I’ve been known to gush about rappers on occasion, so I
will try to refrain from doing any of that in this space this month.
That being said, I’m 87% sure that Lupe Fiasco may in fact be
God.
Too much? Ok, maybe. Nevertheless, December 21st, 2006 witnessed one of Toronto’s most highly
anticipated hip hop shows of the year as up-and-coming rapper Lupe
Fiasco came into town promoting his debut album Food and Liquor. The young Chicagoan did not disappoint.
The show was kicked off by local band The
Carps (The Carps are friends of mine, and I figure, what’s the
point of knowing scenesters if no one knows
you know them??). The majority of the crowd was in the mood for hip hop
from the get go, and The Carps’ unique brand of drum and bass
dance punk caught them a little off guard. True to the spirit of the
night though, they would soon warm up to them, especially after a nice
bit of spur of the moment role playing on the part of the band, with
drummer Jay yelling at a scared bass-playing Neil about how gangsta he was. Very random and very hilarious.
Next up was The Reason, a Hamilton band I knew nothing about.
Once again, the band and the crowd shared a great rapport, despite
being hit with music they didn’t expect. The Reason, while
seeming like a very typical emo band to me,
provided a nice change of pace from the up-tempo Carps, and their
tightness was evident. Also, they all wore the same colour
shirt, which was pretty spiffy.
The final opener (yeah, I couldn’t
believe there were three either) was London, Ontario rapper Shad K. This was the
first time I had ever gotten to see Shad in person, and after his set,
I completely understood the buzz he’s developing in Toronto’s hip hop
community. Not only does he have skills, his dedication to just being
himself is incredibly refreshing in today’s image obsessed hip
hop world. I expect big things out of Shad K, artistically, if not
commercially.
Finally, finally finally,
it was time for the night’s main event. As the familiar bars from
the intro to his debut album Food
and Liquor started to play, an already warm crowd got red hot. Then
Lupe appeared in all black with his trademark shades, and the crowd got
ready to immerse themselves in an hour of heady raps with breathtaking
flow when… his mic wouldn’t work!
Horribly embarrassing for the tech staff, especially given the fact it
took a full 15 minutes to fix whatever the problem was that chose that
minute to manifest itself.
When he finally did come back (after doing
his whole entry sequence again, but it was ok, because it was super
cool), it proved to be well worth the wait. Lupe tore the Phoenix down as he went from mixtape tracks to album tracks effortlessly, and
had the whole crowd rapping along. The frequent and completely
spontaneous breakouts of “Lupe! Lupe!” looked like they had
the rapper in actual awe. The highlight of the night for rap fans came
however, when Lupe performed a revamped version of his smash hit “Kick
Push” over a 3 separate beats, ending in Nas
classic “Nas is Like.” As
“Kick Push” ended, the beat from “Nas
is Like” kept going, and Lupe decided to bless the crowd with one
of Nas’s own verses. Like millions of
rap fans the world over, Lupe idolizes Nas
(as do I; I’m not ashamed to say I would have the man’s
babies if he asked me to… somehow), and it was nice to see a
rising star pay homage to one of the originators.
All in all, it was a fantastic night of great
music. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get an invite to
the exclusive “Meet and Greet” organized by the house DJ
for Lupe and his crew, but I had a feeling I probably didn’t
fulfill the minimum boob size requirement. It was far and away the best
show I saw in 2006, and my belief in his divinity has only a teensy bit
to do with that statement.
