I just returned from Sonar in Baltimore (the second time this month) to check out Mr Killah, Tony Starks, with Jill. The place was much more packed than it was for Qbert and I believe it might’ve sold out just on the hype of the 9:30 Club show the previous night alone. When I arrived A-Alike was performing and they really killed it. After them there was an R&B-influenced duet without a DJ which was pretty weak. Before Ghost came out the place was getting hyped through the roof by half a dozen MC’s like “Porkchop” (not to be confused with Lambchop) freestyling and bigging up Ghost and the Wu.
I’m glad I saw the show in Baltimore instead of in DC as the crowd just seemed so much more genuine than it surely would’ve been at the 9:30 Club. After hearing one of the guys from Dead Prez go through the long-winded, politically-charged psuedo-speech “Fuck George Bush” stuff, it was pretty sweet. I think I understand that hip hop is a vehicle to transport ideas, but I guess I had hoped that it would’ve evolved past N.W.A. by this point. Oh well, I could totally relate to my deadlocked negro brother when he was preaching about the fight against white America. It sort of made me feel like a traitor, or a fake, for just coming for the music and not the idealogy. I haven’t felt that way since I was in Thai monestaries; I was raised around Buddhism, but I still feel like a fake when I’m around life-long Buddhists with calloused foreheads whose religious commitment make me feel like I just jumped on a bandwagon. Music and philosophy aren’t supposed to be judgemental, but that’s the way I feel when I’m around people who’s commitment make mine feel insignificant. Or maybe that’s just a bad analogy.
Tomorrow I have a golf lesson at at Belle Haven country club. I bought some khaki slacks today and I have a really silly bright yellow polo shirt that I would probably only wear on a golf course which I’ll reserve for the special occassion. 🙂