Megashow Weekend Part 1: Preshow Pressure

Posted August 3 2005

I had to split this into parts, because this is a RIDICULOUSLY long read. I’ve been writing it since Monday night…and there was ALOT of ground to cover. So, get your popcorn ready and fire up the ole reading glasses.. here’s my exclusive behind-the-scenes look and wrap-up of this past megashow weekend. HOLLERATE!

Now, in order for me to really give you an idea of my weekend, I literally have to give you the full run down of the couple days prior to the Megashow:

The Daily Grind

Tuesday 8:40 AM – 3:50 AM PM
I Got home from work, started animating the video screen intros and titles for the show. They were deceptively simple animations. Meanwhile, I’m fielding calls left & right about set list changes for Mecca’s set and trying to coordinate 2 more rehearsals with the crew.

Wednesday 8:35 AM to 2:26 AM
After I got off work, I went home and Mrs. Deff was gracious enough to hook me up with some Taco Bell she picked up while she was out. I downed that and hopped back on the train to make rehearsal at The School of Rock (Yes, THE school of rock that existed before the movie). There we met up with Pack, Mecca, Session, Dom from Jersey Roots, GC (the sax-rapper), Mecca’s 2 singers Sofia & Nika… and of course, my backup singers for the night, Emory Toler & Nomi (Props to them for the sense of professionalism – it was top-rate).

It was this night that we found out that the lighting guy who we were supposed to use for the Megashow, ran off and got hitched without notice…so, now we’d have to use the BB Kings lighting guy who was not gonna be familiar with our set. Rehearsal went on till about 11:30 or so, and I headed home. Continued animating till late.

Thursday 8:35AM – 10:15 AM
Mrs. Deff broke out to the Midwest for the weekend, so I was left alone in QN5 Manor to work. Originally, we were supposed to have another rehearsal at SOR, but it just didn’t pan out. I started running through ideas for the intro, but nothing was really clicking…I finally got on a roll. Around 1:AM I got a call from Mecca that the majority of the live band that was supposed to play during his set pulled out last minute. So, we had to rethink things and I had to put off animating a bit to put together his Old School Medley.

When I realized how much work I had left to do.. (ie. format the final show CD sequence, finish the animated titles, eat, sleep, etc)...I decided to work until my vision blurred. I called out of work the next day and slept for 4 hours.

Friday (Crunch time Begins) 1:45 PM 8:45 AM
I wake up after 3.5 hours of sleep with a slight headache. I hop in the shower to regain consciousness and eat some Doritos for breakfast.

I started animating again. I finally figured out how to present the shit in a way that would make sense, since Pack, Mecca & I had come up with the jokes and the format, but I still needed to WRITE the final script. Once I nailed that down, I continued pressing on, knowing that tomorrow was the big day and these titles were such an integral part of the show, that they NEEDED to get done beforehand.

Kno had asked that the CL set intro with images of Fire. I don’t know how many of you do video editing and shit like that, but clips of “FIRE” by itself are kinda hard to come by without a stock license fee. I scoured the web for about 2 hours looking for the perfect clip… but to no avail…they were all $150-$300 dollars a pop. No thanks.

I ended up jacking a tiny ass 120×240 clip and tiled the video to make it look bigger than it was, (I’m slick, son). Viola! Fire.

Midnight rolls around, and I hear a knock on my door…it’s my niece Vanessa, (aka “Daisy” on the boards). She suprised me with a visit to NYC from Miami to see the Megashow. She rules. She’d later prove to be a key asset to Megashow weekend.

I’m already fried, I get back to work and time just begins to fly. Around 11:20 AM, my body starts to shut down and I can’t maintain consciousness anymore. I need to sleep…so I do.

Saturday (Hell Day) 11:20 AM – 9:00 AM
3 hours later I wake up and IMMEDIATELY hop back on the work wagon. I’m now CRAMMING to finish, because we have to be at BB Kings @ 10 PM sharp for soundcheck and merch setup, etc. I’m about 80% done with all the titles, I begin rendering the files for DVD, which takes forever.

2:30 PM: SOS shows up after a grueling Greyhound bus ride from ATL (don’t try this at home kids). He gets his GTA:SA on, and I continue to work. My niece gets her IM on with her Mac Powerbook laptop (I’m jealous). I’m 85% done with the titles.

