After spending all day on a hot field drinking and listening to great music, what better way to continue the party than going to one of the many Lollapalooza after parties that are spread throughout the city. Rhymesayers Entertainment hosted an after party at the Metro on the first night with their “Family Vacation Tour.” The show consisted of a few of Rhymesayers' big hitters including Atmosphere and Evidence with DJ Babu. For those of you that aren't big into underground hip-hop, Atmosphere stands at the forefront of Midwest hip-hop. Starting the Rhymesayers label in '95, Slug and Ant (members who make up Atmosphere) have put together an arsenal of artists that hail from all across the country. For this show in particular, they brought the west coast style of Evidence and DJ Babu and mixed it with the suburban indie hip-hop style produced by Atmosphere.
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Atmosphere with Evidence, DJ Babu and PROF
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Metro
Chicago, IL
August 5, 2011
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Going to a hip-hop after party, one might expect to be pumped up and full of energy. Well with this show, it was disappointing to say that instead of jumping up and down in approval of bass hevy beats, some of the artists were drawing long yawns across the audience wide-spread. They say that yawning is contagious, but it wasn't the contagious effect of yawns that made this audience sleep. Instead, was the dry beats and poor selection of songs by a couple of the artists creating an overly dry environment.
The concert kicked off with little known artist PROF. While PROF did well on stage, his selection of songs was poor. PROF continued to switch between a slow dry beats to beats that would make you want to jump. However, the constant back and forth was on par with the constant mood swings that Dr. Jeckyll feels when switching to Hyde. The constant switch was emotionally draining, which did not create the best mood for the rest of the concert. The opening act has the tough responsibility for getting the partay started and setting up the main selection of artists. However, PROF did little to do so.
Blue Print was up next and did a much better job of pumping up the crowd. Blueprint brought some bass heavy beats and even pulled out a “keytar” to contribute to the live feel of the show. Blueprint also had a live bass guitar player on stage who helped move the crowd with his constant headbanging. Blueprint did his job to wake up the lethargic crowd in preparation for Evidence and DJ Babu.
Evidence and DJ Babu of Dilated Peoples were easily the highlight of the whole show. Evidence's interaction with the audience created a relationship of all too familiar friendship. Not only was the interaction great, the selection of songs continued to force the audience to get some air between the floor and their feet. When evidence came on stage, the audience got their second wind, which allowed the party to keep on moving along. Evidence and Babu were easily the crescendo of the lineup, and were arguably the best part of the entire show.
Atmosphere might have been the biggest disappointment of all. Slug and Ant were the headliners of “The Family Vacation Tour,” but they were not the highlight. Atmosphere started off with some of their older music, which was great to set the mood for the rest of their act. However, the great beats that Ant is known for quickly switched to their newer songs that are too slow and too happy for a venue and a night such as this. Atmosphere's older music consisted of songs that suburban kids could relate to, which created the fan base for Atmosphere. These days his songs talk about how Slug is a father and how happy he is that he has settled down from his past. While we are all proud of you Slug, it is hard to relate to your new subtle mood. It was hard to tell if the crowd was tired from the previous events in their day, or from the slow dry melodies that Atmosphere picked for their set list. Slug would announce “let’s turn this one up” throughout his whole set. But, rather than “turning it up,” Atmosphere would role into an acoustic beat that disappointed emotional expectations.
Overall, the show had its highs and its low and was disappointing. The crowd, anxious to keep the party going, did not get their fulfillment because of poor song selection overall. While Evidence with Dj Babu and Blueprint did great, Atmosphere and PROF might want to rethink their strategy for keeping their audience awake after Midnight and on. I can only hope that adjustments will be made that can help boost the overall mood of the tour. The Tour is still in its early stages, so there is much time for improvement as it continues to move along to a town near you.
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