2/24/17 at Amityville Music Hall in Long Island, NY.
A night of laughs and more beers and a whole lot of breakfast food.
This show was way more lit than I had anticipated, but with a stacked lineup I should have never doubted the fact that I’d be drowning in bars well before midnight. The acts for this set (in the far-far-away land of Long Island) was as follows: Jaō, The Wrong Islanders, The Karma Kids, Tai Cheeba, and [40oz] Big Breakfast. Heat.
If you don’t know anything about Jaō, stop right now and just turn up. Just shut up and turn up. This man is a beast on the boards and I’m pretty sure he DJ’d this event for 3 hours before anyone picked up a mic. This man sounds like I left the stove on, no gas.
[JaĹŤ and Tai Cheeba; 2/24/17]
3 hours of Jaō later, it was (as MC Eleven calls it) Rap O’clock. So now, The Wrong Islanders took to the stage. I have to admit, I never heard of these guys, and I was only slightly interested by association. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. No seriously, surprised. I mean, let’s be real, I’m just not easily impressed by white boys rapping.
[Lone Islander of The Wrong Islanders; 2/24/17]
So here I am, in the crowd just bobbin my head and honestly.... bars. I got the bars. The thing is, there has to be at least 5 or 6 people in this group and they all literally have their own entire flavor. Unbelievable. You couldn’t ask for anything more when it comes to rap groups. No one rapped over a backtrack, everyone had their own story to tell, and everyone was there for their mans to help him collect. It was a cool collective to watch and listen to. You can check them out here: The Wrong Islanders
[The Wrong Islanders; 2/24/17]
Karma Kids were up next. I love these guys, incredibly wholesome and real rap. Nothing more nothing less. If you are hungry for rhymes, please look no further because they got it by the ton. This set featured 3 of the 6 Karma Kids: Duncecap, Googie, and MC Eleven.
[Duncecap, Googie, and MC Eleven of the Karma Kids; 2/24/17]
The best part about watching the Karma Kids perform is that they’ve got enough energy for the entire audience, so they really don’t give a f*ck what you think. The stylistic differences between these three rappers allowed each of them to both shine, and enjoy each other’s music. Their dynamic is entirely captivating, not to take anything from The Wrong Islanders - these guys just feel like they hang out with each other more than they care to admit. What I mean to say is, their love is ostensible and it drenches the crowd. It’s really hard to describe each of their styles, but I can try: Duncecap sounds like he’s been eating grits for three weeks and can’t wait for his next bowl (in a good way but also in a fiend way). Googie is like the love-child of Method Man and Danny Brown - but that’s really unfair, you just have to give him a super listen. And MC Eleven? Man this guy is just meta af so stay woke yu-eard?
[Duncecap of the Karma Kids; 2/24/17]
[MC Eleven of the Karma Kids; 2/24/17]
So now things were definitely hot and heavy. My head, filled with rhymes, thirsted for.. more rhymes. That’s just how it is when you’re at a rap show. Rhymefest. Tai Cheeba takes the stage. We saw him earlier in his Clockwork Orange leather bomber lampin with JaĹŤ during his 3 hour set, MCing and welcoming cats into the venue - now he was gonna give us this sweet street gospel. This guy never fails to put on a good show, that’s a fact. If you missed a set you trash, we’re not discussing it. He performed a handful of unreleased tracks, so I can’t really give you spoilers that just wouldn’t be fair. But please catch yourself up, it’s Business Over Backwoodz all day - smoking for flavor not retainer. Reppin LYBB, the Cheeba donned a new element of this brand - a 3M magnified type reading “My First Year Being Rich”, go head playboy.Â
As if the set wasn’t already off top with beats (with Jaō on the 1s n 2s) and bars, someone decided to put the mic into Jalal Salaam’s hand. This man pushed past the instrumental with what had to be the world record use of bells to deliver Loose Endz with all of his past lives. Very blessed.
[Jalal Salaam with Tai Cheeba; 2/24/17]
Lastly, Big Breakfast closed the show. This was his show, so I guess my dude was as drunk as he wanted to be. I’ve never heard his music before, so I didn’t know what to expect. To be fair, the venue was filled with performers, and their supporters, and not many bar-goers, so this was the perfect setting for a headliner to experiment with anything new. He had set up an MPC, which he cautiously explained (or confessed) was only his second time using. That was lit, gotta love it when artists are comfortable enough with their craft, and their stage presence to just let it go and have a good time. His Sade flip was my personal favorite. We got our bars, and our jokes (dude should seriously consider stand-up), and we also got to hear Sexy Can I four times in a row. Now THAT’S a rap show.
Word to Long Island, I’d make the trip again.
All writing and photographs belong to Bar Shoham.
tangentwithtanner
snowghoul
ellievsbear
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
izzy806