4:30 PM: CunninLynguists & Kynfolk show up (ie. Kno, Deacon, Natti, SunnyStylez, DJ Sicari & their pal, CJ). All of which take turns for a shower after their long ride up from KY. I’m about 94% done now.

5:30 PM: Pack shows up with a CANE to get the show CD and the DVD. Dude fucked up his ankle trying to bring down a rebound at the RSC b-ball tourney the prior Thursday. I live on a 4th Floor. But he managed somehow (Cause Pack is gully). Kynfolk is having some sort of mini-party behind me as I struggle to get the DVD finished. I’m about 96% done animating.

6:20 PM: Session & Debut show up to make a couple of last minute changes to the show CD. I couldn’t get to that yet, cause I was still animating and rendering DVD files. I’m at my wits end – physically and mentally fried by this point. I’m about 99% finished animating/rendering.

7:00 PM: I finally finish rendering everything I need to make the DVD and get poppin’ on the final music CD.

I hit BURN DVD.

[ERROR: ADMINISTRATIVE PRIVELEGES PREVENT YOU FROM ACCESSING THE DVD DRIVE. THIS FUNCTION IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE]

I put clench my fists and avoid punching the fucking screen in and killing everyone in the room, just for being available to kill.

It’s at this point that I’m beginning to have a breakdown…I’d animated, edited and rendered these fucking things for this show and at the very last minute, my machine pulls some bitch shit like this. [It’s a long story as to WHY the shit didn’t work, but that’s for another day].

Immediately, Kno & Pack held a mini-tribunal to try to figure out a way to resolve the issue. I still hadn’t showered, hadn’t shaved, had no show CD ready and there was still MAD work to do.

7:30 PM: So, we can’t BURN a DVD now, and we don’t have titles. Kno figures a way to burn the disc with a program he finds online. We figure out a way to burn the DVD: my niece’s Powerbook Laptop.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have a DVD burner and the software only allowed DVD burns. Kno & Pack make the decision to pitch in $ to go to Best Buy to buy an external DVD-RW drive for her laptop.

8:00 PM: Deacon, Kno, Vanessa & Pack leave to find a DVD Burner. I begin working on formatting SOS’s music for the show, while they’re gone.

8:30 PM: They return with the DVD burner, we hook it up… burn the DVD… and it plays…but the navigation is fucked up and it won’t go to the next chapter.

My legs are killing me. I’m starving and pissed.

9:00 PM: I finally figure out what the problem is…re-author the DVD and burn it. It plays now and works well enough for the show’s purposes.

9:30 PM: I begin working on the final show CD. Most of the shit was already laid out, but now with Mecca’s set running off CD, i needed to rework some cuts, etc and finalize music for my intro.

10:30 PM: I’m fucking BAKED by now…stress kills. I finally finished the finalized show CDs & DVD, Pack breaks out and heads over to the BB’s and coordinate shit. I shave my head, hop in the shower, and get dressed.

11:20 PM: Kno, SOS, Vanessa & I pack up what’s left of the merch hop in the rental to Times Square. Traffic is a FUCKING NIGHTMARE.

12:00 PM: We find parking, unload the rental, lug the shit to the spot and walk in. There’s a huge line. Security begins harassing us and treating us like third class citizens (which would preface the rest of the night).

Back from Amsterdam

Posted March 28 2005

The Overall

God damn. I’m still tired. I slept about 5 hours & 45 minutes in 4 days. Not a healthy thing to do when you’re a performer. Makes you all loopy and shit. But I’m used to that kinda thing [ie. my 80+ hour Archetype video-editing marathon], so I deal.

Europe is pretty fresh. Serving sizes and drinks are mad small, though. The medium sized McDonalds cup looks like a kid’s meal drink for infants. Let’s just say I was thirsty alot. We fat americans are used to the 10 Gallon Megagulp from 7-11. I don’t care though…their money is worth alot more than ours. [Just don’t try to buy an Ecko T-shirt for 60 EURO].

The Show

We got there for soundcheck around 7:30 or so. Shit was mad loud. I think I lost another 178kHz or hearing range. But the shit knocked…so it was worth it.

