LYRICIST LOUNGE Vol. 2 Concert

Featuring Mos Def, Talib Kweli and others
Roseland Ballroom, New York City
12.08.00

Lyricist Lounge has spawned some of hip-hop's biggest success stories of the past few years. Biggie, Eminem and many other mainstream rappers got their start performing at the Lounge's infamous NYC throwdowns.

Tonight's performances demonstrated how far the Lounge has come with their artists. The lyrically gifted Talib Kweli, together with DJ Hi-Tek, delivered an explosive performance that had the hand waving, chanting crowd cresting over the barricade. Talib seemed unstoppable in his endless, seamless word play. DJ Hi-Tek's rock-solid grooves and percolating rhythms kept the floor vibrating beneath us, assuring a positive party vibe throughout the room.

Throughout the lengthy break between sets, host Dave Chappelle managed to distract the crowd with stream-of-thought musings, but the throng still grew restless waiting for Mos Def to appear.

Mos confidently took the stage - in a trail of '70s style rust-red leather and gold-plated name sake belt buckle, worn fashionably off-center - to join his band Jack Johnson for a highly-charged, genre-spanning set. The MC's aesthetic and stage presence evoked the likes of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield while he simultaneously tickled our ears and challenged our senses with his unruffled word flow and boundless energy.

Named after the first black heavyweight champion boxer, Jack Johnson, the band made their first New York appearance tonight. Any music head would appreciate this super-group's stellar line-up, which includes P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell, Bad Brains guitarist Doctor Know, and bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun from Living Colour. This lethal blend of seasoned musicians was the perfect backdrop for Mos' schizophrenic genre-jumping from hip-hop to reggae to soul, within each song.

"They said [that] hip-hop killed rock and roll," Mos announced before spouting wicked rhymes over a steady, rockin' groove, "But hip-hop IS rock n' roll." This inspirational revelation of musical unity, was, of course, preceded by Mos' throwing the devil horns, something you don't often see at a hip-hop show. In the world of Mos Def, music is music and genres exist only to be crossed.

So when Talib jumped back on stage to combine forces with his Blackstar partner in rhyme, minds got blown. If tonight's performance is any indication of how music can reach across our social and cultural barriers, the combined power of two of today's best MCs should prove to be a significant force in the future of music.

Story and photos by Hal Miller

This review originally appeared on FUBU's Y2G.com.