Love of My Life

The Roots @ Radio City Music Hall - May 18th - 19th, 2006

From 9:30 Wednesday night, I was giddy about this performance. My ebullience could not be satiated or dissolved by any event. The ride home was peaceful and trouble free. The sun was shining and the air was electric.

When the Boy Wonder and I rose from the subway, you could feel something special. As all the progressive listeners congregated, the Complex readers and the women who did their theses on Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, you knew something was special.

Unlike most hip-hop concerts, this one started relatively on time. Most of the audience had not filed in yet, spoiled by previous expeditions to these types of concerts. The curtain rose and the band setup was met with immediate applause and anticipation.

?uestlove, a man whose musical aptitude amazes me more and more, began with a simple drum beat. Black Thought then came out and went right into Web, a two-and-a-half minute pure rhyme without any obstruction. The rest of the band filed in and they went into a new song from their eagerly anticipated Def Jam debut Game Theory. The energy that you could see from the band was unfortunately mitigated by monitor and mic problems that sadly persisted throughout the night. But still people still stood and moved. They then went into Apache to keep the energy going.

Then in one of their typical seamless transitions, they began to play "Made U Look" and Nas stepped onto the stage to be baptized in admiration. The crowd literally lost it. He missed some cues throughout his set, but luckily the band covered him and the energy was never lost. He moved through "It Ain't Hard To Tell," "It's Yours," and "If I Ruled The World."

As he left the stage, Thought payed tribute to Jay Dee aka J Dilla, the seminally forgotten, underrated hip-hop producer. After a moment of silence, they went into "Dynamite" which Dilla produced for the "Things Fall Apart" album. Bounded by the Inspector Gadget Theme they went into "In Love With The Mic," a bonus track from "The Tipping Point" featuring Skillz and Truck North. Once again mic issues cooled the energy a bit, but they were fixed by the time Though and Truck did their verses.

As they left the stage, Thought led the crowd in "The Philly Clap" a modified soul clap. They then did "Stay Cool." Continuing with the "Tipping" material they went into "Boom." On the second verse Big Daddy Kane himself stepped on the stage. I saw him in the MF Doom + Little Brother show in January and once again I was amazed at this cat who has more energy than emcees half his age. He moved along the stage for "Raw" and "Warm It Up Kane" with unbounded energy.

After he left the stage, they went to an old classic "Proceed." Unexpectedly the beat changed and Common flew on the stage performing "Go." The crowd lost its mind, literally. He then went into "The Corner", a song that translated particularly well with the live performance. He then did a freestyle that made me personally floored. He then continued talking and introduced "Testify" which was wonderfully accompanied by the backup singer of the evening do the sample live. He then did arguably his biggest hit "The Light" and his ode to hip-hop "Used To Love H.E.R."

Talib Kweli joined the on-stage festivities and they boyth did a freestyle to "Get 'Em High", a song they each appeared on "The College Dropout" by Mr. West himself. Kweli then went into the Black Star hit "Definition" followed by the Reflection Eternal hit "The Blast." He finished up with his biggest hit "Get By." I must say that I was disappointed with him. Common was like a overgrown leprechaun, jumping back and forth across the stage. Kweli, however, felt like he was laboring, like he just couldn't find his bearings. It wasn't terrible but I've seen him do encores with more energy.

The band then did their introductions and moved into "Break You Off." This was the launch of a jam session and break for the band. Hub, the bassist, went into a inspired solo. I must say that for me he is often the forgotten member, as bassists usually are treated, though they are my favorite. His manipulations of his instrument made me a true fan and sorry that his solo album never reached fruition. He finished by going into the "Good Times" bassline which brought back the band who led an impromptu skate party.

They then went into "You Got Me" which led to a guitar solo by Captain Kirk Douglas. This was truly inspired. Ever since his introduction to the Roots I haven't really paid attention to him. But from now on I want to hear more from him. He was just awesome. Like an old school type of showman. All over the stage and musically adept. He even did a George Benson impression as he did "My Favorite Things. This somehow led into "Don't Say Nothin'" which included an interpolation of Amerie's "1 Thing." They moved on to "The Next Movement" and then the one and only DJ Jazzy Jeff showed why he is one of the pioneers of scratching. Rahzel then did his Godfather of Noyze schtick and I haven't heard it in a while and yes it was quite amazing. Tell me how many people you know that can sing while they're making the beat with their mouth? Exactly. He did a whole reggae medley, some Aaliyah, and even "Touch It." The Roots came back on and said it was time to go

Unless we could do a convincing soul clap. We obliged. They played "The Seed 2.0." End of show. Yes it was that anticlimactic. I won't lie and say I wasn't disappointed. The night was supposed to be full of surprises, and except for Kane (which was still pretty predictable) it was a wash. ?uestlove later revealed that Ghostface & Raekwon were no-shows (sad that we missed out on a CherChez La Femme with Erykah) but still the energy of the party was worth it. We can give that one a B.

