loosie: words: Concert Review: Def Jux at Bowery Ballroom

Concert Review: Def Jux at Bowery Ballroom

We attempt to answer the burning question "Who's America?"

by C. Flartey | 2004.09.13

"Where are the weapons of mass destruction? We've been lookin' for months and we ain't found nothin'. Please Mr. President, tell us somethin'. We knew from the beginning that your ass was bluffin'", screamed Mr. Lif and Akrobatik of the Perceptionists while performing their new song "Memorial Day". The song is the thematical centerpiece of the just-released Who's America? compilation. The Perceptionists were joined by El-P, Aesop Rock, Hangar 18, Dieselboy and Junior Sanchez at Bowery Ballroom to promote both the compilation and voting the abovementioned Mr. President out of office once and for all. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. While the Republican National Convention was being held uptown at Madison Square Garden, Def Jux were holding their own convention to a sold-out crowd not too far away. And who better to host the evening's festivities?

None other than the illustrious Chuck D. Yes, Mista Chuck was on hand to give political commentary and introduce each act before they took the stage. For him, it was a chance to reach a new generation of hip-hop heads and impressionable young voters. And also, as he made it abundantly clear, to praise and pass down the torch to El-P and Def Jux, one of the only current hip-hop crews left that seems to encompass what Chuck and Public Enemy stood for.

The show was kicked off by Hangar 18, the newest group on the Def Jux roster. Emcees Alaska and Windnbreez spit their rapid-fire, machine gun back and forth flows effortlessly over beats while breezing through selections from their debut album The Multi Platinum Debut Album. These dudes are funny as hell. Picture Def Jux's own resident version of Ugly Duckling. For one song, they even performed it over the instrumental to Guns N Roses' "Welcome To The Jungle". It has to be seen and heard to be believed. They closed out their set with their selection off Who's America?, entitled "Rumors Of War". It's a very poignant political song, giving them the opportunity to slow down and get their point across over a guitar driven beat that sounds like some sort of 60's folk protest hip-hop that wouldn't have sounded out of place being performed at Woodstock.

Next up were the Perceptionists, comprised of the formerly mentioned Mr. Lif and Akrobatik, and their DJ, Fakts One. They're a strange sight to behold at first, what with Lif looking like the lost love child of Jar-Jar Binks and Whoopi Goldberg, and Ak looking and sounding like the lost underground member of M.O.P. But once they start up, it doesn't matter what the fuck they look like. I imagine that they (Lif especially) are the ones Chuck must be feeling the most, with their vicious political lyrics and Bomb Squad-type production. They performed a bunch of songs off of their upcoming album along with "Memorial Day", which would've been the highlight of the night had Lif not went right into "Home Of The Brave" off his Emergency Rations EP directly afterwards. This post-9/11 monolith of a song is, in my not-so-humble opinion, one of the most scathing attacks on a president that music has ever offered. With lines like "You can wave that piece of shit flag if you dare, but they killed us because we've been killing them for years", this song was built for a protest show.

For more photos by Drew Goren, see http://subwaysleeper.com

After a brief intermission, headliners El-P and Aesop Rock took the stage in masks (El-P as Dick Cheney, Aesop as John Kerry, and a hypeman as Dubya) and gave the crowd exactly what they had been waiting for. El-P immediately launched into "Patriotism", an old, now-classic song off the old, now-classic Soundbombing 2 compilation. It's amazing how relevant this song still is so many years later. From there, it was Aesop's turn. "Freeze", the first single off his latest album Bazooka Tooth, was up next. This guy is a must-see live. I can't wrap my mind around how he's able to do what he does live on stage. His flow is just out of this fucking world. Back and forth El-P and Aesop went for the rest of their set. Highlights included El's "Deep Space 9mm", a new song off Aesop's upcoming EP Fast Cars, Danger, Fire & Knives, and an encore, crowd-singalong version of what may be Aesop's biggest "hit" ever,
"Daylight".

All in all, the music was great. But this night was really all about the politics. As Dieselboy and Junior Sanchez spun DJ sets for the rest of the night, Chuck, El-P and company hung around and helped encourage people to vote. There were people from Music For America there to register voters, and they got quite the turnout. El-P even registered for the first time. As he stated at one point in his set, "Personally, I've never voted before, but if I have to look at that smug, lying, condescending cocksucker's face on my television one more time, I'm gonna go crazy". Booths were set up to hand out information on the war and Bush and what we the people can do to change things.

The music television FUSE was even there with cameras to get in on the action (shoutout to that beautiful girl who co-hosts that IMX show that was there interviewing people...thanks for blowing me off...I didn't wanna buy you a $6 beer anyway).

Witnessing good old fashioned political hip-hop at it's finest got me to thinking about something though. Think about what reaches more impressionable young people nowadays than mainstream hip-hop music. Nothing. Nothing does. So why are the "underground" cats the only ones saying anything important in this time of potential change?

Everyone from Def Jux to Saul Williams to Sage Francis to Cunninlynguists is trying to do something about it, but where are the mainstream figures? Such mainstream rock figures as Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., Maynard James Keenan (of Tool and A Perfect Circle fame), Radiohead, Green Day and Bad Religion are using their power of influence to try and better the world. Christ, even Blink 182 is in on the action. But where is hip-hop? Even big name actors are speaking out for what they believe in. Again, where is hip-hop?

Where are the people who occupy 90% of modern radio and MTV's playlists? Where is Jay-Z? Where is Fat Joe? Where is Nas? Where is anybody? Anybody at all? Think about somebody like Nelly, who's about to make an assload of money by releasing two albums on the same day. Imagine how popular that shit is going to be. Imagine how many kids are going to buy it. Would it kill him to take a political stance here and there? That way, when a girl is dropping down and getting her eagle on, she can at least vote while she's down there. It's time for a change, ya'll. If you're sick of the lies and sick of the violence and sick of all the drama, do something about it. Contrary to popular opinion, your vote actually does count.

So if you're missing the flava of good ol' fashioned political hip-hop, pick up that 'Who's America?' compilation. It's got what you're looking for. And if you're missing peace in the world and you're sick of the fear that comes with bullying people around until they conspire against us and fight back, vote that asshole out of office. It may be our only chance of survival.