[Here’s Pack soundin up]

We ate some dinner at the spot (which had an excellent restaurant built-in). Afterward, we chilled in the dressing room which was definitely built to suit the needs of rockstars: Plush couches, full catering, a fridge and a 5 person shower built in. Quite impressive, considering most Hip-Hop spots usually throw you in a corner room with a foldup chair and a sink to piss in.

So we get cracking and it’s a good turnout. Considering that there was a Big Daddy Kane show & another big hip-hop party happening the same night – we had a GREAT turnout. What’s also impressive to me is that kids out there knew the words. I’m talking obscure shit from Underscore and Hyphen, they even knew “Backpack” from Pack’s FMV1 single.

[Shoutout to Blake for the introduction].

The Dutch were open to get busy for the ‘rowdy-as-usual’ QN5 set.

Pack kicked it off with an energetic, top notch set of new shit. Dude is an excellent showman that really got the crowd open that night. I rocked a bunch of stuff off *Archetype*, and the response was very good. I’m not sure how well my music translates to foreigners, but it can’t be all that different from the cats that think I sound like a blur anyway.

We dragged all the merch out to the show for the first go ‘round of Archetype sales. [Shoutout to that dude PJ, who picked up my 250 lb Merch Suitcase like it was loaf of bread]

Cats was buying multiple copies of ALL the QN5 shit. They love vinyl out there, so I sold alot more Vinyl than CDs (thank god…cause that shit is HEAVY and I didn’t wanna have to lug it back]. It’s crazy to think that they didnt know-of or have ANY of these records…and now they have them all.

Some kids even drove 4 HOURS FROM GERMANY to see the show. Now THAT’S support.

The Migraine

So afteward, it’s mad late, and we head back to the telly. I was ridiculously fuckin tired from the flight and the show. I tend to get dehydrated easily for some reason (Maybe I don’t drink enough water?), so, after shows, if I don’t drink a heavy amount of water I get serious migraines. It’s like heatstroke without the sun. Well, with my brain feeling like it was being used as a marching band’s practice room..i couldnt sleep at all. I closed my eyes and after 45 Minutes…we had to get rollin to the Fat Beats instore in Amsterdam.

It’s amazing how into older hip-hop music they are. This one kid came in reciting Big Daddy Kane lyrics, and Pack & I just started laughing. It’s like…it’s 2005 PEOPLE!! I was looking for the timewarp portal and shit.

[This dude bought Pack & I Some 40 Oz Cans of Heineken.]

After doing the performance bit of the in-store in the basement for the store patrons [Note To Self: trying to do ‘Velocity’ buzzed isn’t a good idea], we headed out on the town to check the world famous Red Light District. I might ad, putting women in windows to sell themselves is the most brilliant achievement in human history behind the written word. It was funny to see signs like… “LIVE FUCK SHOP” and “SEXY PUSSY HERE!” and then seeing an entire 3rd grade class of kids walking through on a field trip. After exploring the RLD, we got some chinese food and made back for Den Haag.

[We learned alot about Dutch history. Like how they invented EVERYTHING.]

We got hungry, and decided to hit KFC (You heard that right) for some grub, hit 2 pubs and played some pool after being harassed by the security guards. Tellin Pack to tuck his chain in and shit and telling us to “behave ourselves” was mad uncalled for…but whatever. Racism exits everywhere, we’re used to it by now.

[West Siyeed Is the best Siyeed]

When Dutch Animals Attack

So, we’re in Den Haag and we’re as bored as any self-respecting New Yorker would be at 2 AM, so we decided to make our way into this club called ASTA. There is a line around the block for this motherfucker.

Pack… being the ‘get-in-free’ king, finagled us into the club via the VIP line. This man deserves a humanitarian award for his work with hustling the folks that work the doors. Anway, the club is bumping like hell (3 floors worth) and we stay up there till the shit closes.

We go outside, and I run across the street for some Bottled Waters (5), I go back to the front of the club and a fight breaks out with a few girls – which then turns into an all out brawl, and then the cops come…..

... WITH ATTACK DOGS!!!

