Blue Scholars Live

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

In all of the concerts of all the genres I've been to, hip-hop shows are by far the most risky to go to. More than most genres, hip-hop shows can be extremely hit or miss depending on a variety of factors centered around the music and the group's preparation. At a hip-hop show, you're usually more likely to encounter sound issues, poor crowd interaction, truncated songs or artists who just didn't put enough time into rehearsing their material, sometimes needing to ad lib or cut songs short because they don't know all the words. Great hip-hop shows consist of a solid mixmatch of a setlist, rappers who know their words and can interact well with the crowd, good music and fantastic energy. Luckily, the past several hip-hop shows I've been to have been on the stellar end of things, and Tuesday night's performance by Blue Scholars at The Independent in San Francisco fit perfectly into this string of good shows.

For those that don't know Blue Scholars, you can check out my write-up of their sound and style in Putting Emerald City on the Map. It's safe to say that they're one of the most musically and lyrically diverse groups on the hip-hop scene right now, and the combination of Geologic's in-depth and personal lyrics with Sabzi's unique and multi-faceted understanding of various genres makes Blue Scholars and Bayani two different and fantastic albums. Of course, having never seen them before in concert, and knowing of the historically wildly unpredictable transformation of hip-hop groups from studio CD to live performance, I went out to The Independent last night not sure what to expect.

What I got was an amazingly positive and energetic set centered around fantastic lyricism and incredibly well put together musical mixes. At the beginning, I was concerned because one of the fastest ways to tank a hip-hop show is when no one in the crowd knows you, and they did not appear to be as enthusiastically received as I would have liked. Being the opener for GZA doing a full rendition of the renowned classic Liquid Swords album, Blue Scholars had their work cut out for them. But from the minute they took the stage, you got the feeling that their energy was going to be a train, and you could jump on or get run down. Visually, the hip-hop of Geologic's baggy clothes and zip-up hoodie contrasted nicely with the more indie look of Sabzi's glasses and button-up shirt. It's a good feeling when one part of a duo introduces the other as "my partner in music."They started with a song that used the guitar rift most recently heard in Green Day's "Hitch a Ride."

For the rest of this concert review, see "Blue Scholars and GZA at The Independent." Below are two clips from the show, although the camera mic distorted the louder portions a bit...