We Review: One Be Lo and Grayskul @Nectar Lounge
As we mentioned last week, Fremont's Nectar Lounge hosted a two-night One Be Lo extravaganza this weekend, promising Grayskul, DV-One, and a producer's showcase. It was the first show we've ever attended at Nectar, a classy, high-tech venue with a balcony level full of unbalanced tables, votive candles, and red pepper flake shakers. Next time we're at Nectar, we want some of that pizza we saw around. Hiphop and pizza... is there a combination more heavenly? (Don't even start with us on the eternal Top Ramen smell at Chop Suey. Gross.)
The crowd, startlingly young for a Sunday show, was treated to a decently long set from Grayskul to start things off. JFK's hyperactive hand twisted and grasped and fluttered its way through at least half a dozen tracks from Bloody Radio, plus a few from previous records; we'd forgotten how much we like the title track from that release, and this show's live version was light and quick on its feet. There was the cutest introductory sample for "Scarecrow" we've heard yet, inspiring JFK to play a little air guitar, and "Missing" (the track featuring Andrea Zollo from Pretty Girls Make Graves) never fails to give us goosebumps. The snag in the whole concept: our ears can't actually hear and comprehend as fast as JFK and Onry Ozzborn can rap, so we end up just appreciating Grayskul's two-toned morbid aura without catching more than a few phrases here and there.
Photo by Kyle Johnson, via MySpace
After a brief mini-sermon from One Be Lo about haters, local politics, and appreciating Seattle, DV-One worked the turntables for awhile and we got to watch some b-boys do their talented and physically astonishing thing down on the floor. Was that Massive Monkees there in an unofficial capacity? We think so, which was exciting for us as we've missed their recent official demos.
The producer's showcase featured Eric G, Jake One, Vitamin D, Bean One, and Brainstorm. All five of these guys are known as talented producers, and the beats played tonight were suitably awe-inspiring. Our favorites were brought by Jake One, Vitamin D, and Bean One, for sheer consistent power and clarity. Brainstorm's beats, a close runner-up for our top three, reminded us of a wrecking yard. In a good way. Boom! CRUNCH! And now the car has been richly, enthusiastically smashed!! What we love about beat showcases and battles is that politics has very little to do with what's actually coming out of the speakers. Talent is talent, and it's impossible not to recognize it when it's thumping through your sternum and rattling your skullbones.
Finally, gloriously, One Be Lo. First, some older, comparatively easy-going tracks from the late 90s; then the new stuff from R.E.B.I.R.T.H. (It stands for "Real Emcees Bring Intelligent Rhymes To Hiphop.") He is a master lyricist, an assertive, seasoned spitter of rhyme and reason. "Is it straight if I do this? Was that okay?" One kept asking the crowd. In between solid, confident tracks from the new record, we received pearls of wisdom that somehow escaped sounding condescending: "You can learn about the projects if you're from the suburbs, and you can learn about the suburbs if you're from the projects, all by listening to hip-hop." Please "give your art to the world," but we're politely requested to resist the urge to do what we're clearly and persistently not good at.
"Hiphop is not about peace, love, and happiness," One Be Lo lectured. "You can be the nicest person in the world but everyone's got a line. You keep pushing 'em, keep pushing, and eventually..." Eventually, you'll get intelligent, hard-hitting, eminently listenable tracks like those One Be Lo's got on offer. His lyrics span the far reaches of the civil rights movement, homage to Ice Cube and Rakim, and basketball; he manages to be smart without sounding like a smart-ass, approachable without sounding overly familiar, and wise without sounding cliche. "Go home and kiss your babies," he admonished. We don't have babies, but we did buy a copy of R.E.B.I.R.T.H; we went home and kissed that.
