HIPHOP SUMMITFriday October 6, 2000, Nighttown, Rotterdam. "Be A witness! As I exercise my exorcism…" That line is the first one Shabazz spit on a major release, and for most HipHop heads a quite recognizable
one. Shabazz The Disciple was on that track, which actually sold gold, and later on he
was featured on "Graveyard Chamber" of the Niggamortis album from the Gravediggaz. His lyrics on both songs show a certain type of grimy, but energetic
flow.
And looking at the amount of people checking in at Nighttown, there were a lot of people who were down for more of this same
type of energy. A HipHop Summit, organized by Redrum, with several performances was being served tonight. The cold
and rainy weather made the people eager to either get inside or
to go to one of the toko's at the Kruiskade to get something to eat there first. The flyer said the jam would
start at 22.00h but as y'all probably know, no party starts at
the time that's printed on a flyer, so at 22.45h we went inside.
Then a crew of MC's from Rotterdam, Draztik Measurez hit the stage. We just heard that Sonny D, from the Committee Gunmen, who was also booked, didn’t want to do a performance and walked
away. I heard of Draztik Measurez before but I never had seen them perform before. I gotta say
this is a tight collective, there are 5 MC's and a DJ, gave a
good show, and got the crowd warmed up for the night.
Of course most of the people in there came to see Shabazz the Disciple and I heard Freestyle, who is Shabazz's cousin, would come with him too. Shabazz and Freestyle now form the group Celestial Souljahz, which will drop material soon. I know the Arsonists used to
give a tight show but I didn't know what to expect from a Shabazz show. As Freestyle came onstage to introduce Shabazz I was kinda amped to see their performance, and Shabazz got onstage rapping one of his older joints. Freestyle did the back-up vocals to a couple of tracks, and before people
could start feeling they went on too long with a certain type
of performing the switched up and did something else. Shabazz explained where he gets his inspiration from and how he became
a very spiritual person, that was on some real shit and went on
to perform some of his more moving songs. He and Freestyle came with shit that the crowd hanging onto every word they said.
It's the kind of stuff that makes you appreciate songs in a other
way.
After about 15 minutes Freestyle got an inhaler and asked the audience if they knew what it was, he told he was asthmatic and sometimes ran out of breath after using it he started freestyling on some instrumentals and then asked if there happened to be someone in the crowd who could beat box. As the dude began to do a beat Freestyle kept on coming straight from the top of the head, not only living up to his name but surpassing it. He came with some real dope lyrics right there.
When the beat boxer got tired he asked someone else from the crowd
to come onstage and continue doing an other beat. He told Shabazz to do a freestyle, but at first he didn't want to but gave in
after Freestyle went on saying he had to do it. But if someone doesn't want to
do the shit doesn't come like it should and Shabazz said fuck it and let Freestyle go on. Freestyle went on and on again and after he stopped freestyling he said
he would do the beat box for anyone who wanted to do a verse or
freestyle onstage from the crowd, that clearly was something he
didn't have to say twice because the stage was filled with talents
and wanna-be-mc's in a matter of seconds, causing Shabazz and Freestyle to crack a smile.
Again doing something different so the public wouldn't get bored
these MC's sometimes came with some real nice lyrics while others
didn't come any further than rhyming motherfucker with fucker
and vice versa, at least that were the only words we could make
up. Freestyle invited a lady onstage who was pushed to the front by people
who knew her and Shabazz and Freestyle told her she could kick it on the mic. The interactive part of
the evening wasn't over yet as Freestyle wanted to do a verse from the Arsonists track "Blaze", and as the people who know this track it has a kinda uptempo
beat and Freestyle's verse is written exactly to that beat, but because they didn't
have a copy with them the DJ shifted trough his records to find
a good replacement. After trying to do that verse over some other
beats, Freestyle decided it would be doper if he would do it without a beat, with
a dude from the public who knew the verse doing the back up vocals.
Again, Freestyle went too quick for him too. ("I suggest you keep your distance, my deathblow is inevitable")
After this "Intermission" Shabazz took care of the show and Freestyle went back backup for Shabazz, they saw how late it was getting and still had some songs to
perform. Shabazz did his best known track "Death be the Penalty" which was his first single on Penalty (hence the name) Recordings. He also did "Crime Saga" and jumped into the crowd doing some of his newer songs, causing
total pandemonium like it should be at every party, everyone in
the crowd got hyped up and showed Shabazz mad love. This shit was incredible, because the audience in Rotterdam always seemed to be a little bit too quiet, but I guess these
artists knew how to get even this crowd going wild. Props for
that, this was a show a lot of the artists nowadays can take an
example to. These artists have a other mentality than most of
the artists nowadays, mainly because of the fact that they care
more about what their fans get for their money than thinking of
earning quick bucks. And that's exactly how we want to see it!
What Freestyle's thoughts are about the HipHop Summit: "I was feelin the crowd cuz they were genuine. They were showin
real love cuz it wasnt some bullshit group on stage, and they
were respondin with real responses. They booed sometimes, they
bopped their heads, they jumped around, they told someone to get
the fuck outta here... so they were real." www.nighttown.nl
|