At first, I saw people running, and in NYC…when you see people running…you run with em and ask questions later. But it didn’t take me long to figure out why as soon as I saw a bunch of cops with these massive german shepards dispersing the crowds. If I wasnt paying attention, I my ass woulda been alpo for these things (ayo?). So now I’m running carrying 5 heavy ass bottles of water, with attack dogs on my ass.

Pack & I got split up somehow and they pushed the crowd WAY the fuck away from the club. After about 10 minutes, I made my way back to the screams of people, and this one dude being mauled by the dogs. I saw a black dude with a black jacket and a baseball cap, and I started running towards him to get a better look cause I thought it was Pack. Luckily it wasn’t him and I finally met up with him on the other side of the club.

But god damn…that shit came outta nowhere. I guess, when weed & pay-pussy are legal in a country, they have to overcompensate with those type of Gestapo tactics. That was some Civil Rights Movement shit right there. Fuckin wow.

By the time we got back, it was time to pack up for the airport and check out.

Homeward Bound

We have about 5 hours of downtime. So, we make way to the studio with DBS & Mistasweet, to record some shit for their upcoming production CD (with Akrobatik, Mr. Metaphor & Others)... so here I am with no sleep again, and they laced us with a sick track to spit over. I managed to squeeze a pretty fresh 16 out of my (at this point) drained and exhausted mind, and I laid down the verse on the spot. You prolly won’t hear it for mad long. I think the content will prove to be a bit controversial when it does, though.

[Here I am tweakin a bassline]

[Here’s PackFM Writing Some Lyrics]

The Send Off

Afterward, we hopped back on the plane and rolled out. Anyone who’s ever flown KLM airlines, will know how great it is to have that digital demand service on the plane for 8 hours. I watched “Sideways” (pretty good) and listened to Brian Wilson’s “SMILE” album about 10 times. Wow. Then I made for home.

Bigups to DJ DBS, Mistasweet & the cats over at HipHopInjesmoel.com for being very curteous hosts and tour guides. They were mad supportive when I flipped out, thinking I lost my passport. We’ll definitely link back up with them to rock another show when we roll back out to Holland later this year with the rest of the camp.

I had a real blast. Here are a few pics from the trip out. It was fun to teach the wonders of the phrase “pause” to europeans for the 1st time. This is all I can remember right now.. Be sure to peep PackFM.com for his take on the trip as well as some more pictures.

WE’LL BE BACK, EUROPE!!! HOLLERATE!!!
Tone.

So I’m Going To Amsterdam…

Posted March 24 2005

I’m actually scrambling to get ready right now. 4,000 things to do right now before I jet. PackFM & I are headed out to Amsterdam to rock a show out @ Speakers in Delft. If we have any fans out in the Netherlands…we’re flying a LOOOONG way to rock for yall, so I hope you roll through.

We have in our posession, advance copies of Archetype [CD & 2XLP], All 3 installments of the Asterisk:Series, PackFM’s Featured Material Vol.2 & 3, Underscore and the new “Stomp” 12” single. So, if that’s not enough incentive for you to check us out, I don’t know what is.

The album looks fuckin phenomenal. All the artwork and packaging came out fresh, and It was hella emotional for me to finally hold a copy of this album in my hands – after all the stress, trauma, botched distro deals, investor fallouts, aggravation and frustration…it’s such a relief to finally see it born. I really think y’all are gonna love it (I already know who won’t, hahaha). It’s real music for real music fans.

But anyway… Im out…gotta get the fuck outta here and sit on a loooonnnggggggggg ass flight. Hopefully, I’ll get some rest and a chance to write.

We’ll have some pics of the trip when we get back.

Hollerate!
Tone.

Scribble Jam 2003

Posted August 17 2003

A. RHYMESAYERS 10th ANNIVERSARY SHOW :: 08.08.03

For many of the QN5 kids, it was our first trip out to Scribble Jam in Cincinnati, OH, so we all had these wild pre-conceived notions about what it would be like. This event had always been rumored to be a circus of Avant-Garde poetry rappers and bewildered midwestern suburbanites trying to get their “hip-hop” experience on. Being based here in NYC, with a constant stream of underground events and a deep talent pool, we were very eager to see what all the fuss was about. Admittedly, I had my own reservations about what we’d find there, especially after viewing several of the videos they’ve released of the event. Well, to our surprise, it was an absolute blast from start-to-finish.

