorted and we actually had to swap to the other side because it just wasnt tolerable from where we were.

The official Raekwon was on getting the crowd going before Raekwon appeared, he did a great job dropping “bombs” for the crowd to sing along. As far as I remembered, Villa was chanting tunes from Biggie, Nas & Jay Z. At this stage Villa was cranking like it was 1993, back in the “Golden Era” where people were just chucking the Wu ’s in the air, screaming WU-TANG ! Raekwon came out to this and I think wanted to repay this love and dropped “C.R.E.A.M”, which in my books is in the category of “Best Rap Tracks Of All Time”. It was the commercial success of “Enter the Wu-Tang”, it made them. Raekwon kept this party vibe going as he got the crowd bouncing the whole night. He played a lot of his original album from 1995, “Only Built For Cuban Linxx” and mixture of his newer stuff. The highlight of my night was when Raekwon did a Old Dirty Bastard tribute, he got everyone chanting “R.I.P  O.D.B” and followed it with Shimmy Shimmy Ya ! The vibe was really grooving by this time.

He left his new single, The Nu Wu to my memory was the one of the final tracks and by this time the crowd was chanting his name. He finished it with a big speech if you like to call it that, telling the crowd to “rep” where they came from and also added that Perth surprised him with how we got down to rap !

Pharoahe Monch needs no introduction, if you don’t know who he is; you know that song ‘Simon Says’? You know ‘rub on ya titties, yeah i said it, rub on ya titties’? Yeah that song, that’s Pharoahe Monch.

Got there just before Naik was due to start, and thank god I did, this guy is insane. He was joined by a drummer, local DJ hero and Paper Chain Head Honcho Kit Pop, plus a plethora of equipment. All combined they put on a fantastic sounding performance, reminiscent of the sort of DJ Shadow side of Hip Hop production. It was great to see a live act included in the support, it worked to give the show some real depth.

When Pharoahe got on stage at just after 12, Villa was well and truly packed. People were hanging off the railings, squeezed up against the front of the stage, and just generally getting buck wild. Pharoahe reciprocated the positive reaction from the crowd accordingly and proceeded to treat the audience to one of the best Hip Hop performances I’m sure Perth has ever seen.

Special mention has to be made to the people who joined Pharoahe on stage; the super energetic singer Showtyme (who was hustling his CD out the front after the show!), DJ Boogie Blind from the X-Ecutioners and Pharoahe’s female back up vocalist, I don’t know her name but her voice was astounding. These three all looked like they were having a great time on stage, joking, and encouraging the crowd. Their contribution to making the MCs show as great as it was cannot be understated.

The last 4 songs of the performance were the peak of the show without a doubt. There was a shout out to the late great J Dilla with ‘We Must Be In Love’, followed by three of Pharoahe’s most well loved tunes, ‘Body Baby’, ‘Desire’, and of course they finished off with ‘Simon Says’. Villa was about to be torn apart during this tune, and even though it could be accused of being done to death, it didn’t lose any of its impact when the man was up there telling the females to rub on their titties (which more than a few agreed to!).

All in all, it was a night that met all my expectations, even the most hard-nosed critics I know couldn’t fault it. Props to Knowledge Music for bringing him over, and Villa for the venue!