(In case you missed it: Here is Part 1)
Recap of what has happened so far: Slam went to a Big Boi concert with Jordan and Ian and the openers were great. Real T@lk.
Back to the story:
Next came (The Criminally Underrated) Killer Mike. His excellent album R.A.P. Music was one of the most overlooked (commercially I guess, critics loved that shit (for good reason)) albums of last year and he dropped a not as good but still very good joint album with El-P (who I respect but I not all about on his solo tip) as Run the Jewels. Anyway Killer Mike’s main “thing” is that he yells a lot and hates Ronald Reagan, which made for a wildly entertaining show. It is worth noting that Killer Mike is about 6’2” probably well over 300 pounds if only to paint a picture out there for y’all who don’t know who Killer Mike is yet.
Killer Mike ended the show by standing in the audience and giving a five minute speech/sermon about how we’re all gods or something like that and it was kind of nonsense but also kind of philosophical. The best part was that he ended it was the rhyme:
“Hope the show’s been fun and a good time’s been had/ Now I’m going to go drink some water and watch Breaking Bad”
And you got the sense that he wasn’t kidding either because not only is Killer Mike a huge dude who probably sweated out like ten pounds during that concert but also the show was the night of the Breaking Bad finale and I’m sure he is an avid fan of what I’m told is the greatest TV show of all time. Unless it’s The Wire. Either way, I don’t have time for that nonsense.
Then it was time for the big show. Big Boi always comes with a crew to his shows: a backup singer, a drummer, a guitarist, a few back-up dancers (usually male and slightly overweight), and of course the great DJ Swiff. After everyone was set up the roadies brought out a comically large golden throne for Big Boi to sit in occasionally during the show because of his bum knee and all. It was excessive in every sense of the word but that’s what Hip-Hop is all about, right?
Once Big Boi was brought on stage to some sort of medieval royalty chant he launched into a collage of old Outkast songs including Skew It, Rosa Parks, ATLiens, and Bust to name a few. This was incredibly fun and a lot like the greatest party of all time. The band was jamming and the back-up dancers were going HAM on the tiny amount of stage they were allotted. All in all a great start.
After that Big Boi played a combo of Outkast classics and songs from his solo album, which is all the you can really ask of him. He didn’t play “Mama Told Me” which was weird because it might be the best song of his most recent album Viscous Lies and Dangerous Rumors and if it’s not the best it’s certainly the hottest. He must have played about thirty songs total which was awesome.
At one point he was talking about bringing out a special guest and I was kinda cynical because pretty much 100% of the time rappers talk about brining out special guests it’s just their friend from whatever city their from who is a passable rapper but would never get play on their own. But it ended up being Sleep Brown who I wouldn’t have recognized if he walked by me on the street but has contributed to some awesome Outkast songs like “The Way You Move” and “Morris Brown.” Sleepy also wrote and helped produce “Waterfalls” by TLC. Respect. He played hypeman for a while and at one point even brought a few girls from the crowd on stage (a rap show staple). One of the girls was short and cute and was wearing shorts that allowed for the lower, say, quarter of her bottom to show which Sleepy Brown apparently was into because he kept trying to dance with her and when she stopped he was trying to court her by hitting her with his towel. It was equally as weird as I’m making it seem. One of the other girls he brought on stage was covered in glitter and wearing a strange home-made Outkast wife-beater with Outkast quotes written in half glitter half sharpie al over it. Sleepy Brown did not try to dance with this girl.
The only bad thing the entire night was this one drunk dude who kept trying to rage on everyone and pushing people which was really annoying but almost understandable during “Kryptonite,” a song made in part to rage to, but things reached a boiling point when he tried to pull that shit during “International Player’s Anthem” which if you ever heard it is an absolutely 0% rage song. It was even during Andre’s verse! It’s barely music at that point. Anyway he tried to rage but raged into the wrong girl who decided the best course of action was to start hitting him in the face with her fist. Stopped him real quick. In the case of Rager v. Angry Woman I think I have to side with the Angry Woman, a clever lawyer could argue that what she did was in self defense and anyway he was being a tool and needed to be stopped on way or another. When you spend your time throwing your body against other people who don’t want you to throw your bodies against them you are eventually going to get hit in the face with a fist or two. Just like how the guys who hosted cheaters eventually got stabbed. What goes around comes around.
Now that's the show is over will Slam actually get to meet Big Boi? Make sure to tune in next time to hear the exciting conclusion to this epic tale!