Piątek 27 Lis 2009, 12:50

Wed 25 Nov – Del tha Funkee Homosapien
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A first for me in that I had never been to a hip-hop show before, but I'm glad I went. When glossing over GAMH's calendar a few months back I happened to see Del - part of one of my friend Johnny's favorite bands, Hieroglyphics - was going to be performing, and we decided to go. Surprisingly enough most of our friends, many of which don't even listen to hip-hop, came with us.

The night started off kind of weird, because I realized at the door that I didn't actually order a ticket like I thought I did, so after rushing back to my apartment and frantically trying to find some record (and failing) we came back so I could buy a ticket. We were pretty much the first people in line save for a guy who got there maybe a minute or two ahead of us. Surprisingly enough, Del tha Funkee Homosapien came out a few minutes before the door opened to grab a smoke and say, "Thanks for coming early". He's actually kind of short in person (no offense, man!).

When we got inside we headed over to the merch table to check out the offerings, and like we had heard about Del's other shows, they gave us all a free pair of Skull Candy headphones (a decent enough over-the-head set) and a copy of Funk Man, which Johnny and I got signed by Del himself (sweet!). Now that is a great way to promote your music.

I kind of found it interesting how many white people there were in the crowd. Okay, so I'm half, and my friends and I are all Asian, but still. It really does kind of match that article over on "Stuff White People Like", haha.

Up until the day before none of us knew there would be any opening/associate acts, and even then we didn't really know who the heck any of them were. The opener, Hopie Spitshard, a local SF rapper, was alright. I'm not really into straight-up rap, and she utilized a bit too much background/pre-recorded vocals for my taste, and both she and the DJ messed up during their set a few times. I mean, if she's collaborating with high-caliber artists like Del then she must be good, so I'm willing to go ahead with the notion that she just had an off-night.

The following act, Serendipity Project, a Santa Cruz (SC represent!) based band combining hip-hop, funk, and rock, was more my thing. Their songs really got the growing crowd moving to the music, and they had so much energy it was hard not to at least tap your foot while they were up there jamming. The combination of styles was interesting to listen to, and during their last song they gave each and every member a solo - including the DJ Zack Hendrix, who didn't do much during SP's set but wound up sticking around to DJ for Bukue One and Del. Great stuff.

Bukue's set was long and interesting. He did a lot of minimalist, freestyle rap in between the song tracks, and joked a lot with Hendrix while also pulling off some skateboard tricks on-stage. He's definitely got a way with words, for sure.

Sometime around midnight - later than any of us thought the show would last - Del took the stage with fellow Hieroglyphics members A Plus and Nobody (they said he was new to the group). They brought a ton of energy and performed songs not only from Del's solo work, but also some Hieroglyphics songs, which Johnny was excited about. Some of the memorable tracks for me include Mistadobalina and No Need for Alarm; I don't know the Hiero tracks since I've never heard more than what Johnny's played on his MP3 player in the car. Del even took a step back and let A Plus and Nobody do a few songs themselves, which was cool. Though they didn't do an encore, they ended with a song pretty much everyone in the audience knew: Clint Eastwood. That was pretty awesome, especially since Del did his own lyrics instead.

All in all it was a great show, and I'm actually glad it went on longer than it did. Johnny was satisfied, especially since he got to see one of his favorite artists live and picked up a free CD and a Hieroglyphics shirt. The vibe at a hip-hop show is so different than that of the usual indie/rock shows I go to, and I'd totally be down to see others in the future. Heck, we were looking at The Roots for New Year's Eve, but I hear the tickets are expensive as hell. Oh well.