Jurassic 5 Last Night at the Showbox

The most refreshing thing about a hip-hop show like the Jurassic 5 at the Showbox last night is that it proves live hip-hop is better than any studio trickery. An unfortunate trend in much live rap and hip-hop is poor sound quality and garbled lyrics, overpowering bass that forces the performer to yell lyrics, distorting the delivery. And that's usually after five or six "opening acts" that push the headliner back until closing time. With one adequate opener, Brooklyn old-schoolers X-Clan, J5 took the stage and had the entire crowd waving and bouncing the entire set with obvious veteran style.

One by one, the crew versed their way onstage to open the set. The purpose for five school desks sporting each member's name became evident a short while later, when all sat down and started up a mini drum machine studio session right on stage. Peppered between J5 classics like "Quality Control" were songs off the new album Feedback, releasing next week. Some new jams were more groovy than the obligatory chorus anthems synonymous with a Jurassic 5 song. Apparently the studio version of the new song "Work It Out" will be a collaboration with Dave Matthews.

The performances were solid, the rhymes were clear, and nobody missed a beat, a word, or a step in delivering a high energy set worth seeing anytime these boys come to town. With three and a half years since their last Seattle appearance, we could be waiting a while.

Photo care of Flickr / username hayze4000.