Hip-Hip Is Cool Again

The close proximity of G-Eazy's show at Throwback, Kid Cudi's talk of retirement, Kanye's daily life, and Hollywood Holts upcoming performance at Streetwear Sundays on April 5th, has made me think about the best MCs of our time.

Who's your favorite MC?

Someone 'BIG'
Jay-Z, Lil Wayne ect.

Someone 'different'
Kanye, Pharrell, Lupe, Andre 3000 ect.

Someone from Cali
Mac Dre, Dr. Dre, Murs ect.

Someone who is 'oldschool'
Tupac, Biggie, KRS-One ect.

Someone local
Hollywood Holt, Chill Ill Ali, G-Eazy, Jay Greedy, Dave Coresh, Benny Nice, Cypher or Lu Smith of Team Robot. ect.

Someone who is up-and-coming
Kid Cudi, Wale, Drake, Mickey Factz, Theophilus London, Bobby Ray ect.

Someone non-traditional
Mickey Avalon, Rye Rye, MF Doom ect.

Someone conscious
Mos Def, Common, Nas, Lauryn Hill, Saul Williams, Jay Electronica ect.

Someone from a hip-hop group
Travis McCoy, Mickey Rocks, Method Man, Q-Tip, Naledge, Rev Mcfly ect.

All of the above are talented, but what makes them speak to you?

Throwback at the Republic was like something I have never seen before. I got there around 10pm aka recession buster hour and I heard what I consider, some of the best music that was ever played in a club. Which basically means my itunes library was played by DJ Damion Yancy.

Here is a list of some artists played to prove my point:
Rye Rye
Hollywood Holt
N.A.S.A.
Kings of Leon
Kid Sister
MGMT
Lu Smith
Black Kids
The Ting Tings
AND MORE HEAD BANGING MUSIC

And that was just the warm up for the main event of the night. G-Eazy and Trombone Shorty performed and they tore the roof of the building. I was amazed to see such professionalism from G-Eazy, who is a sophomore at Loyola. But I guess age doesn't matter if your dedicated and have been in the business as long as he has. He started writing music at the age fourteen, he made 10 ALBUMS before coming to New Orleans and he has completed 3 (ALMOST 4) videos with Tyler Yee since he has been in New Orleans. Itunes even has Genius Recommendations for the dude. For his show, G-Eazy flew in from the Bay, his friend PL from Tha Slap Doctorz. I could tell that G believed a song featuring people must be preformed with the people featured in the song. This is something that is simply said, but is rarely done (i.e. the excitement over 'Swagger Like Us' at this years Grammys). G-Eazy preformed his single 'Nobody' with Riva, his single 'FRESH' with Riva, his single 'Apple of My Eye' with Erika Flowers, his single 'Candy Girl' with Greg Banks, and his very new single 'Freshaholic' with Cypher. I personally believe 'Freshaholic' was the best performance of the night, because it reminded me of N.E.R.D. when they preformed 'Spazz' in Chicago during the Glow In The Dark Tour. G-Eazy was jumping, Cypher was jumping, Blair was jumping, Lu from Team Robot was jumping and Trombone Shorty added an element by backing him with a full band. Artists like Trombone Shorty, Michael Franco, Adam Gertner, Sean Gary-Julian, Keenan McRae, Leland Baker and what I affectionately call, the rest of the band, took G-Eazy's hip-hop to another level. It was as if Ludacris and Sum 41's remix of 'Get Back', Lupe Fiasco's live shows and a classic New Orleans second line were placed together in a magic music blender and put on turbo.

Then when the retro music came in, DJ Yancy didn't forget to incorporate new hits of different genres. I was especially excited when he played Kid Cudi's 'Day n Night', which set a whole crew on the stage ablaze and when he played a great remix of Hollywood Holt's 'Hollywood'. I also could tell he was testing Bmore club music on his audience because I heard more of the 8/4 beats than in the past few weeks. Lastly, there was a strong presence of dressing up with the theme this week. It seemed like everyone wanted to be Will Smith, because hat bills were flipped high and neon colors definitely shined bright at the Republic. Throwback was definitely a success this and it was apparent from the large crowd.

Greg Banks and G-Eazy

Greg Banks and G-Eazy

G-Eazy

G-Eazy and Riva

Blair Taylor

Cypher and Lu catching air

Cypher and Michael Franco

G-Eazy upclose

Trombone Shorty

G-Eazy and Lu

Cypher

Tyler Yee

G-Eazy

G-Eazy and Erika Flowers

Blair Taylor

G-Eazy

G-Eazy

G-Eazy

PL of Slap Doctors

G-Eazy

I randomly befriended a crew of guys, who hapened to be in some of my favorite hardcore/metal bands, Emmure & Winds of Plague. They came to Throwback at The Republic after their show at The High Ground. Hopefully, next time Nick and Frankie will be able to stay on the stage. lol
Yes I like hardcore too. When I say I like EVERYTHING and I like rock, I REALLY mean it.

Nick from Winds of Plague had a boss Biggie tat

My bud Chinyelu on stage as usual

The stage was WILD

The floor was too

crowd participation

My fresh prince gear

fresh prince lookin girl

Yuri

myspace.com/songsforlove

G-Eazy mixtape

you suckas got served

G-Eazy's Death Wish Supras

Seeing G-Eazy's Supras, reminded me of the cool Death Wish decks

Thanks Chinyelu for the many pics

A few hours after G-Eazy's performance at Throwback, he began recording his album at Dockside Studios

He recorded live all day

When i say all day

I mean ALL DAY

From about 6am - 12am

yep EARLY Saturday to the end of the day

After listening to him lay down a few tracks, I would say everyone should get excited for:

maybe something trombone shorty-ish stuff

maybe something rock-ish stuff (but better than lil wayne)

maybe something acoustic-ish stuff

maybe something so cool that I can't express it in words

check for updates HERE ON HIS USTREAM PAGE

IF I WASN'T IN NEW ORLEANS, I WOULD BE IN MIAMI FOR:

THE FOOL'S GOLD MEGASHOWCASE AT WMC

Performances by: A-Trak, DJ Mehdi, Annie Mac, Treasure Fingers, Jokers of The Scene, nacho Lovers, Sammy Bananas, Nick Catchdubs and Lil Jon

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

THE IHEARTCOMIX/MAD DECENT/TURNTABLELAB/TROUBLE & BASS PARTY AT WMC

Performances by: Diplo, Switch, Spark Rock, Drop The Lime, Designer Drugs, Franki Chan, Oceot, Acid Girls, The Captain, Star Eyes, Mobroder, Da Hardy Boysm Roctakon, DJ Eli Escobar, Blu Jemz, Unemployed Lloyd, sTERRYo, Sega, Rusko, South Rakkas Crew, Party Squad, Toy Selectah

Melanie