Photo by Lukas R. Truckenbrod
Hip-hop can be a difficult genre to perform. In terms of actually “performing,” the result can be more karaoke than art exhibition. The easiest route for large scale stage productions usually revolves around the group chanting with a DJ running a booth in the back. These performances certainly serve a purpose in terms of crowd pleasing, and I’m certainly not criticizing the mass appeal of a traditional hands-in-the-air strangers-on-both-sides dance party.
Photo by Lukas R. Truckenbrod
All this comes to mind when watching a duo like Shabazz Palaces, a group that shatters these trends and makes hip-hop arresting and provocative in a live setting by eschewing club sensibilities in exchange for raw, multi-sensory stimuli. Both players with a myriad of electronic devices at their own respective tables, energetic and grinning, paying equal attention to both their equipment and the crowd as if they play the same part in the process.
Photo by Lukas R. Truckenbrod
Opening the set with a personal favorite from their mind-bending new LP Lese Majesty, “Forerunners Foray” pushed everyone to the front. Jumping between live samples, tip-of-the-tongue lyrical flashes and weaving back and forth of front-man Ishmael Butler, the band left no space sonically unpronounced. Tendai Maraire kept the songs hovering above our planet with his eccentric brand of beat control, singing into a delayed mic that might as well have been placed 10 feet under water. A steel drum tied close to his chest brought out their multi-cultural side, and was tempered with a modern flare by Maraire’s efficiency with a turntable.
Photo by Lukas R. Truckenbrod
Songs from across their career map weaved in and out of each other, from their more ambient early EP’s, brilliant debut album Black Up, and back to recent material with no regard for continuity. Their engaging persona burned even brighter as the set continued into their encore with Butler reaching out over the front of the stage, his smug grin lurking behind his casually displayed lyrical control. The crowd submitted to his undeniable charisma, with Maraire bobbing back and forth, bringing the song to a squelching, UFO crash of a finale.
Photo by Lukas R. Truckenbrod
It’s performances such as this that raise the question of standards for modern hip-hop. When acts such as Shabazz Palaces seem to land from another planet, involved so heavily with every aspect of their production, do we begin to expect the same from the hip-hop citizens of Earth? To put down the iPod and feel our presence as well as their own equipments? Order Lese Majesty via Sub Pop now and make your own decision.
All photographs © Lukas Truckenbrod & Pop Press International; all rights reserved. Click any image to open in slideshow viewer.
