So last night around 8:10 I headed over to Casa de Josh and we (Josh, Adam, and Lindsay) headed towards the downtown to see the Brother Ali show.
So the bill was going to be:
GaiDen Gadema w/ Really Real (Local)
Swollen Members (Canada)
Brother Ali (Minnesota)
So GaiDen Gadema...was ok. Certainly growing the more practice he gets. And I also think that he is helping build a local audience which is also bringing in the crowds that then in turn justify people hiring a bigger act cause the crowd is there. When we got there somewhere between 8:30 and 9, I was kinda worried that there wasn't gonna be enough people to pay for the show, but after 9, the crowd came in, and it was actually pretty crowded. We sat back, and I sipped on a Guiness. It was a good time. The beats were ok, and I was starting to groove to it a little. The mix was was a bit wierd, so catching all the words was a bit tough.
Swollen Members....yes that's their name. They were....fun. Good party time hip-hop, certainly high energy. Maybe worht investigating more. A good portion of the crowd knew who they were and got right into it.
Brother Ali. Albino...so we all (eventually) got up and headed up towards the stage. And while we were waiting for the Brother to come on, we were subjected to a tweaking kid, who was so high, he apprently thought he could freestyle rap. It was actually quite funny to listen to. One of the people in front of us actually recorded (I dunno if it was video or just audio) this tweaker and said he'd put it up on something like ebaumsworld. He just could not stop moving. And the younger kid he was with, couldn't either. It got kinda obnoxous. Oh well, what can you do? So after a bit of a wait, he took the stage. It was actually quite impressive. A man who I could probably look in the mirror and see (except him being shaved bald and even whiter then me), and with and obvious skill and power over the crowd. His topics ranged from his child, his childhood (always feeling as if he was the ugly kid), to more fun things. During one of his more serious and quiet lyrical movements, he actually had to tell the tweaking kids to not clap. It was all slow and subtle and it was like these two were listening to the same thing...except in fast forward.
After the show came to a close, We all headed home. I got home and in bed just before 1:AM.