A. QN5 Music Showcase @ The Bowery :: 07.25.03

It had been months of preparation, in terms of finishing Underscore & Asterisk:Two damn near simulatenously. If I wasn’t recording or mixing or designing or animated or editing, I was either sleeping or keeping my carpal tunnel-ridden hands under bags of ice. Countless nights of stress-induced insomnia served as the ultimate wind-up before the pitch. Once the flyers were done, the entire team hit the streets for some good old fashioned NYC-style guerilla marketing. Props to PackFM, Mrs. Deff, Akolades, & Mr. Mecca for putting forth the extra effort in reaching out to the kids.

It had been a while since the squad had performed in NYC. We’ve been making it a habit to get out of the city as much as possible for out-of-state performances and the like. With that said, we were hoping that the locals and the tourists in town for RSC 03 would have a taste for a QN5 show. As fate would have it, it turned out that the QN5 show was THE ONLY show popping off that Friday. Considering that this was the weekend of RSC, that struck us a bit odd, but fuck it – it worked out better that way.

That Friday morning, Akolades & I headed out to the Manhattan Center to set up our booth for the RSC fashion show & B-Boy/Girl Battle, complete with the new shirt designs and CD’s in tow. While lugging the boxes around, I lost a good chunk of my cuticle to one of the lobby walls, resulting in a bloody mess of a finger that luckily stop bleeding under the 4 band-aids strapped to it. We moved a lot of merch, (we love Japanese people), and caught a ride with Domingo down to the spot where, to my delight, a HUGE crowd had gathered for the show. It was packed from wall to wall, and fuck what you heard, it’s an amazing feeling to know that the hundreds of people that showed appreciated what you were doing. Following a prior convo, I remember mentioning to Mrs. Deff that above all the stress, bullshit and long nights, THIS was what I did it for.

The show came off beautifully, and even though the A/C was on the fritz, the people stayed crammed, anticipating every song that dropped. Props to Breez Evahflowin, Poison Pen & Immortal Technique for coming through and rockin’, along with Wordsworth for holding it down as the night’s Host. [That J-Zone produced track he did was wild.] Practically the entire NYC underground was in the building to show their support of the camp, along with countless fresh faces that came to see what all the buzz was about. Did it pop off? ABSO-FUCKIN-LUTELY.

Our pal Oktober rocked first, and then The Understudies did their thizzle, (props to 6th Sense for securing the spot). Then came the main event, with CunninLynguists bodying their set with a wicked mix of joints off their first & second albums. To hear the entire crowd sing along to the hook on “Rain” was something to behold. It’s funny, we’re so used to rocking new spots where only a few people know who the fuck we are, that it was a tad surreal to interact with a crowd that knew every song word for word. CL rocked “Thugged Out Since Cub Scouts,” “The South,” “Dying Nation,” “Nasty Filthy,” “Rain,” and even “616 Rewind.” It was a beautiful thing to see them finally getting the respect and recognition they deserve, especially after the release of Southernunderground which I personally consider to be a modern masterpiece. “616” was the perfect segue into the rest of our set, complete with dramatic intros and lights dimmed. One by one, everyone intro’d themselves, and systematically dropped joint after Joint.

Session set it off nicely with “Issawrap,” (complete with backup dancers), “Henny On The Rocks,” and finally the perennial crowd favorite, “Don’t Do It.”

Next up was Mr. Mecca, who is in my opinion, one of the best live performers alive. He consistently does material no one has ever heard before and gets reactions from the crowd like they’ve heard his song on Hot 97 daily. It’s truly something to behold. His rendition of "Beastin" (available on Asterisk:Two) completely bought the house down. I’ve you’ve ever been to a QN5 show, you can attest to the energry we put into crowd. This is definitely not a show for wallflowers or screwfaced arm-folders – we get very animated on stage. I’m sure someone lost an eye to one of the random baby-blue glowsticks that had been handed out at the door. He also rocked the tried and tested "Come On Now, Ma" for the ladies and "Remarkable." It was nice to see him in his element. Hell, even I’m psyched for his album to drop.

PackFM was next up to bat, (rockin his new Everlast-crafted "FM" boxing robe), premiering his new Kno-produced headnodder, "Forever Shine" for the crowd, with everyone chanting "I’ll SHIIIIINNE!!" during the hook in unison. He continued to rock the punchline riddled "Fmakalishus" and capped it of with a hilarious PackFM Vs Substantial rendition of "Upclose & Personal." Definitely plenty of quotable treats for the fans.

Finally, I made my way out onto the stage and set things off with a never before heard Archetype track called "Case Closed," that contains a bunch of styles no one’s ever done before. I love flying by the seat of my pants, and rocking tracks we’ve never performed before to a receptive crowd is always a thrill-a-minute. I could’ve played it safe and did "Spanish Song" or "MIRO" - but fuck it. I launched into a vaudevillian version of "Disappointed," which for whatever reason inspired two girls from California to repeatedly tell me that they wanted to ‘lick the sweat off my face’. At which point, I capped it off with the moshpit friendly "Issawn." That was the 1st taste most people have had of the joints from Archetype, and if the initial response was any indication of what’s to come, I believe the wait has definitely been worth it. FINALLY, we took the entire night home with our anthem, "FYIRB (remix)," with everyone in attendance destroying every last shred of their vocal chords shouting the hook.

We had a 5 man DVD crew documenting the event, so expect to see the entire show on DVD shortly. I had a blast and we were all exhausted at the end of it. We’ll definitely do it up bigger and better next year. This was just a warning shot. Much respect and thanks to everyone that came out in support of us. We hope we made you proud.

