Method Man / Redman show @ Jannus Live

Determined to make the most of my Halloween weekend I kicked things off with a trip down to Jannus Live (which will always be Jannus Landing to me) and caught the Method Man / Redman show appropriately dubbed Smoke-A-Ween.

Conventiently priced at $18 (even though with stupid ass Ticketmaster my shit came to $26!!!) this was a can't miss show for Bay Area hip hop heads.

I showed up around 9 pm and witnessed the scariest site a 90's hip hop fan could lay eyes on, a "metrosexual boy band"! My first impression was what the fuck? Then after a few minutes of listening to this gay ass bullshit my next reaction was why the fuck aren't fans storming the stage with pitchforks and torches? Then I realized everybody was high and had no idea what was going on anyways, far as they were concerned it was Howard The Duck onstage or something.

From here on things steadily improved. The next act although almost equally as gay but not quite as metrosexual or boy bandish took the stage and tried to swoon the audience with their own unique brand of lyrical white boy bullshit. The lone black guy in the group was dope though so props to him. The other two guys just looked akward. With so much local talent in the area it is tragic that Jannus allowed some fratboys from Orlando to pay their way to opening for Meth and Red but whatever. Which is all this was. Some kids who use daddies credit card to swipe their way to the top....of the toilet!

One of the shows highlights was the costume contest. I wish I had been closer to the stage to snap some pics but I chose to spend the evening posted up on a wall near the wall throwing down $5 drinks. One girl just used the opportunity to get on stage and dance like a stripper (which was the fucking bomb!), another guy dressed as Redman from "How High" with a B.U.F.U. outfit but the crowd favorite were the two guys dressed as a sack of weed and a blunt. It was an epic costume to say the least.

The dj at the show was a little lame. It is normally standard precedure at these 90's rap shows for the likes of local legend DJ Sandman to rock the stage with a variety of old school jams. I've become so used to his sets that now days I look forward to what gets played before the show almost as much as I do for the main act. This guy was no DJ Sandman. It was tragic to hear Lil Wayne and other mainstream friendly crap to be used at such a show.

Thankfully all was not lost, DJ Sandman did arrive eventually along with the lovely and talented indie local artist Dynasty. He opened the Dynasty set with the theme from John Carpenters Halloween which earned him extra cool points from me. Then followed it up with Mobb Deeps classic "Shook One's Pt 2" to warm up the crowd. I swear the place almost exploded when this record came on. Dynasty's performance was charasmatic as usual. It won't be long before this chick is headlining her own shows.

Finally Method Man and Redman hit the stage about 10:30 and did a hell of a show until close to midnight. The only problem is that the majority of fans at the show aren't really Red and Meth fans. They are more like Wu-Tang fans who came to see Method Man, Redman is sort of the bonus to sell a few more tickets because there is no way that in the present day Meth could pack a crowd in this area without a little help.

Since the majority of people there really aren't fans of the duo's collaborative efforts it makes the audience a little stale until they hear tracks they are familiar with. The songs that recieved the most energy back from the crowd were Meths more popular solo efforts and ofcourse the M-E-T-H-O-D Man (you can hear that song instantly in your head right?).

Thing is, when I see these guys on stage as much fun as they appear to be having they also make it look like a job. Like they don't enjoy themselves being rappers anymore. I'm guessing part of that is a disconnect from their fanbase. Two black guys from the New York / New Jersey area are probably a little dumbfounded as to who all these college aged stone white kids are at their shows.

Not only that, both of these guys careers are shackled by the influence of The Rza. Method Man because The Rza militantly crafted the Wu-Tang brand and early careers of the groups members leaving them very little lee-way to branch out and market themselves to their own liking. Redman has always been stuck because without his collaborations with Method Man his career would have disappeared into the ether many moons ago. So both are essentially playing a role that is paying their bills but at the same time not necassarily representative of who they truely are.

One thing that bugged me a little bit was the smug elitism spewed by both of these guys on stage. Normally this type of talk doesn't bother me that much because who the hell am I to talk, right? Thing is, everytime Method Man publicly opens his mouth and lets loose his opinion (the Waka Flocka controversy for example) he always winds up retracting himself then appologizing. Not to mention all of his bullshit cameos on lame TV shows and movies (Soul Plane anybody?). Don't even get me started on the low quality of his solo albums. So for him to stand before a crowd of made up mainly of white kids and talk about the sad state of modern hip hop is a bit insulting. Same goes for Redman who had the most to say on the state of hip hop. Who is he to talk after collaborating with the likes of Christina Aguillera and doing modern day minstral shows like the movie "How High" and the stupid Fox show "Method and Red" which was cooning to the twentieth degree.

After the show I was kind of shocked by how tight security was. I've seen quite a few shows at Jannus and the artist are typically friendly enough to do some type of meet and greet with fans afterwords. Hell after the Wu-Tang show Rza and Ghostface handed out pizza and KFC. Public Enemy let everybody backstage and even Big Daddy Kane was kind enough to pose for pictures. Hell a bum I met outside showed me a picture on his phone of him and Young Jeezy!

