Consider the Bells Rocked

Are you a fan of supremely good, old-school hip hop? Of course you are, silly! Why? Because you like stuff that’s awesome. Hence, you should know that Saturday’s 2010 Rock The Bells Concert on Governor’s Island in New York was off the chain like hot propane.

A friend, his girlfriend and I converged on the event in the early afternoon on a beautiful but hot August day and braved an herb-laced, enthusiastic crowd to hear some of the art form’s great luminaries put it down on stage, and the microphone was smoking my friends, much like the flavored blunts that seemed to surround us at every head turn (Drugs are bad, mkay?)

For real, one wouldn’t need to hit the herbals to be having a good time at Rock the Bells. Check out this killer lineup – we were entertained by the likes of Slick Rick, Rakim, KRS-One (the Teacha!), the rarely seen-or-heard-from Lauryn Hill (didn’t live up to expectations, more on this in a bit), A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan (all of them showed up!) and finally, the headliner, Snoop D-O double Gizzy representing the Left Coast with his Dogg Pound Crew.

It was a general admission free-for-all, standing on the lawn all the live-long hot day, but there were food/beverage stands aplenty and areas to relax far away from the stage. Admittedly I didn’t want to miss much of it though, and fortunately I didn’t.

All acts except L. Hill were on fire, on point with the lyrical delivery and they didn’t ‘eff’ with the arrangements. Here’s where Hill comes in. Her return to the stage was much anticipated, but unfortunately she performed seemingly all of her songs in this crazy sped-up, hyper, manic musical style with a full, loud live band behind her that didn’t please most of us sonically. It was as if she had done 10 lines of coke before coming out on stage and didn’t know how to rein it in. Her voice is an amazing, powerful instrument, but it didn’t have any room to breathe or stand out. Fifteen years ago, she had the potential to be the closest thing to a modern-day Diana Ross or Whitney Houston. Two albums with the Fugees and a brilliant solo album later, we barely heard from her again for a combination of reasons. So the expectations were high. She should have used her voice more and the band less. What I wouldn’t have given to hear her do that acapella version of ‘Killing Me Softly’ from Dave Chappelle’s Block Party -- hauntingly beautiful. Oh yeah, and she took the stage almost an hour later than she was supposed to.

So in summary, if you’re a highly respected hip hop artist and your material was hot on cassette/CD when you put it out years ago, don’t fix what isn’t broken. Just come out and let it sound close enough to the original album for recognition. That’s why we fell in love with you in the first place and bought the ticket, dumb-dumb.

As for those that kept it real, Rakim and KRS-One were the cultural ambassadors that they always are, consummate professionals. Wu-Tang was typically awesome, but I’ve seen them like 10 times now. A Tribe Called Quest blew the doors off that place, and seemed to get the largest crowd and overall response. Snoop’s laid-back, weed-laced flow and delivery was the perfect way to cap off the night.

If you dig that old school style of hip hop, sadly lacking in today’s musical landscape, catch Rock The Bells. It’s an all-day party that you won’t regret attending.