Men on Hiphop: A Co-Authored Review

A few words about the Cancer Rising/Saturday Knights/Dyme Def show at the High Dive; these three acts each appeared recently in support of the Blue Scholars’ five-night stand at Neumo’s:

From Kevin: I personally think Cancer Rising performance was a let down. After listening to their studio work, they just fell miles short of their potential talents. So much yelly yelly not enough rappy rappy. Picking out lines in their songs and shouting them at each others face as if they were excited to have remembered the lyrics. Plus, in their defense, the sound was way off at High Dive. Treble and vocals (screaming) were all there was to hear in the front of the venue with a slightly more balanced sound in the back of the room – tho pretty muffled as we ARE talking about the backity-back, right near the door. On a positive, there was a lot of momentum being drummed up DJ TilesOne on each song, drum sticks being busted over the cow bell, tambourines gettin slapped (not in a Joni Mitchell way either)… Just gotta dial back that hollering fellas.

The Saturday Knights followed and I thought they killed. They were throwin’ in samples from Chicago and Band of Horses, getting the crowd all kinda of lathered up. The sound-thankfully- had gotten back on track for the beginning of this set. Tilison and Barfly were cool and collected even with the layers of doo rags and knit caps and huge jackets with “patches on the elbows”/ They play so well off of each other’s complicated styles while never stepping on each other’s toes. They thoroughly engage with the crowd and ruled it right up until their last song “45″ where again… they just got too effin screamy and spat all over it. I could have gone home happy if they ended a song before that. Overall though, the show did not leave us wanting.
As a side commentary… what is it at hip hop shows that makes so many artists think that yelling is the proper way to perform their songs? Being that good hip hop is all about the inflections and rhythms, slight variances in tonality and seeing that it is most usually without melody – some would call that singing- why the fuck would they want to go and curb all that by getting all excited and screaming their way through their songs. C’mon people. Relax. Perform. We have stacks and stacks of amps to cover the volume.
OK, that’s out of the way…
Dyme Def, well, I had to head out before getting much into that show. 6:00 am for snowboarding comes quick early these days…

From Misterlevitan:
I am in concurrence with the synopsis of the Cancer Rising and the Saturday Knights’ sets, and I DID stick around for the anticipated appearance of Dyme Def.
I’m not very familiar with Cancer Rising’s songs, and the shouting and the poor sound mix made them even harder to get into. (Maybe the sound was worse for them on stage and they shouted as a result? Give me a mic and I’ll go find out…) I thought this way during their appearance at The Program last month–”Whoop dee doo.”I feel obligated to check out their studio recordings, so I can get a fairer test drive. So far, though, they are oh-for-two in Da (all-important) Club. In regards to the yelly-yelly, I also agree. It’s not for me. There is too much talent out there confidently laying down smooth and melodic numbers to keep me from wasting my time at a mediocre show.
The Saturday Knights have a big rep about town and an even bigger following. Therefore I thought they’d be at the top of the bill. (I stil can’t figure out how they are continually overshadowed by the omnipresent Blue Scholars.) I grabbed their “45″ right after I first heard it and think this single’s the jam. Good thing they built up to tonight’s performance of “45″ with a full set of crowd pleasers. I was stoked: Someone must have slipped the sound guy a message, because it definitely improved in their act.
Now how was the headliner going to improve on this act?
Well, Dyme Def came out swinging. They had an energized audience and (largely) fulfilled our expectation of them. Surprising, because their album, “Space Music” sounds a bit amateur, heavily seasoned with the kind of brag-rap that leaves me feeling on the defensive as an audience member. Their Southern-influenced beats are also a hard sell. However, their sound is thick and has been successfully road-tested. Their single “Clap Clap” is a smash in my book, and they performed it with the kind of enthusiasm that is essential in winning over new fans.
Chicken or the Egg: Were SEV, Fearce and Brainstorm feeding power to the crowd – givin’ us what we came for, or we were throwing the energy their way. No matter, overall it was a great night for local MCs, beats and their makers.