Mos Def & Erykah Rip It Up In San Francisco!
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Track:Jump In The Air
Finally getting around to mogging about seeing Erykah again with Mos Def headlining & Jay Electronica opening for them, September 3rd in San Francisco at Davies Symphony Hall. I was surprised Erykah was playing San Francisco so quickly after her amazing headlining back in June. All I knew was that I HAD to see her again!
Now, I haven't been much of a Mos Def fan until I got his 'The Ecstatic' album on Amazon.com for $3.99 which I mogged about when it was released. It's such a great album too, worthy of your attention. So I was excited to see him live too. And Jay Electronica I was curious about since he's Erykah's latest beau so I checked out his myspace page and liked the songs he had posted there.
I had asked Brittany of Mog staff fame if she'd like to go to the show with me a month before and she was excited to see Mos so she agreed. When the day came, we met in SF and went and had dinner before, having a great time chatting & getting to know each other better. Brittany is a real kick and a sweetheart.
We made our way to Davies Hall & marvelled at how great our louge seats were almost perched over the stage from the front left side as well as the beauty of the hall itself. I almost felt like I was a V.I.P. sitting in those seats! We had a great vantage point for the show.
So on came Jay Electronica first, drinking Jack Daniels and talking up a storm. The few songs he did do in between his yacking to the audience had a good groove but he kept breaking his momentum with all his talking. The volume was cranked so I really had a hard time hearing his talking anyway. It was quite annoying. I don't think the Jack helped matters at all either. Jay said he'd started drinking an hour before the concert. Whoo boy! Erykah's got a handful to deal with there. Moving right along. . . .
So Erykah & her NEW band The Cannabinoids took the stage. The Cannabinoids are a group of DJs/rappers who back Erykah up on laptops, singing & a few keyboards. She had no female backup singers at all and there was only one member who was in her previous band, J.C. Williams. The Cannibinoids provided a more electronic backdrop to Erykah's songs which really breathed new life into her established songs. They did several songs that were different versions of the originals including a dance version but I don't recall the song unfortunately.
'Love Of My Life' Medley w/'Life's a Bitch'(Nas), 'Friends'(Whodini) & 'Gangster Gangster'(NWA) at the Hollywood Palladium in L.A. 9/5/09:
What was truly amazing is that Erykah broke out 4, count 'em, FOUR new songs off her hotly anticipated forthcoming 'New Amerykah, Part 2: Return Of The Ankh'! I was so excited to hear them I could hardly contain myself. There was a song that sounded like Funkadelic/Parliament, one that sounded like Outkast, a third about Lowdown Loretta Brown & the 4th was 'Jump In The Air' which I had posted on my last Erykah concert experience. The new songs were seriously jumpin' too and I was dancing my ass off. I was so glad I was there to hear them. Here is a vid of her Paramount performance the next night in Oakland where she did part of 'Lowdown Loretta Brown' at 6:50:
A couple of The Cannabinoids(love that name) rapped during several of Erykah's songs which was pretty fun. All in all Erykah put on an incredible set that I felt topped her June performance which is saying alot since that performance was pretty amazing as well. But her breaking out a new band & new songs takes the cake in my book! I've been waiting for Part 2 for some time. She still hasn't announced a release date but in several articles I've read has talked about how the new album is shaping up & she is excited about it.
So on to Mos Def. I was duly impressed with The Mighty Mos but then again I wasn't expecting alot since I was there mainly for Erykah. But he commanded the stage and started out drumming on a drum set while he rapped. It was pretty amazing. Mos was very energetic and was all over the stage. He kept me pretty mesmerized through his entire set. Favorite moment of his set was when he broke out with a Michael Jackson tribute with 'Rock With You' and 'Billie Jean' which you can view below(this was from the actual Davies Hall show 9/3):
I went into hysterics when Erykah walked out presenting that glove to Mos. Classic moment that I will remember forever! Mos moonwalking was surprising. Who knew? His MJ tribute was definitely the highlight of his set.
Mos ended up doing quite a few of the songs from 'The Ecstatic' album which was nice since I wasn't that familiar with his older albums. But his older songs went off nicely along side 'The Ecstatic' songs. So all in all, despite Jay's set(which was entertaining on some level since he was funny), it was an excellent evening of hip hop/rap music enjoyed with the great Brittany!
Comments (17)
I could sense all your excitement just reading this amazing review! It almost lashes my insides with envy!!!
Erykah is just indescribable! Wish I was there too, but I'm glad you had an excellent evening though ;-P
LOL Augustus...
I read your post...I had NO idead you were a huge Erykah Fan. Don't sleep on my boy Mighty Mos...he's one of the last lyricists that we have left in hip-hop. His best album was "Black On Both Sides". Anyway, I'm glad you had a good time. The best concert experience I had was 9 years ago when I saw Sade @ Madison Square Garden.
Ughz...typos are a pet peeve of mine. Idea*
super post - well worth the wait!
Awesome review, your enthusiasm is intoxicating! Really enjoyed reading that :)
(Mos Def... yummy. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it)
Andrea what a nice surprise to see you here on Mog! Thx for the kudos, glad you felt my enthusiasm since I was truly excited to be there. Wish you had been there too, it would've made it all the more fun!
Supreme no idea huh? haha I make NO effort to hide my Erykah fandom. And I'm not sleeping on MM anymore, I've seen the light. Best concert was 9 years ago w/Sade? No one has equaled her in any of the concerts you've seen since? Now that's saying something. Or else you haven't seen many concerts since!
Inrumford thx, glad you enjoyed it!
Anna thx, happy my enthusiasm came through. Mos Def is most definitely a handsome fellow.
Ahhh, reading this was like being there again! I loved that show and was sooo stoked you asked me to go with you. Erykah and her band were amazing and Mos Def...well, I want to marry him. ;) It was cool to see a rapper who can take the stage all by himself without a distracting amount of entourage alongside him (having flashbacks to 50 Cent concert at a college...eek). Another highlight from the show was when Mos did the Blackstar song "Definition"
Nice one..you youngsters do have some fun. I can see that from this.
Britt cool, glad my post brought you back, it was a great concert. Marry Mos eh? Does he know yet? lol Yea, Mos taking the stage by himself w/all that energy was definitely impressed me too. Thx for the vid, cool.
Cody thx. I do believe I'm a tad bit older than you ya youngin'!
young at heart A1..young at heart..I'm an old 45..how bout you.
Soon to be 49 end of this month but I hear ya, young at heart we are!
see though, you are a young 49..going out of the house and all that..
haha, if that's what qualifies me as young then I guess so. I tend to stay home too much though. the youngness is just immaturity plain & simple.
oh cool. ive wanted to hear more about the cannabinoids since youve posted about them. 'rock with you' has gotta be my fav mj song. nice little rendition with the drums. sounded like a soulful night all around!
Yes, finally got a first hand experience of the Cannabinoids. I was hoping Erykah was going to have them backing her back when I saw her in June but that was a no go. 'Rock With You' I think is a fave w/most people, it's got such a great groove. It was a soulful night, mos def!@;P
what an excellent read, Aug dear. i would have loved to see both Ms. Badu and Mr. Def. how doubly remarkable that you got to meet Brittany at the same time. sounds like a blast, all in all. this actually inspired a post (that'll have to wait for mp3 uploading, but that's okay).
"The few songs he did do in between his yacking to the audience..." i wuv your piercing wit it hurts. ;d
Thx ii. I actually had met Brittany the last time I saw Erykah back in June, so it was fun to meet again & get to know her better.
I'll look forward to your post & glad you appreciate my wit.