On Thursday, 1:30 pm, PackFM, Session, Akolades, Mrs. Deff & myself stockpiled ourselves into a baby blue minivan rental (of course) and made our way out to Lexington, KY to stay out at Deacon’s crib. Sure, it’s about an hour away from Cincinatti, but we’re broke, and hotel rooms for 12 people isn’t covered in our budget. The trip was definitely long…not as long as our ride down to Atlanta last winter, but definitely long. We had a ton of boxes in the back, some leftovers from RSC, and a few new boxes of FYIRB tees (we sold out of ‘em at RSC), so it was kinda difficult to see out the rear window. Mecca & I had just gotten back from a show in Los Angeles the weekend before, so I basically hadn’t gotten a chance to get my shit together in months at this point. I forgot to cram my entire CD collection into my bookbag, so our selection was limited for the ride. Regardless, we managed to make it work on a steady diet of old mixtapes and Asterisk:Two.

We arrived in KY at 3 AM Friday morning. Exhausted from the long haul, we basically tossed our luggage in the living room, setup our trusty air-mattresses and passed the fuck out on cue. In the morning, we all rode out to Scribble. It was a beautiful day out, sunny skies, not a cloud in sight. Apparently, that only mattered in Kentucky, because the minute we got close to Cincinnati a flash flood broke out from the heavens in protest of our arrival. Now, I survived Hurricane Andrew in Miami during 1992, and I’ve seen some heavy ass storms in my day – but GOD DAMN that shit was coming down when we got there. I’ve never been the most punctual person (blame my Cuban heritage), but thankfully that same predisposition to tardiness paid off, because those who arrived at Annie’s before us had already setup shop in the outdoor vendor booths. I felt bad for the guy I spotted in the back of the area LITERALLY standing ankle deep in a river of flowing water holding two boxes. I hope he didn’t decide to rock his vintage suede Puma’s that morning. We did pull up to the outdoor booths, and attempted to set up shop…but the rain just proved to be too much to contend with – So we relocated our operation to the indoor area where the RhymeSayers 10th Anniversary Concert was to be held. Once we managed to steer clear of Hurricane Scribble, the show got started.

It was like being home all over again, as we came to find Kimani from Third Earth Music, Breez & Pen from Stronghold, Technique, iCON, Quest-Chon, Oktober, Black Panther and a slew of other NYC locals that managed to make the trip out. At the same time, I met a lot of cats that I’d only heard about or have seen mentioned on the numerous underground websites countless times. Hell, I even met people who’s only recognizable trait was the mention of their screen name – which is always a trippy experience. Nonetheless we caught excellent sets by Brother Ali & Atmosphere.

I have to hand it to these cats, they’ve earned every stripe they’ve managed to get. The amount of dedication and hard work these cats have put into their label and their local scene has definitely paid off for them tenfold. It got me thinking about the differences between the various underground scene’s in the USA, and how difficult it is to be an underground artist in NYC and be able to even stick out. The lack of fans in New York is mind-boggling. Everyone and their mother is a wannabe MC/DJ/Producer/Manager – and that doesn’t make for a very supportive crowd. Just watching throngs of FANS just there to soak up the music and sing along with the RSE cats, gave me a sense of accomplishment for the trail we’ve managed to blaze for QN5 in New York, and a renewed drive to continue pushing outward to the world.

Props to Brother Ali for being refreshingly down to earth – (it was a pleasure conversing with you mane!) Not to mention, he’s also very convincing, otherwise Pack never would’ve entered the MC Battle the next night. We’ll see y’all when you slide through NYC again.

Everything ended around 2:00am, so we made it back to KY around 3:30 am, and as dead-fucking-tired as we were, the night wasn’t over just yet. Upon arrival, we came to find Kno & SOS had arrived, and a full four-course down-south Fried Chicken dinner cooked up by Kynfolk’s resident band-aid, CJ. [THANKS SWEETHEART!!]

