does group hip hop work live?

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dumb sounding question i know but i cant think of any show where there are more than 3 MC's on stage and the whole thing doesnt just descend into aural chaos - you cant pick up the words at all because of the speed of delivery and the distortion on the mics thru shouting (tho mumbling on the mic is a far worse crime i guess)...to many rappers love their entourage and the idea of getting as many people on stage as possible e.g. Ja Rule or Busta Rhymes...this extends to garage acts like So SOlid too - the footage i saw on TV recently of about 20 MCs on stage all standing in line just shouting incoherent nonsense just seemed so ridiculous, but then i always hated the MCing at jungle and garage raves/clubs anyway

having said that i think the Beastie Boys did some good shows despite being the shoutiest of the lot...perhaps this is cos they rarely expanded the number of voices on the performance? maybe its cos they didnt really go 'yeeah' and 'uh, uh' while one of them was doing a verse, they just stuck to their old classic of all joining in on the last word of every line :)

i think LL Cool J, Jay-Z and Lauryn Hill's Unplugged shows worked well cos they were very much focussed on one person and once voice despite the huge sizes of the backing bands and additional singers. as much as i like Anti Pop Consortium and even Wu Tang i cant imagine them ever sounding that good live as opposed to on record because of their numbers. apparently De La Soul are good tho...i never saw D12 and Eminem at Reading last year so couldnt judge

so what hip hop have you seen live and did it work for you?

― blueski, Monday, 14 October 2002 11:47 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw Jurassic 5 a few years ago, and they did a fine job of coming through clearly. Of course they're so to-the-beat and basic that it'd be hard to get it all confused. I think it works fine as long a the MCs take their turn and avoid shouting out every other line together. Dilated Peoples were at the same show, and it was the same deal.. they took turns and it came out fine. There are only 2 of them though, so there wasn't that much potential for trouble in the first place. I think the rest of the hip hop acts I've seen have been solo MCs, or duos, so I've yet to actually witness what you're talking about, though I've seen it on television enough to know never to see Fat Joe or Ja Rule live. ugh.

― Bobby D Gray (bedhead), Monday, 14 October 2002 17:54 (twenty-three years ago)

it's the same in hip-hop as any other live performance: if they've practiced tgogether, in can be wonderful. the problem is that practiced, choreographed performances by the likes of J5, the roots (one rapper, two human beatboxes and the occasional vocalist), ozomatli (two rappers, but plenty of guests drop in), and the arsonists are the exception these days.

― bucky wunderlick (bucky), Monday, 14 October 2002 18:04 (twenty-three years ago)

goodie mob are fantastic live

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Monday, 14 October 2002 18:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Outkast

Wu-Tang were superb on Saturday Night at the Apollo

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 14 October 2002 19:11 (twenty-three years ago)

really? wu is notorious for being terrible live. they rarely all show up, many have forgotten their lines, they don't even do whole songs usually, just snippets of songs in a medley style. meth and red are supposed to be great though. i had tix but they cancelled cause meth got sick. bummer dood

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Monday, 14 October 2002 19:15 (twenty-three years ago)

I hear Meph + Redman cancel a lot of shows.. I think they cancelled up here also, and this wasn't the first time from what I heard.

― Bobby D Gray (bedhead), Monday, 14 October 2002 19:21 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw the Saïan Supa Crew live at a festival (Lowlands) and they were absolutely fantastic. Hadn't heard any albums before, and I didn't understand a single word they said, but it was all just so energetic and super FUN.

― Orange, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

forgot: i've got a really nice live record from Die Fantastichen Vier. scary part is that it's an MTV Unplugged album, but it's stll awfully nice.

― bucky wunderlick (bucky), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

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