B. RSC Outdoor Concert @ Pier 54 (NYC) :: 07.26.03

Every year, the fabled RSC outdoor concert is the stuff of legend, and since last year, we’re making sure QN5 Music is part of the proceedings. The day started off kinda slow, primarily because the line took so long to make it through the main gates; but eventually the entire pier became packed around the middle of the show.

Hosted by our underground brethren at the EOW camp, we saw great performances by Freddie Foxxx, JMT, Non-Phixion, Q-Unique, Soul Purpose & plenty more. As usual, everyone and their mama was there peddling CDs, selling T-shirts. The FYIRB tees have been getting major burn. We can’t seem to keep ‘em in stock. I met a lot of cats that have supported over the years, ran into old friends from Miami, (SLP!), signed a lot of stuff, gave four thousand daps… and mainly just tried to soak it all in. It’s always great to have the whole QN5 family in attendance, it doesn’t happen too often, because of our locations, but when it does it’s always a blast. Hell, even Elite made it out from as far away as Upstate NY (heh) sick as a dog, but present nonetheless.

I was called up by Immortal Technique to partake in the mammoth posse cut, "Peruvian Cocaine" featuring the likes of Pumpkinhead, Poison Pen, C-Rayz Walz, LouCipher & Diabolic. Walz in a orange prison-jumper was a nice touch. We all rolled up onto the stage, and It was somewhat of a wierd feeling for me. Remember, Pack, Mecca & I had just rocked the outdoor event last year as well. And that initial charge of performing in front of that massive crowd wasn’t there anymore. I guess after you do it once, you need to rock bigger and bigger crowds to keep that feeling fresh. Just a thought. Anyway, It was bugged to see Technique finally getting his props, after the years of work that he’s put in. So many people that had never heard him kick his extreme brand of shock-consciousness reacting with such fervor to it. It was a beautiful thing, and I see a bright future for the kid.

Afterward, we packed up the van and made our way out to meet our photographer dejour, FUBZ from Beautiful Decay magazine. We proceeded to do a full label promotional shoot with the entire roster in tow. The pictures came out bananas, we’ll get em out to y’all as soon as we get em on disc. Shoutout to Fubz, who is by far one of the most talented AND efficient photographers I know.

Later that night, Deacon invited a couple ladies from the outdoor event back to QN5 Manor, so we stayed up mad late yapping and having ridiculous discussions about random shit while Kno & I bickered about DVD Compression quality. Eventually, SOS & Deac disappeared into the Queens, NY night with these two chicas, so I followed suit, except I crashed in my bedroom with Mrs. Deff and called it a night.

C. RSC INDOOR CONCERT :: 07.27.03

*WOW!* This shit was a fucking blast. Not only did our booth do exceptionally well, we actually had more fun at the indoor this year than we did at the outdoor. We recommend you hitting up the indoor event next year if you get the chance.The audience seemed much larger this year in contrast to last year’s sparse crowd. Which is good, because there were enough people that looked past the $20 admission fee and came to see a tight hip-hop show.

After Pumpkinhead rocked, we were fortunate enough to be asked to perform this year as Extended F@mm. It was a nervewracking experience, because our performance slot was edging closer and closer to being nixed to keep the show moving, due to the fact that we couldn’t find Substantial. Apparently, Sub was getting harassed by the building’s security outside, thus preventing him from making it in. Luckily, Mrs. Deff caught this outside, and made sure he was allowed in. I’m pulling whatever hair I have left out of my head, running around trying to figure out what the fuck we’re gonna do, and BOOM! SUBSTANTIAL SHOWS UP!! Phew, that was close. We came out to rock "Line Drop" and of course, "FYIRB." It was good to see cats in the crowd that knew all the parts.

SEGUE: Around the middle of the event, DJ Evil Dee spun the CunninLynguists "Seasons (f/ Masta Ace)" 12" for the crowd, which caught us completely off guard. People seemed to just vibe to it, which is good, cause it would’ve sucked if they would’ve just stopped dancing/headnodding.

There were several performances, but the minute Keith Murray stepped on stage in a surprise performance rockin’ a blazing red FYIRB t-shirt that Mecca tossed him on a whim – The show turned into a bonanza. What was funny, was that when Keith saw our merchandise table, he just looked in awe, and said, "Damn. Y’all did ALL this?" I don’t think he knew it, but he’d just given us the compliment of the night. Now, I’ve never seen Keith perform before…but GOD DAMN, this cat knows how to rock a show. The man crowd surfed 4 different times WHILE RHYMING and never lost a step. It was brilliant. My hat is off to Mr. Murray. Maybe one day, when we have a little money in the QN5 piggy bank that Solo .45’s sister gave us, we’ll be able to get him on a project. Props to Keith for staying humble.

Later, Jungle Brothers showed up to rock their classic jawns from back in the day, along with "I’ll House You," which was interesting, cause I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen hip-hop cats dancing to house music like it was still the coolest shit to do. Great song; hasn’t aged a bit. Wyclef also popped up to do an acapella of his current single. Neat. Rahzel and our main homeslice DJ JS-1 rolled through with a stellar set, and some brilliant Beatbox/DJ interaction. If anyone doesn’t have the Ground Original album, they need to stop fronting and pick it up. Due to time constraints, Brand Nubian only got to rock one song, and it was well worth it, cause they did "All For One." And if you’re Brand Nubian, that’s all you really need to do anyway to bring the house down.

At the end of the show, we basically just closed up shop, packed up the van and headed the fuck home. It had been a long ass weekend, and after the prior two-days of standing up/yelling/performing/selling/pollying we were all exhausted. Overall, RSC 03 was a smashing success for QN5 Music, we’ll definitely be back to do it up bigger and better next year.

Peace & Respect.
Tone.