Rap concerts?

[MikeB06]

Does anyone else who has attended a rap concert feel that they are particularly lacking in the "cool experience" department. I had a chance to see Kanye West perform tonight on some comped tickets my buddy got (sat right next to the sound/video/light guys, very good seats in the middle). While the show was entertaining, it was nothining like the rock concerts I have been to. At rock concerts you may get a bit of improv, but most importantly you get to see the actual music being produced and performed. While Kanye had a string section and a drummer, for the most part it was just recorded beats with him rapping the lyrics and dancing around the stage. It was a fairly impressive production, but it was nothing worth getting excited about. Basically, it was like listening to his CDs at an extremely loud noise level and watching him on stage.

I would never once think to find a bootleg of one of Kanye's concerts or any other rap concerts, but I love hearing and collecting the boots of the Pearl Jam, Coldplay, etc. concerts I've been to. Does anyone else feel that rap concerts in general...umm...ehmm....errr...suck compared to those of other music genres?

 

[Factor]

Just like with rock music, it depends on the performer. Artists who know how to work a crowd and make them feel like they're taking part in something special will put on great shows, and artists who just play the music for the sake of playing the music will put on crap shows.

 

[hugz]

in my experience rap concerts always more-or-less suck

 

[antiant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeB06 Does anyone else who has attended a rap concert feel that they are particularly lacking in the "cool experience" department. I had a chance to see Kanye West perform tonight on some comped tickets my buddy got (sat right next to the sound/video/light guys, very good seats in the middle). While the show was entertaining, it was nothining like the rock concerts I have been to. At rock concerts you may get a bit of improv, but most importantly you get to see the actual music being produced and performed. While Kanye had a string section and a drummer, for the most part it was just recorded beats with him rapping the lyrics and dancing around the stage. It was a fairly impressive production, but it was nothing worth getting excited about. Basically, it was like listening to his CDs at an extremely loud noise level and watching him on stage. I would never once think to find a bootleg of one of Kanye's concerts or any other rap concerts, but I love hearing and collecting the boots of the Pearl Jam, Coldplay, etc. concerts I've been to. Does anyone else feel that rap concerts in general...umm...ehmm....errr...suck compared to those of other music genres?

o.............k@sweeping generalization of a particular musical genre...like said comment before me (ie: Factor), it depends on who the artist is and frankly i find it funny that you were expecting "quality" or "coolness" with the likes of kanye west, but to each his own *exits*

 

[Masonjar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hugz in my experience rap concerts always more-or-less suck

I saw the Beastie Boys after CHECK YOUR HEAD came out. It was amazing. Of course, they played instruments for about half the set, and even when they were just rapping, it was fun because they were very entertaining and the crowd was VERY into it.

To hear several thousand people rap along with them on "Paul Revere" was pretty awesome..

-jar

 

[elmoe]

There are plenty of lame artists and plenty of great artists. You just didnt see a great one.

 

[saint.panda]

I saw the Black Eyed Peas live just before they hit it big and it was one of the best concerts I've been to. It had everything including freestyle battles, breakdancing, stage-diving, vocal improvisations (the woman), a guest appareace by Cody Chestnutt, and of course their infamous beats and rhymes. The club was medium-sized and the crowd went absolutely crazy.

On the other hand, I've also worked during a 50 Cents concert and it eluded me how people could pay money to see him. It was more like a fashion show for his jewels if anything.

 

[HomeyC]

Every rap concert I've been to (which are quite a few) has been a disapointment except one. The Roots. Which in a word was AMAZING

 

[nanahachi]

another "depends on the performer response."

The Roots have never let me down. Jurassic 5 are pretty consistent too.

However, Outkast just blew me away the first time I saw them live. Bursting at the seams with energy, fantastic performances, great appreciation and involvement of the fans, and of course Andre's outfits and excellent stage decorations.

other groups have been far less inspiring, but nothing horrible in my experience. However, based on recorded concerts that I've seen, I can imagine some big and small name performers to just stand up there, do their thing, leaving the live experience to be lackluster or worse.

 

[jbloudg20]

Have you ever seen Outkast or Busta Rhymes in concert?

I hardly think it is fitting to say that because you saw one performer, that all rap concerts suck.

 

[NightWoundsTime]

I almost went to see Kanye the other day but it was the day after the Tampa meet and I was half dead. I kind of figured it wouldn't be exceptional. Of course it T Kweli and Mos Def had joined on stage (maybe even for the "That's Beef" song), it would have been worth it.

 

[Factor]

I actually like the Kanye album quite a bit, but I would have no interest in seeing a live show. First of all he's more of a studio artist than a performance artist, with his production background and all, and that's even more true with his new album which he made with Jon Brion as a collaborator. And second, he's a hugely successful pop artist, which means the first thing on his and his peoples' minds is how to please every single person in a gigantic aucience while being as agreeable as possible, not how to put on an engaging show.

I don't go to many shows in general (regardless of genre) but I've been to enough to know that great performers are great performers, regardless of what type of music they're playing.

Some of the best concert performers I've seen: Gang Starr, Kraftwerk, Mission Of Burma, Shellac, Mr. Lif (incredible performer even though I'm not a huge fan of his music)

The worst was probably Interpol, who all just stood there like cardboard cutouts and played the music exactly how it sounds on the record. The exception was the bassist, who was engaging to watch in spite of his bandmates.

 

[luuk]

The rapconcerts I've been to were great (013 tilburg, netherlands).
There was a lot of interaction between the audience and the rappers.
This was probably because of the size of the audience (+/- 300 people) and the "unknowness" of the rappers.

 

[aerius]

I saw Choclair at the Blue Bird North music festival a couple years ago, and I thought I'd just have to suffer through his performance 'till they got to the next musician. But it didn't turn out that, he was actually damn good and it was pretty enjoyable, and he had the whole crowd on its feet. He had Neil Osborne from 54-40 set the beat and he just rapped it out and kicked ass in the old school style. Highlight of the night was when he did the big freestyle improv rap that lasted something like 20 minutes, and included Sarah Slean and Damhnait Doyle doing backup vocals and both Sarah and Damhnait getting instrument solo parts. That was just cool.

 

[AdamWill]

factor: that's exactly how I felt about Interpol. Luckily when I went to see them the support band was a little-known Scottish nu-skiffle outfit called Franz Ferdinand...