[And ya don't stop...]

It was a hip hop extravaganza this week!

Thursday: The Roots were in town at HOB Anaheim. Not really the best show that I�ve seen them perform, but good. I think the best I�ve seen them perform was Audiotistic or the Erykah Badu concert. I don�t know though. I feel as though they weren�t trying as hard as they usually do. I think they know that their true fans are in the house so whatever they�ll do they�ll love. I�ve seem them at a lot of mainstream shows and I feel they try harder to rock the crowd. I�m not talking smack, but I�m making observations. Good show though� and I�m still a Roots fan =)

Friday: Thursday, Theresa and I decided to hit up the early show for The Breedlove Odyssey Tour feat. Jean Grae, Pharoahe Monch, Talib Kweli and Mos Def. AWESOME! I was needing a good show like that (even though I saw The Roots a night before). Jean Grae killed it! She�s dope! Talib Kweli� well I�m not a big fan of his show. Hated The Beautiful Struggle, and was a big fan of all his work before that =) He�s lucky he has a great fan base. He lacks charisma. Pharoahe Monch was dope though, I was pretty surprised� I actually know a lot of his songs. I was surprised. Shout out to South Side Queens! Hehe� Good performer. And well Mos Def. Talk about not lacking charisma. I love that fool forever and tomorrow! I love how he always likes to sing, and no matter how big he gets, he still sings Ms. Fat Booty! =)
On a different note: At the show� there were these straight outta OC kids, who knew like every word to the songs from The New Danger, but when the Blackstar songs came on, or even when like Ms. Fat Booty, or Umi Says or those hits came out, they stayed all quiet. How is it that you can love Mos Def, love The New Danger, but know nothing about what made him who he is today. It was crazy, everyone was screaming when he started singing the Aretha Franklin chorus to Ms. Fat Booty� and I think they 16 year old kids didn�t know what was going on. Very weird, but hey they buy the records right?

How do you think rappers feel about white suburbia kids at their shows? I mean� do you think these kids fully understand what�s going on with the lyrics? How half the time it�s about them and that they probably won�t be gully enough to understand everything going on? You think that crosses their mind? Or do you think they�re happy that at least someone is buying their albums. I dunno� I was a little disturbed by this whole thing. Then again� if I made an album that bombed with my fans from the start, I should be glad someone is buying it right?

I don�t know� I get pretty elitist when it comes it hip hop. I know that it�s down right wrong of me to think that only gully minority cats can listen to hip hop. That�s not true, and it shows how universal hip hop has become. It was just weird because the artist (and again this is OC HOB at Downtown Disney so what did I expect) were probably surpsied by it too. I felt like even Jean Grae was surprised that there was so many not who you would expect to be at a hip hop show, at this show when she cracked her rhythm joke.

Same thing the night before at The Roots show, the unexpected were there� and during the musician solo�s they were just talking up a storm, not knowing that that was apart of the show. I mean, this show circuit is pretty culturally excluding I mean do white people know what a soul clap is? Am I even supposed to know what a soul clap is? Can they understand a song about black girl struggle or why Blackstar loves Brown Skinned Ladies? I mean� I don�t know I wanna say no� but I know I�m being shallow and ignorant with that statement.

And dammit� if you listen to music with a beat� at least move on beat right?!

Someone please school me on this. I don�t want hip hop to solely belong to the minority or person of color community, but it�s just weird, you can sing along to songs that are dissing you� why would you appreciate or support that? That�s just weird. Or is there something I�m not understanding about all this?

I guess hip hop really is universal. More so then even I thought it could be.