Red Bull Big Tune Championships at Neumos

Last night, Seattlest hit up the Red Bull Big Tune 2007 Championship at Neumos just like we said we would. The idea of the competition was to showcase U.S. hip-hop producers in the form of a beat battle, tournament-style; in between rounds we were treated to the skills of DV-One and Just Blaze, and also to a mini-concert from giants De La Soul. We were not expecting this last, and it was kinda fun. Our favorite part was seeing Neumos packed with locals excited about hip-hop, though. "The whole city's here," Courage of Eastern Sunz commented before the rounds began. "Do you know what the prize is?" No, we did not, but later we discovered the winning producer would be going home with some expensive sound monitors and a recording date in LA with a hip-hop star. Sweet.

First, to clarify. A producer is *not* the person who leaps around on-stage with a microphone, telling people to wave their hands like this or shout certain words back at the stage. A producer is the person who spends thousands of his hours in a studio with computers and large speakers, constructing the mille-feuille of sound that (if done right) will cause thousands of happy bodies to undulate and wince with sheer animal joy. The crowd knows when it's done right. Of course, the crowd is also influenced by other animalistic leanings, such as a somewhat blind tribalism. "Big up to Seattle. Y'all support your own," De La Soul's DJ Maseo announced at the end of his set, as it became clear the hometown advantage would make Seattle producers untouchable in the battle.

Seattlest was kind of annoyed, actually, at how easily Seattle darling Sabzi won this competition. To be fair, his last beat was great by anyone's standards. For the most part, however, we just aren't huge fans of the big band, 80s nostalgia sound Sabzi relies upon. It's too obvious, too sunshiny, too celebratory for us; we prefer the beats that make us shout "SICK!", the complex beats that make Seattlest shiver and believe in mystery again. But that's just us, and we were obviously in the minority at Neumos last night. It was Sabzi's crowd gathered there, no doubt about it, and the hometown advantage made it waaaay too easy for him to take the night.

San Francisco's Cambo was our personal favorite. His bright electro piano beats made us feel like we were flying, even after we'd pretty much given up hope of ever having energy again. His stuff felt different, original, new. Dyme Def's Brainstorm, who made it to the final two, brought some clean, catchy, open tunes which reminded us of 1970s television themes. Another standout, Oakland's Beat Roc, was eliminated up against Sabzi in the first round. We would have loved to hear more from this guy. "[Sabzi] killed him with that gunshot," our neighbor commented, referring to some stage mimed bravado. "[Sabzi] won't beat the guy from San Francisco, though, that guy's amazing." (Cough.)

Three phrases we enjoyed hearing over and over again last night: "This is serious business!" (from Big Tune co-creator Jonathan Moore), "Study long, study wrong!" (from lanky prep-hop host Vitamin D), and "Bounce that shit!" (from De La Soul).