Masked villain conquers New York
- MF Doom in concert
- Doom and a collection of classic and current hip-hop's finest take over Times Square for a rap marathon.
If you want to see MF Doom perform, you have to be prepared for a marathon, not a sprint. Keep in mind that marathons are long — very long. And you’re likely to be in pain and dripping with sweat, urine or both by the end. But when you finish that race, the end result is more than worth it. That’s the feeling you’re left with by the time the house lights go on after an MF Doom show, but without the urine part.
The masked villain topped a heavy bill that played to a packed house at Times Square’s Nokia Theatre on Jan. 26. I think it’s safe to admit that I wasn’t fully prepared for the experience. That’s not to say that the entire show wasn’t great — although it did have its ups and downs — it was just a lot to take in.
DJ Lord Sear started the night, playing the beats for the various unannounced openers including talented freestyle rapper Jin. DJ Pete Rock took over the turntables soon afterward. Pete Rock’s career goes back to the ’80s, and while the beats he chooses are good, it’s unimpressive to see him actually spin anything. Most of his sets, however, were tecnhically unimpressive. He’s reliable, and plays well to the MC on the mic, but alone he’s just a guy on the stage crossfading records.
North Carolina-based trio Little Brother performed an energetic set, but they didn’t quite live up to the hype surrounding them. Little Brother’s sound was definitely tighter than some of the other acts, possibly even Doom himself. I wouldn’t call their raps ground breaking, but I would call them good. By this point, however, my feet were starting to wish that Doom would show up.
Pete Rock came out for another set after Little Brother wrapped up and played until Big Daddy Kane came on the stage. It’s a shame that Kane isn’t filling theaters like this on his own these days. MF Doom is extremely technically proficient, but Big Daddy Kane would give him a run for his money any day. His set of old school hip-hop was energetic and he played to a crowd that wanted to hear him as much as he wanted to rap for them. As if it wasn’t enough of a treat for old school fans to see Big Daddy Kane alone, halfway through his set he was joined on stage by Melle Mel and Raheim of The Furious Five who played “The Message.”
Mel and Raheim’s time on stage was too short, but it was amazing to see a couple of the oldest of the old school live on stage. At this point any complaints about the length of the show were completely forgiven. Kane finished up his set and after a bit of total downtime with no DJ on stage, and a delay that almost made it seem like they were stalling, Doom finally took the stage at midnight.
As great as most of the other acts were, this crowd was here to see MF Doom. The crowd at the Nokia theater was clearly not your average hip-hop crowd, and comprised mainly of Adult Swim fans and this guy. Doom’s set was good but didn’t quite live up to the energy of Little Brother or Big Daddy Kane. Most of Doom’s songs were off the Operation: Doomsday and MM.. Food albums with a healthy dose of Madvillainy. If memory serves me correctly (taking notes in a packed crowd just isn’t practical), the set was notably lacking anything from Vaudeville Villain or VV:2 Venomous Villain, but was still a solid set.
Doom always raps in sort of a mumbly style, and while I don’t know if he wears it in the studio, it doesn’t seem to help much in concert. Of course, part of the appeal of MF Doom is that he raps wearing a metal mask, and strange as it may seem, it just wouldn’t be right to see him without it. It would be like seing Kiss without the makeup. It’s just not the same.
The villain’s regular set was relatively short at only about 40 minutes, but an encore featuring Talib Kweli first doing a freestyle rap and then on a seemingly impromptu and unrehearsed version of “Old School” (the only song from the Danger Doom album) stretched it out a bit and certainly pleased the geeks in the crowd.
The night was long and grueling, but the surprise guests made the night worth it. The sound in the Nokia Theatre was very good, but way too heavy on the bass. I hate to come off as some old curmudgeon who can’t take music at the appropriate volume, but all the subtleties of the beats were completely obscured by the excessive bass. Maybe I’m too much of audiophile to appreciate hip-hop in concert — a more basic form — but I hate to see the details hidden by the broad strokes. Still, it’s hard to complain too much in a night of great hip-hop.
