Save The Rhinos Ninja!!!!!!!!

Another night, another concert in the city. Tonight I was at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, home of Summerstage and in summers past, my second home. Usually it's free, but today was my first paid concert cause it was a benefit to Save The Rhinos. I didn't even know the rhinos needed saving but whatever brings Common, Rakim, Lupe Fiasco, and Rhymefest all on one bill and I'll save the meat packing industry.

I was gonna do the running commentary again but it takes too much discipline. Once again the white boys and conscious b-girls abound in numbers and there were a couple of crazy fans including the Connecticut bred prepster who tried to climb the fence (WTF?). Today's pre-music was especially awesome but that's because the DJ had a common theme: J Dilla. Man he was hitting the hits and the obscure tracks with amazing seamlessness. Even when he cut tracks short, he cut off my moans with another tasty treat. Of course Mister Cee showed up and wrecked all that, jacking up the name of the concert and basically killing the vibe.

So thank heavens when Rhymefest arrived. Its obvious that the man loves to perform and he exploded over some Jay-Z beats. Even though he has a lisp, the man has an adept flow and when I actually slowed down and listened to the lyrics he was killing them even more. I was glad I was in the front to get an album sampler, though I'll probably just get the darn thing anyway.

Chicago battery mate Lupe Fiasco was up next. I must say at first I wasn't particularly enthralled. He had mic issues and seemed to reticient with the crowd. There is no doubt the kid has skills though. And by the end of his set, which included the song that makes me want to skateboard "Kick Push" he had garnered the audience's attention and didn't seem to spoil his new found fortune. His hypeman saved him a lot of the time. The dude was pure energy and funny too. The one time I've seen a hypeman be necessary to the success of the acutual performer.

Next up is DJ Z-Trip out of Cali. Never heard of him before but the fact that he started his set with "Hey Jude" by the Beatles makes me want to hear him again. He said he wanted to go on a musical journey and that's exactly what he did. Kurtis Blow, Superfly, Jackson 5 and a whole lot of others. Experimental but I appreciate it.

Kid Capri had to jack it all up though. First his levels were to high so everyone was scared shitless (snaps rubber band) for about a minute. Then it was the usual city DJ posturing that hides their inadequacies for actualy keeping a crowd engaged.

Finally he moved over and started to do his DJ thing for the man himself, Rakim. Let's just get this out the way about Rakim. This dude looks like he was at the corner bodega this morning and politicking with cats outside as he smoked a loosey. Then I remembered that he has to be nearing 40 if he hasn't cleared the benchmark already. Throughout his set he makes use of the chair that is on the stage as often as possible. He might be rap's first grandpa. Even Kool Herc seems to have more energy than this dude and he has got to be at least a decade older. Styles P came out of nowhere and provided middle relief as he did "Get High" and "Locked Up." The Microphone Master did keep the crowd hype though. But honestly it was probably more because of shared enthusiasm over his old stuff, nothing that he was specifically bringing to the table. Like Kane was honestly in everything. Like you didn't have to know his stuff to get seduced by his sleepy eyed ebullience. But he rocked it. No need to dissect it much more.

Finally the main event. I must say that one of the best things I took from Yale was from the English class I got kicked out of because of plagiarism. Our teacher laid down a template in order to produce a good paper: Assertion, Explanation and some other word but basically meaning to tie it all back to the original grand assertion or thesis. This is an excellent way to go about papers because if you follow the template, everything should make sense and you should get A's. Why did I do all this? Because I am going to make a grand assertion: Common is the best performer in hip-hop today.

Before I even get to explaining, I will say that I am still hedging on this subject. I have seen Jay-Z and that dude just pulls you in. It's like you're getting rocked but he's having the most genial conversation with you. Even at Radio City he had everyone in a frenzy. But Common is pure energy. At the Roots show at Radio City last month, you might have thought that it was his party. He moved all over the stage and just had everyone in a frenzy. This time, he had his own band, which included producer-extraordinaire Karriem Riggins on drums and the incredible DJ Dummy on the wheels of steel. But his show is a non-stop treat. The beauty of it is is how accessible he makes it. The musicality of it, combined with his energy, would even engage people who are not fans of hip-hop. He did the love songs, the hard driving songs, the political songs. Case in point, he previewed a new track which is usually where you lose a crowd because they don't know the words to it. Not Common. It had almost as much energy as "Go" which preceded it. By the end of it he had freestyled amazingly (when does he not?) to "New York Shit" and outshined Rakim. He also knocked over a part of the drum kit just like one of those classic rock stars. Common is the reason why people should want to go to concerts, to get something that can never be contained on a compact disc or even a DVD. I and a whole lot of people left there with pure energy. I was tired and my feet hurt but I felt like I could climb Mount Everest.

All in all an enjoyable experience. Adam Carnegie Culture Week is off to a rousing start.