Saul Williams, MC Supernatural and…
April 16th, 2006
Mos Def
Absolutely stunning show put on by these three at the USC SpringFest… (Ozma… uhm… sorry no) I mean, I was completely transported. Thanks to E. for coming by at an opportune moment. Mos Def’s two DJs (armed with cdj’s, 1200s and an sampler) were in control. The sound (as in the guy putting the stuff through the PA) blew me away. Best sounding outdoor show I’ve been too in a long time.
MC Supernatural definitely brought some freestyle skills I’d never seen before. He mentioned all of the USC star players in his opening rhyme spree. Then finished off with this going into the crowd and rhyming about whatever people brought out of their pockets. He even kept his flow when he got an orange. Insane.
Saul Williams, who I thought I had never heard, I had heard. On the radio… KPFK probably. He’s strictly spoken word live. And wow. I’ve seen some spoken word people get up in front of big crowds and proceed to make big crowds go boooooo. This man just took the language and expressed a whole lot. Oddly… we (Dan and Tim and I) sat next to him and his mild mannered minicrew at cafe 101. After they finished eating we thanked him for an awesome and positive show. He was gracious and demure.
Then… Mos Def. I guess I had sort of lost track of him. My collection of hip hop is extremely sporadic (like my collection of music in general) and I had only really listened to Black Star which he did some bits from. But mainly he did stuff I super familiar with. Fan-friggin-tastic. Amazing amazing. Catch up with him if you get a chance. He and Talib Kweli will be at Rock the Bells (which has an insane lineup this year… wu tang, immortal technique, de la, del, redman, supernatural…)
Ok… now to mix it up a bit. A mash up of screenfuls of Anime characters in this cohesive race story (an anime music video apparently that’s the term for it)… crazy editing here. Thanks to Y-c for that.