My god, was that not the most perfect recipe for corn muffins and biscuits at the most appropriate time?! We were fucking STARVING, and there’s NOTHING open at that time ‘round those parts. [One thing that never gets old about NYC—there’s always SOMETHING open]. Once we inhaled our meals, Mrs. Deff passed out, and the friendly MC sparring began. Akolades played judge to such classics as PackFM VS Deacon, SOS VS PackFM and of course, of favorite, Kno VS Deacon. Yes, that was definitely funny. The remainder of the night saw us trying to figure out our setlist for our surprise QN5 showcase at Scribble the next day, and an impromptu Extended Famm VS CunninLynguists Tag-Team battle which we all regret we didn’t capture on DV. That shit was CLASSIC.

Lights Out. 2 Hours of Sleep. Off to Soundcheck.

B. SCRIBBLE JAM BATTLES & SHOWCASE :: 08.09.03

We launched back off to Cincinnati for the big day of battles and our secret showcase. The ride there seemed shortened, as we had a Pete Rock beat CD on repeat, and everyone in the car took their turn freestyling about everything in sight. Ahhh…the roadtrip-cypher. Unfortunately, Session spilled orange soda on his $350 Knicks throwback along the way. Nothing a little seltzer water couldn’t fix, luckily.

We set up shop once we got there, only this time outdoors, as the fury of Hurricane Scribble seemed to have faded overnight. The graf heads were out in full mass, scurrying to complete their pieces before the judges made their rounds…saw a lot of beautiful work. The competition element definitely makes for some brilliant creations, and hopefully some more VERY DESERVED exposure for those who keep hip-hop’s visual essence alive.

Substantial & Mecca arrived together on Saturday, along with Insanate of UV and associates. SunnyStylez & Natty of KYNFOLK were present as well, so we finally had everyone in the same zip code. Mecca immediately went into Mack-Mode overdrive and started running his topnotch game on the unsuspecting Ohio female-folk. Good to see the long ride hadn’t rattled Mecca’s sense of gregariousness.

The MC Battle prelims were held indoors, and they were surprisingly hot. We caught SOS, Wreckonize, Kory Calico, Meta4ce, IllPoetic (reppin’ with a FYIRB tee!), and the now notorious Swann. Normally, premilinary battles are lame as fuck… but I guess cats came gunning for the title this year, so the lines were stellar. Nice work to all those involved.

Afterward, to my surprise, Substantial opted to enter the new Beatbox Battle that was added to the SJ itinerary. I believe he made it to the 2nd round… which is excellent considering he entered on a whim, and those involved had come prepared to rock. Rock On – And you don’t stop!

Next up, was the B-Boy battle, which admittedly I didn’t get a chance to catch, as I was indoors showing love for our NYC brethren Breez Evahflowin, Poison Pen & Immortal Technique for their showcases. Once again, they tore it down nicely, and it was fun to bounce around the stage and hang from the lighting fixtures during the mob performance of Breez’s “Give It Away”. I’m pretty sure Pen & Technique made some new fans that day as well.

As the night progressed we continued to man the QN5 booth, meeting and greeting those who didn’t make it out the prior day. The new “GOYA” QN5 tees were a hit, and we managed to move plenty of CunninLynguists & Squijee tees as well. We’re now officially out of our initial run of “Asterisk:Two” CDs, and Underscore was moving nicely to boot. At the end of the B-Boy battle, our man Pase (of Five Deez) informed us that all the battles had been taking a long time and that time-cuts had to be made. And while we completely understood the direness of the situation, we had already come prepared to rock a full hour set. [Which may sound like an eternity to some, but damn near necessary when you have 6 different artists which need to be showcased]. We wanted to take advantage of the full outdoor crowd and setting sun, so we made a slew of last minute cuts in order to transform our 1-hour extravaganza into a hard-hitting 35-minute run-through.

