Rock the Bells 2008

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Originally I didn't plan on going, but then two nights before I met Julianne.

Overall
The show was pretty aite. Not the best line up by far, but to me and most other Southern California hip hop enthuseists it is the one jam to look forward to every summer - despite having become a million times more commercial w/ San Disk backing it and a proper ampatheater type venue.

Second Stage
As usual, we got there late so we missed anyone who was on the second stage: Cool Kids, Spank Rock, MFDOOM, Kids in the Hall... everyone. The one time we did check the stage, some wack DJ's were spinning some old school stuff. We just bounced. Seriously.... was afrika bambatta necessary on this tour? Esp 'cause he's just DJing. Who the fuck are delvin and darko? Tyga...hahahah 'put the lime in the coconut and twist it all up...' the Pack.... the onlytrack they even got was the vans one.

Second stage was not coming with it this year. Trying to go 'hipster' avoiding the predominately white backpacker Def Jux/Rhymesayers route this year. not a good look.

Main Stage
Got there and Rae and Ghost just ended. We heard "Ice Cream" in the parking lot.

Murs, Dead Prez, Rakim, De La, Jay Electronica... missed them all.

Lost some glassware on the way in and then compensated poorly by some stingy dirty looking Filipino dude. Not a great start of a day.

Method Man & Redman:
I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure they didn't do "How High" or "Broken Language". The didn't even mention Blackout Part 2. In true Wu fashion Meth was mad late coming out. I don't think Red did 'can't wait either'
- "da rotwiler"
- "i'll be dat"
- "bring the pain"
- "m.e.t.h.o.d. man"
- "you're all i need (original ver)"

Pharcyde:
Did all their hits. Nice to see the whole crew together. Last time I saw them it was only two preforming at UCI...sophmore year I believe. Ended it w/ "Passing me By". One of the dudes wore some crazy dayglow neon green pants. The Bobby Brown cover was prolly the biggest surprise of the evening.

Mos Def:
I mean... I honestly don't think dude is a good actor, and I think anything neo-soul related is weak and soft and all the OkayPlayer people are way over rated simply because they are not gangsta enough for my liking... also too many white people and girls love this guy. More importantly, his last two albums kinda on the shit side of the spectrum.

Either way, even with all that against him, he's still a great preformer and all round emcee. "Leaving on an Airplane" "Can't push me to the Edge" "Undeniable" "Umi Says" "Ms. Fat Booty"... he knew what he was doing and he rocked it.

Nas:
I don't like Esco as a preformer. His personality is pretty boring... I mean, even in interviews and such, he's such a laid back guy - very monotone, never really says anything too offensive, not that funny, etc. Don't get me wrong, he's still one of the best of all time - but on wax, the live part needs work. However, he did a really great job this year. I believe he didn't show up last year.

Played a majority of his joints off Illmatic: "Represent","One Love", "NY State of Mind", "Life's a Bitch", "The World is Yours" ... also and of course "Nas is Like", "One Mic", "Got Yourself a Gun", "Made You Look", "If I Ruled the World", "Hero", "Sly Fox"... maybe more, but again... even tho Rae and Ghost were in the house there was no "Verbal Intercourse".


Q-Tip and Tribe:
Tip came out alone and did some solo joints and Tribe songs by hisself... I think he threw in a new one off the upcoming album. Sounded pretty typical neo soul... nothing to write home about and I think he lost the crowd during it's performance. Then the rest of the crew came out, minus Consequence. Not my first time seeing these guys, so it wasn't really that big a deal - the last time i saw them was in 04 on the day of Ol' Dirty's death. They did a bunch of their hits including "Electric Relaxation", "Scenerio", "Check the Rhyme", "Lyrics to Go", "Can I Kick It"... I know it is a hip hop blastphemy, but I am not all that big into these guys. They shouted out Dilla... and had the best visuals - Actually they were the only group that even used the screen in the back. Unfortunately, they didn't play my favorite Tribe song "Stressed Out". No encore, ended exactly on time: 11pm. Had a good parking spot and no traffic on the way home.


Conclusion
I think i go to this every summer in hopes to relive the first one. Seeing ALL 10 members of the Clan on stage, the unruly crowd taking advantage of shitty security, people raiding the merch booths, the Wu being on stage doing ALLLL their hits for over 2 hrs... I know it is foolish to think something like that could happen again,but this is the one day of the year when everything is dedicated to golden age hip hop. Because of that, 50/50 chance I'll be there next year.

Surprise Guests?
No surprise guests this year. I guess that's one of the things I miss too. The casualty of being organized. Last year there was a little of that on the indie stage. A lot of the dudes got down on a huge freestyle session before DOOM came on (late). Rage Against the Machine rocked it in 2007.

Lauryn Hill came on before Wu in 2006. Talib came out during Mos' set.... I think there was more...oh yeah Steve-O almost got his ass beat by Raekwon during the Ol' Dirty tribute part of the set.

Krs-One, Immortal Technique and some others came on before Rae and Ghost in 2005. RZA was supposed to be the headliner, but did not preform... however he was present during Rae and Ghost's set.

Mos def and X clan made appearances during Tribe's set in fall of 2004.

Summer 2004.... the whole Wu actually showed up. A surprise in itself!