Rock the Mutha Effin Bells 2009 -- Chicago Edition

Yo yo! It's Adam again with a review for that ass.

Spent yesterday in the lovely hamlet of Tinley Park for 2009's Rock the Bells show. If you don't know, it's an all-day hip hop festival. Started at Noon, ended around 11:30pm. Tons of acts.

Got to the show around 4:30 because I just can't handle all day at a venue. I'm just getting too old for that shit. If I get there too early, I spend the end of the night waiting for shit to be over just so I can go home. Also, I'm not really interested in seeing Murs or Jay Electronica, like last year.

So I rolled in around 4:30 since K'naan was set to perform around then. First thing I saw was Buckshot and KRS on the second stage ripping it up. I didn't even know Buckshot would be there, so I was stunned when I was waiting to get past security and I heard his voice. He rocked some of the classic Boot Camp shit and some new joints off his forthcoming album with KRS. Not bad. Watched his set, then rolled into the main stage for K'naan.

He opened with "in the beginning" and performed it pretty well. He had a live band backing him up this time, which was a welcome change from the last time I saw him when he was rapping over his own track playing on the sound system. He still had the chorus of his songs playing, but it was much better than the entire show being rapped over his CD.

Unfortunately, the crowd was sparse and pretty laid back at 4:30--maybe saving their energy, maybe just not into it. I don't know. Whatever it was, not too many people were participating with him. It was a shame, too, because his whole set was pretty solid. When he performed "Take a minute," it gave me the chills.

He did "waving flag" last and kind of annoyed me with it. He did the whole song really slooooow and acapella first, trying to get people to sing along with him. It didn't work, due to the aforementioned lackadaisical crowd. The band then kicked in and he did the full version of the same song and rocked it. Chills, part 2. Too bad the crowd sucked at this point and he left the stage to a weak applause.

Next up, Reflection Eternal. Yup, Kweli AND Hi-Tek, together. They got an album dropping this summer sometime. I will definitely cop that. Kweli live shows, however, are another story. I've seen him live 4 times now, the first time being in 1999. He has only once put on a good show for me, and that was in 2007 at the HOB in Chi. That was the only time he sounded good. He just yells into the mic too hard and spits too damn hard at the end of syllables. It's pretty annoying. He also managed to yell at the soundman 3 times in the middle of the set. nice dickhead move, kweli. So after struggling to make out a word he said for 45 minutes, he left the stage and I was happy about that.

Next up, Big Boi. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I left for some refreshments and found a sprite tent with Street Fighter 4 set up. Hung out and whipped my boy a few times while we waited for Big Boi to finish. I'm no joke with Sagat.

Then I heard another strange sound from the second stage. The Gza was getting down. I was pissed that there were no announcements of who was playing when, since I didn't even know he was there, either. He's rapping along when Raekwon and Ghostface join him, so now I'm paying attention. We get down for a while until i get a text that the Roots had already started on the main stage. No freaking announcements! So I run over there to catch their set. I have never been disappointed with a Roots show, except for one venue when the acoustics were subpar. They played a good set, but the crowd was freakin lame. It was like a mob of zombies. No one getting into it at all. They left to an even weaker applause than K'naan. Bullshit.

By then it was starting to get dark, and the crowd last year really came alive at night. Busta came on next. He KILLED it. The crowd was going bananas! He only did snippets of his tracks because, as he said, "i only got a little time and i got hits". He was the highlight of the night, even though I don't even like his newer shit. Every 30 second snippet he would perform had everyone dancing, even on the lawn. I was impressed.

Next, the headliners. Damian Marley and Nas. They have an album coming out this summer together. I forgot the name but it should be good. Damian came out first with a live band and some backup female vocals a la big poppa Bob and the Wailers. He did 4 or 5 of his solo tracks as well as a couple of his dad's songs. He sounded great. I was moving the whole time.

Then Nas joined him and they did some of the new songs off their upcoming album. Some of them sounded really good. There was one were they were rapping really fast back and forth, one verse at a time. A couple were slower and pretty dope. I'll check that album for sure. Then Nas did his solo gig. No surprises there as he did pretty much the exact same set as the year before (and he was even wearing the exact same white v-neck and white pants): Life's a bitch, If I ruled the world, one mic, made you look, hip hop is dead. Crowd was moving. Damian rejoined him for "Road to Zion", which sounded great but the crowd wasn't moving much. End of the show was "Welcome to Jamrock", which got some movement but not as much as I expected.

Overall, the show was a let-down. Maybe it's the all-day festival aspect, but I didn't enjoy it. There are too many acts, too little time for each act, and it's dragged out for too long. By the end of the night, everyone is exhausted. I don't think I'll go to this type of show again. I'd rather just see one or two groups throw it down and do a proper setlist.

At least I didn't have to suffer through some no-talent ass-clownery like lil wayne.