We hit the stage to the cheers of a startled crowd – our performance was totally unannounced until that moment. Right as the sun was giving way to the night, Pack kicked an acapella from his verse on Dutchmassive’s “Soul Searchin” 12” and we immediately launched into “Line Drop.” The minute the Tetris theme played, they knew what they were in for and went bananas. It was great to see a sea of people trying to keep up with the progressive tempo, and the faces of those who hadn’t heard the song before. From there, we set up Session’s “Don’t Do It” which proved once and for all that a Scribble Jam crowd could get rowdy. Next, CL rocked “Thugged Out Since Cub Scouts” to much applause, and we then brought in Mecca to lock the ladies down for the night with a poignant performance of “Come On Now, Ma”. I love this song. It doesn’t matter where the fuck we perform it… Jiggy spots, Thugged out spots, backpack spots… it ALWAYS gets people moving. Y’all are gonna love Mecca’s “Sound & Fury” album – believe me.

The crowd was MEGA-RESPONSIVE. Of all the shows we’ve done (and that’s A LOT), I don’t believe I’ve heard a louder response from any crowd thus far. From there on out, we all went back and forth exchanging joints, keeping the crowd involved as much as possible. Other highlights included SOS teasing death while teetering on a wobbly monitor, ‘Nasty Filthy’ with Cashmere in tow, Pack crowd surfing and of course, my now famous stage tackle of an unsuspecting group of people in the front. I don’t know what happened…but I get ridiculously charged whenever we perform FYIRB, I think I just snapped. Pack stagedives/surfs damn near every show…and yeah, he is light, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I mean, fuck it… It’s our first time at Scribble; might as well give it a shot. Well, now I know for next time to signal the audience a little prior to jumping. I knocked skulls with someone pretty badly, but we’re ok. [I didn’t sleep very well that night, cause I kept thinking I may have had a concussion – lol!]. It was pretty stupid of me, because I don’t have health insurance anymore. Would I do it again? Fuck yeah.

The DJ Battle popped off after our show, prefaced by a sweet set by these cats from Denmark named DJ Static & Nat Ill. I hit the booth again, sweaty as fuck, took a ton of photos with the cats that picked up the CDs & Tees, drank 8 gallons of soda and sat the fuck down for a minute. [Props to Sunny for holding us down on the DV Cam and Akolades for running the sound smoother than a baby’s heel].

The MC Battle finally kicked into gear, and man o’ man – THAT WAS A FUCKING BATTLE. There was a lot of high profile talent involved, including Juice, Breez, Okwerdz, Deacon, Rhymefest, and a multitude of other unsung battle hero’s aiming for the mask. Initially, this cat Swann (1st time I’ve heard of the kid), was basically running over people for the first 3 rounds, and Juice was edging his way past brilliant performances by Dos Noun & Wreckonize (Miami). I’m sure you’ve read about this cat Deuce Leader (of Animal Crackers) who metaphorically committed suicide during his round VS Juice, and stage-dove his way to a broken ankle. Ouch. I’m glad it wasn’t me. In the end, and damn near out of nowhere, Rhymefest goes toe to toe with Swann and basically sons him for 3 straight rounds, to knock him out of the running. The finals consisted of Black Pegasus (aka Yo Mamas Pimp) VS Rhymefest, and Rhymefest went home with the SJ Mask. Congrats to Rhymefest for a well-deserved battle win. No jerkings involved. Definitely one of the better battles I’ve seen in my life. [And when you own EmceeBattles.com, that’s saying a lot.]

After the battle, we basically packed everything up and headed back to KY, for yet another glorious cookout of a southern breakfast by CJ at Deacon’s crib. The ride home was fraught with Antsy-ness and grogginess. Though, a quick pit-stop at a McDonald’s somewhere along the way yielded hours worth of laughs on the way home. Now, if this isn’t the most *PAUSE-WORTHY* poster you’ve ever seen…. We give up. Our love goes out to the McDonald’s staff on hand that night for putting up with our incessant laughter.

Try explaining the “PAUSE” concept to someone in West Virginia. Doesn’t work.

Props to everyone whom we met, and who came through to say ‘whuttup’ at the QN5 booth. [Code Red, Molemen, Brother Ali, Mars Ill, Pase, Formless, Smooth Lou, Wreckonize, etc] There was a great mix of people, lots of women, black kids, latin kids, white kids, asian kids…all playing together under one roof. It was a beautiful thing. We had a fuckin blast, and we’ll definitely be back next year. So, see ya there.

Peace & Respect.
Tone.

RSC 2003 Recap

Posted July 28 2003

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.