Method Man and Redman though had the place on lockdown like they were Paul McCartney and John Lennon or something. It may be standard procedure for police to be present at these shows but this was outrageous. Both artist ran as quickly as possible to their tour bus and got out of there asap. How lame. Especially considering these guys cult following you'd think by now they'd have built some type of rapport with their fans through signing autographs, etc. Hell, they could even do what Tech Nine does and just charge a minimal fee after the show for a meet and greet.

Anyways, it was a dope show. Definitly worth the money. Hopefully soon the whole Wu-Tang Clan will make a return to Jannus. One member just isn't enough.

Big Daddy Kane visits Jannus Landing!

Photos

- Big Daddy Kane performing

- Jannus Marquee

- Me with Big Daddy Kane

- Me with Dynasty aka The Femcee

I'll admit that throughout the years I have sort of neglected the work of Big Daddy Kane. I've never listened to any of his albums and couldn't really recite word for word any of his big singles.

It's nothing personal, just never got around to it.

Strangest thing is that Big Daddy Kanes verse on Public Enemy's "Burn Hollywood Burn" is one of my all time favorites. The line at the end of the song where he says, "aye yo I got Black Caesar back at the crib, ya'll wanna go check that out" kills me everytime.

Feeling as though I had been missing out, catching his show last Friday night at Jannus Landing seemed like a good place to start catching up.

Doors opened at 7 but the show technically didn't start til about 9:30. Which is fine by me, when I finally rolled in around 9 on a sugar high from Starbucks I found a spot in the back and chilled out to the wide variety of classic hip hop records being spun from the stage by DJ Sandman. Which to me is the best part of these old school shows. Sandman can always be counted on to set up the perfect vibe when waiting for a show to start.

The opening act was a local talent transplanted from New York (like everyone else here) named Dynasty who I had been hearing an awful lot about lately. Initially I had blown her off as another local backpack rapper yuppy trying to re-live the golden era artist that are a dime a dozen around here.

But a few things are different about Dynasty that peaked my interest, one is her DJ is Sandman, whose taste is good enough that I trust he wouldn't stand behind anything thats whack. And two, she has been garnering support by the likes of DJ Premier by getting spins on his radio show. A major accomplishment.

When I heard her rhyme I was actually sort of blown away by how raw her style was. This chick

could flat out rap. In fact, I will go so far as to say she is exactly what the mainstream hip hop scene is in desperate need of. Not only does she have the abilities to make it, she is naturally likable in a way that other female emcee's aren't. Almost like a Lauren Hill but meaner on the microphone.

Following the highly enjoyable set by Dynasty, the crowd was left in a state of confusion by the performance of Loyal. I have no idea of who Loyal is or where they came from or who they paid for the stage time, but they were worth seeing just for the experience of witnessing the akwardness of their performance.

They basically spent twenty minutes not rapping or rapping other peoples hit songs, then dancing provocatively on their male dancers. None of whom looked over 16 years old. The crowd was left looking confused and nobody really knew what to make of it.

Eventually around 11-ish Big Daddy Kane arrived and immediatly launched into a furious performance. I found it amazing that here is a man probably in his mid to late fourties rhyming three times faster and harder then guys half his age. Incredible!

Thankfully ticket prices for the show were only $15 because after about 25minutes Big Daddy Kane through down a couple of dance moves (which were quite impressive I must say) and abruptly ended his set before coming back out for a brief encore. Needless to say there were more then a handful of disappointed fans in the audience.

Ok, so normally this is were a person would end a concert review. But those of you that know me know how I like to take shit to the next level when I hit up a hip hop show.

Rather then go chase skirts on the streets of downtown St. Pete like a normal 26 yr old guy on a Friday night after a concert, I chose instead to wait for the security guard to turn his head and sneak backstage for photos.

What I got was something a little bit more special. After a few minutes of standing around outside of a door waiting for Kane to walk out, I was approached by none other then DJ Sandman who graciously introduced himself and invited me into the dressing room.

Inside the room standing around a table were Big Daddy Kane and none other then DJ Charlie Chase co-founder of the pioneering hip hop group The Cold Crush Brothers (Havn't ya'll ever seen Wild Style?!?). I basically just stood to the back, discussed hip hop fandom with a kid who's name unfortunatly escapes me at the moment and chilled out listening to the stories being told by Kane and Charlie Chase. It was crazy.

Just when I thought that things had died down, the kid who I was having the conversation with asked Kane to spit 16 bars for him. Kane obliged, spitting a mesmorizing politically tinged rhyme that wow'd the room. He then challenged the kid to spit 16, he accepted and laid down a nice verse. It was a little bit over 16 bars, prompting Kane to make a joke comparing the kid to Kool G Rap (what an honor to even be mentioned in the same sentence). Then Dynasty laid down some rhymes and I guess it must have been contagious because next thing I knew it seemed like the whole room was going in. Quite the experience to witness.

After that everybody said there goodbyes, I snapped some pics (unfortunatly not with Charlie Chase, but I'm sure there will be other chances) and escaped into the downtown night life.