Monday, May 11, 2009
The Spin Y'all Gotta Mic at The End 5/9/09
Posted by The Spin on Mon, May 11, 2009 at 10:28 AM
The Spin believes that a healthy dinner is the first requisite for a fair and balanced show review--if we're malnourished and cranky then we're going to crap all over your capris. OK, OK, we were probably going to crap on your capris anyway just for kicks. To that effect, we rolled over to Pad Thai Kitchen on Woodland for Drunk Noodles with Beef (a great dish, and a perfect summation of life as The Spin) only to discover that Cosmic Clearance, the granola-flavored rave at Limelight, would also be rockin' the parkin' lot. We were really happy that we could listen to some great dub-step and drum n' bass while also maintaining a physical barrier between us and the hygiene-challenged youngsters who were already in/on ecstasy so early in the night. Good stuff.
Our plan was to catch Quiet Entertainer's CD release set at Cafe Coco before we went over the End to check out DJ Wick-it and the rappers he had assembled for Y'all Gotta Mic. Sadly, Coco was running behind and even though we think W.T. is a nice kid, we can't really handle sweaty, overweight white guys rapping to their iPods, so we hit the pavement. (Side note: We're totally diggin' QE's new Machismo CD.)
The crowd at The End was kind of sparse, which we assumed was the cumulative effect of both the 'Dores and Blue Raiders starting their summer vacations this week, rather than a reflection on the talent. Hosted by local cooking-show legend Big Fella and stacked with quality locals and up-and-coming out-of-towners, The End was ground zero for an evening of illin' on Elliston.
Local rappers Future and Open Mic need to drop an album right now, because the MySpace clips do their old-school flavored next-school raps very little justice. Future comes equipped with some high-quality, hi-fidelity beats that sounded great on the boomy system--even if his '90s sitcom references made us feel less like ironic hipsters and more like crusty old codgers.
Spin favorites The Billy Goats managed to keep the crowd congealed in the face of adversity, droppin' ribald party rhymes and moving but with their bouncy refixed soul beats. MC Iller and MC 24/7 have a great stage chemistry--they are the definitive odd couple, not in any "racial" sense but rather because they are both very, very odd people. Their cordial goofiness and dope rhymes make for one of the most engaging live acts in town right now, if only because they are having more fun than any self-righteous soft rockers or introspective indie kids.
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