Openers outshine good but tardy KRS-One
Close the end of his hour-plus place at Harpers Ferry on Thursday, living rap supreme Being KRS-One declared, “I’m just here to set the monetary standard for what hip-hop should be. If the rappers approaching up now don’t do this better than me, then the culture has gone nowhere.”
He must hold realized that quadruplet ovalbumin guys world Health Organization look like elevator car mechanics had already upstaged him.
In an odd only sensible matchup, anti-establishment Providence MC Sage Francis and his Strange Famous Records posse opened for KRS. The set launched with vitriolic spoken word poet B. Dolan rapping through and through an eerie arctic mask and bashing Hillary Hilary Clinton.
It takes a skilled showman to get heads telling unfamiliar maulers, and Dolan got people chanting “One Breath Left hand.” The exchange continued when he was joined by ME bang rap picture False name, Quincy-based MC Prolyphic and Francis for the Fresh England anti-anthem “Survived Another Wintertime.”
With his crew offstage, Francis ran through “Hurt,” headbanged to M.O.P.’s “Ante Up” and ripped “Civil Disobedience” over a super-corny ’80s dance sample distribution. He even topped his dropping the introspective “Hell of a Year” and vehement “Make-do Patriot” by break dance and blowing his nose on a monitor talker.
Subsequently a 1 hour intermission, during which some fans booed, KRS surfaced. This was his first show since a fan hit him with a bottle spell he was playing in Fresh Harbour, Conn., last calendar month, and fans welcomed him back warm.
Although KRS brought his trademark energy, his put lacked arrangement. Props to DJs E-Ness and Slipwax of the Deck Demons for masterfully improvising, only the obvious want of planning was as insulting as the headliner’s tardiness.
When he finished blowing up the sound military personnel, KRS jumped into staples including “S Bronx” and “Step Into a Earth.” He floated in and come out of topical freestyles for the next minute, piece sporadically dipping into choice cuts from “Return of the Microphone boom Bap” and last year’s “Hip-hop Lives.”
In the ending, KRS did non let down; his sermonlike anti-monopolistic tirades were both fierce and poignant. Simply for anyone wHO came for a professionally tuned verse spectacle, Francis and the Strange Famous dudes were the more compelling attraction.
Nearly entirely MCs say that KRS-One’s know tactics inspired them, just Francis and his people rightfully backed the claim. Had he arrived in metre to view them, the Blastmaster himself would have been proud.
fara1hiphop@gmail.com
John Scofield