Show 2 was the next night and I was a little more even-tempered for this affair. I think the previous night dampened my expectations. Anyway some African dude (later identified as Baaba Maal) did some singing. It was cool but ultimately proved a distraction because as he left, the band came down aisle F (my aisle) with ?uestlove leading marching band style. Black Thought was on a bullhorn spitting "Duck Down" and everyone followed. They quickly kept the energy going and moved into one of my favorite masterpieces "Star" from "Tipping." Going back, they quickly ran through "Step Into The Realm", "What They Do", and "The Next Movement."

Next on the docket was Angelique Kidjo. I was impressed the first time I saw her, volunteering for the non-profit I interned for. Once again I was amazed at her energy. Though she did one song - "Africa" - her presence was felt. I think it was a smart move because any more time and she might have drained the ADHD crowd at this thing.

They wasted no time moving into "Act Too (Love of My Life)" to keep the energy going. Then Thought moved into his inner singer and did a Ray Charles' "What I Say" interlude. Once again I was blindsided because this led into "Double Trouble" with none other than the Mighty Mos Def. The place lost their collective mind. It's easy to see why Mos is the most highly regarded of the "conscious" crowd. His skills and content are upper echelon, but he also seeps charisma out of his pores. This man could make the phone book sound enlightening.

Anyway, he quickly moved into "The Boogie Man Song" which was followed by "Ms. Fat Booty", his biggest hit. He changed it up though with a third verse that led into Fatlip's verse from "Passing Me By". Intriguing and well done. Surprisingly he took things all the way back to his first single on Rawkus "Universal Magnetic" which was awesome to hear live and backed by The Roots band. He closed out with "Umi Says" which included a joyous run all the way to the end of the crowd.

There was no slick transition to the next part as Thought just called up Slum Village to the stage. Elzhi delivered the fallen Dilla's verse off the song and the energy was palpable even though that is not a particularly good song. They then went into "Selfish" with Mos Def singing the John Legend part which was decidedly good. They then did "Fantastic" over the "Fall In Love" instrumental. Not exactly the most compelling performance, but considering the event was for Dilla they deserved a spot.

"In Love With The Mic" this time had Skillz with a working mic and the results were 100% better. Skillz brought a feistiness that was missing from Thought and Truck. You almost get angry listening to him. But it makes your blood bubble. Philly clap once again moving into "Stay Cool". The Jazzy Jeff interlude came earlier and was definitely shorter. Took it back to a very jazzed out version of "Mellow My Man" and moved onto a shorter Hub solo.

Next up was J * Davey. All I knew about them before the concert was that they were funky and consisted of a singer and a producer. This child walks on the stage with a full Native American headdress, full thighs turning into rail thin legs jutting out of booty shorts, and red stilettos, strutting to the beat. In the midst of her song, she quickly shed the multicolored blazer she was wearing to reveal a deep v-necked (to her navel) blouse. Easy to say I was ummm shall we say titilated. This girl was like a half rapping-half singing funk Tina Turner with Macy Gray's voice three octaves higher. She honestly oozed sensuality. If Prince could have sculpted a lead singer this child would have been the product. Oh yeah the song was pretty good too.

Thought comes back out to introduce Dave Chapelle who does about 10 minutes of standup. He centers upon the fact that he figured out the game and uses a story from Iceberg Slim to illustrate his point. Totally hilarious. Had me in stitches.

Weird to have Bilal follow him up but that is what happened. The band and he covered Radiohead's "Everything In It's Right Place" which had some chilly keys by I think Robert Glasper. It was excellent. Bilal's haunting voice provided a eerie realm that Thom Yorke's voice can't seem to touch. They then went into the ?uestlove produced "Sometimes" which is one of my all time favorite songs. Excellently done and sadly all that he offered. That man should have another album.

Without any further ado, Queen Erykah descended upon the stage with her two backup singers and moved into "Otherside of the Game". I was expecting them to move into "Danger" which was the sequel, but instead they went to "On & On" which went into "...& On" which included an interpolation of the "Sucka Nigga" beat by Tribe Called Quest. Quite nice. "Next Lifetime" was next on the set list and that bled into "You Got Me". Once again Kirk Douglas did his thing, shorter like all the other solos and show was done.

Another soul clap invocation. Another obligation met. Another "The Seed 2.0". Ready to file out? Not just yet. Thought begins a Ray Charles impression but this time with the Kanye sample for "Gold Digger". The band just keeps playing the hip-hop hits and goes into "Lighters Up". 2Pac's "Get Around" and Biggie's "One More Chance" follow. This leads to a seamless transition to "Public Service Announcement." Guilty me, I just get lost in the vibe of the thing and since that is probably my most favorite Jay-Z song (sorry if I am not accepted to the rap cognoscente) I'm just feeling it. But then I heard the voice and hooded and all, Mr. Def Jam President stepped onto the stage and ripped it. There were so many dynasty signs I was looking for Amil and Christion. He then moved into "Encore" and that was it for the night. The band left the same way they came in except everybody who participated marched down the aisle with them (Fan moment: I did get dap from Rahzel, Erykah, Mos, Hub, and Dave).

All in all a beautiful night. I felt like I was a part of manufactured history. But manufactured is beautiful nonetheless. I found lout later that Maxwell did drop out but it was just a song. A +++++++++++++++++++.