Saturday, January 7th, Oakland’s New Parish was where all the Bay Area hip-hop fans were.
The eclectic crowd full of afros, baseball caps and a few belligerent fans who could not understand the concept of personal space, were all gathered at the venue to see a reunion of sorts from producer 9th Wonder and emcee Phonte Coleman. The two were members of the North Carolina based trio, then duo, and then disbanded group Little Brother comprised of the two as well as emcee Rapper Big Pooh. Prior to releasing their third project GetBack, 9th Wonder left the group sparking a supposed “beef,” between the two which was hashed out via Twitter, now, they are touring together—pretty epic.
The first half of the show was DJ’ed by DJ Jack, who played during sets, as well as for the first two opening acts. The first opening act was Locksmith of The Bay Area based duo The Frontline who were at the peak of their career in 2004 with their single, “What Is It?” that dominated airwaves. Locksmith told the crowd that he was living in New York for the last eight months and had been working with producer Ski Beatz on a new project. Initially, a few hecklers made comments as if that were a name-dropping statement, however he definitely won the crowd over when he started rapping. His flow over the production was pretty nice and he definitely gained a few new fans after his set. The second opening act however, did not.
This act was the epitome of what an artist should never do when performing for a sold out show. He did not make himself known at all. When he entered the stage his South Africa jersey commanded more attention than his name that many in the audience never caught (after the show and conversing with concert goers we learned his name was Dust or Dusty). He didn’t really connect well with the audience not necessarily because his music was bad, but he just commanded no attention at all.
After the openers 9th Wonder entered the stage from the audience and got behind the one’s and two’s and started DJaying a melody of classic hip-hop tracks like Naughty by Nature’s “Uptown Anthem,” from the Juice Soundtrack. You could see that the audience was excited about 9th’ Wonder’s selection of tracks as they either rapped along, shouted for him to continue or dapped each other up as if these songs were some special secret amongst themselves and friends. 9th Wonder said that he played all of the tracks to see if hip-hop was in the building and to get the audience warmed up for the first official act, emcee Median.
Median made a name for himself with his debut project, Median’s Relief, which was released in 2007. Not to mention, he is one of the original members of The Justus League—a hub for artists based in North Carolina that encompassed Little Brother, Darien Brockington, Joe Scudda and etc. Median entered the stage performing new music from his album, The Sender, that came out in 2011. The project was one of the first things Phonte and 9th Wonder did together after resolving their issues. Median definitely captured the audience from his entrance to the stage to his departure.
Next up with the first lady of 9th Wonder’s label Jamla, Rapsody. With three highly impressive projects under her belt: Return of The B-Girl, Thank H.E.R. Now, and For Everything, not to mention her work with her group Kooley High as well, Rapsody is easily one of the women who is going to fill the female emcee void that has been missing for years. Rapsody promoted her motto, “Culture Over Everything” throughout her set, and definitely connected with the crowd; rapping acapella even serenading a guy in the audience and taking his hat off and putting it on her head. Rapsody left the stage with the crowd going wild—easily a great set.
When Phonte finally entered the stage, the crowd went crazy, as he is definitely a fan favorite in the Bay Area shown with the shows he always sells out with The Foreign Exchange, Little Brother and now his solo music. Phonte released his highly anticipated debut solo album, Charity Starts At Home, in September of 2011, and performed tracks from the album during his set first starting with “Dance in The Reign.” He followed up that track with “Tigallo for Dolo,” from Little Brother’s last album, LeftBack.
Phonte proceeded to go through music from his solo project, and bought Median back out to do some of their collaborative tracks, notably “Shorty On The Lookout,” from The Listening. He also performed “The Way You Do It,” from the album The Listening, which if you recall my review on the show; a girl fell off the stage during Little Brother’s last show in the Bay Area which you can see here. At the end of the set, Phonte told the audience how The Bay Area is one of his favorite places to perform and it seemed to be quite genuine.
Overall, this was a great show, once again. Phonte has this way of connecting with his audience effortlessly, always creating a cool atmosphere and great show. Also, adding 9th Wonder and Median to the equation, it only made the show more perfect. If you do not have Phonte’s latest project Charity Starts At Home, make sure to purchase the album here. You can also get 9th Wonder’s The Wonder Years here, Median’s The Sender here, and Rapsody’s last three projects here.
All pictures for this review are courtesy photographer, Danielle “DJ” Harris. Check out her portfolio here.
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