So I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m from the Bronx (Soundview if you want to be specific about it...) and with that comes an awesome responsibility to Hip Hop that’s daunting as hell. (Eventhough, if it wasn’t for Queens, Hip-Hop would have gone the route of “Disco to a hard beat”… but I digress.)
That said, I’m pretty discriminating when it comes to the genre.
I’m quick to dismiss something as corny and know the difference between a “heels and lip-gloss” rice cake tune and a “kicks and backpack” meaty classic that only true heads will bother to memorize. Not that the rice cake tunes don’t have their place…but let’s just say they don’t have one in my iPod.
I was that kid that ran home everyday to see what Ralph McDaniels was going to play on Video Music Box that would blow my mind. (With my betamax READY so I can tape Salt-N-Pepa’s dance routine and wreck it at the next party.)
So yeah. Those are my credentials. I have references.
However, over the last ten years or so, I kind of fell out of love. Most of the stuff I’d been hearing had been garbage…repeated flows, bad production… and I longed for the days when I used to listen to a rhyme and say, “Wait a minute…WHAT did he say?” then back it up and play it over and over again. Hip-hop was about repetition. The more you loved it, the more you wanted to be it…which usually meant you played the rhyme to death and by default it was committed to memory. And part of the fun of hip hop was being in a crowd, hearing your favorite rhyme…and rhyming along with the rest of the crowd. As I got older, the focus shifted. Knowing “the hook” to a song was suddenly more important than knowing the actual rhyme (and if you listened to weak-ass rhymes in most of those songs you can tell that they were clearly written around the hook.) So yeah. I was kind of disenchanted. So like my mother on Saturday mornings, I stick to the classics (hers, The Stylistics…mine, Boogie Down Productions) and keep my radio off to keep the garbage out.
That said, last Saturday, a friend of mine invited me to the Knitting Factory for “Hip Hop Karaoke”…and immediately, my inner hip-hop snob scoffed. The name alone sounded corny so the event probably was and I wasn’t going to give it a second thought. Then she sent me this link.
http://www.hiphopkaraokenyc.com/
The line that got my attention was “Hip Hop Karaoke was designed for the inner Big Daddy Kane in all of us.”
Not “Hip Hop Karaoke was designed for the inner Chingy…” but Big Daddy Kane. That’s when I said to myself, “If I open this thing up, and Redman’s “Da Goodness” is on the list…it’s legit. If I see “Soldja Boy” anywhere…I’m out.”
Yes on the Redman. No on the Soldja.
Then it got interesting. There’s no guy who asking for your song number so he can order it up in the karaoke machine.
There is no machine and “the guy” is…a real DJ.
What’s also missing is that big screen with highlighted lyrics for you to follow. Because this is hip hop. And in hip hop…you have to know the rhyme. Not only do you have to know the rhyme…more importantly, you have to know the flow.
So I dug deeper. What if you mess up? Not to worry. There’s Jason Dick aka “Diggedy”, your own personal Hype Man, so you’re covered. (For those who don’t know, the Hype Man’s job is to keep the crowd…well…hype, and to help the MC out if they miss a lyric or run out of breath. The Hype Man has become as important to hip hop as the DJ and the MC. The greatest of all time of course being “Flava Flav”. )
I opened up a few links and after a few minutes…I knew that, not only did I HAVE to do this… the possibility of not coming correct was NOT an option.
So I picked my songs, (“The What” Notorious B.I.G. & Method Man, “Warning” Notorious B.I.G. and as a back up…”Children’s Story” Slick Rick) and began practice, making sure I knew all the lyrics word for word…and the flow. First thing I noticed was this is totally different than rhyming along to the record. Breathing is a huge problem and I was just standing still. So I decided to walk back and forth and rhyme…and it’s…not…easy. However, by the end of the week, I had all three rhymes down, the breathing, vocal inflection and the flow…I was ready.
The event takes place at The Kitting Factory, which is hip hop before it got glossy. It’s dark and dingy, still smelling of stale cigarettes (even though the ban has been in effect for years) and it’s basically one of those “don’t drop anything on the floor because you might accidentally touch it” places.
As for the crowd? Well, to quote Diggedy, “The crowd looks like a Benetton commercial.” And he’s right which proves that the days of hip hop only belonging to urban youth are long gone.
Like most hip hop shows, it begins with the warm up. DJ Wex spins to loosen everyone up while they hit the bar or find a wall to lean against. You usually can tell when the crowd is nice and toasty by the reaction to whatever song drops. It happened to be the anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s death, so anytime a Biggie song came on…the crowd erupted and rhymed along, with occasional audio drop outs so the crowd could shout out the lyrics.
I’m greeted by J.New at the sign up table who informs me that both “The What” and “Warning” are already taken. Unlike traditional karaoke, there are no repeats here. So I request my back up and he nods with approval. “Good choice”. I thought so too. However, I’ve got 31 M.C.’s ahead of me…and the event is only three hours long. Oops. Make that two hours. It’s daylight savings time, and we’ll lose an hour. There’s a chance I won’t rhyme.
The first MC up starts with “Warning”… and I’m a little jealous, but anxious to see how he does. Instantly, I see there’s no need to be nervous since, if you slip up, not only will Diggedy back you up…but so will the entire crowd. By the fourth MC, I begin to understand that letting the crowd help you out actually gets you more love than hogging the rhyme all on your own. They love the song too…they’re just not the one up there.
A friend of mine did the Wu Tang Clan’s “Protect Ya Neck”, and a girl who gave an outstanding performance of Biggie’s “I Got A Story To Tell” stood next to me and smirked when two dudes completely fouled up “The What” by forgetting the lyrics. “Next month, we should do it! I saw you rhyming along! I’ll be Method!” she said. “Hell yeah!” I yelled, (though a little bummed. I wanted Meth’s part but Biggie’s part isn’t exactly for suckas so whatever… I’ll take it.)
The event ended with MC #22. I didn’t get a chance to wreck the mike but that’s fine. I’ll be back next month. Early.
And I’m in the middle of learning Lauryn Hill’s “Lost Ones”. Might as well flip it and sing too.
All that said, this is not your drunken co-worker’s karaoke. Far from. Leave it to hip hop to change the game. Again.
Cost: FREE 99
Location: The Knitting Factory, NYC
Do It Again: And again...and again...and again...
