Breed Love and the $45 ticket

So we checked out the Mos/Kweli/Monch/Jean Grae/K'Naan tour last night.
Big up to Tuma and Dawn for the tickets, even thought they had us standing in the freeeeezing cold for like 30 minutes.

-K'Naan was impressive. Quality opening act. He is from Somalia and injected a traditional African drumming vibe into his set. It was different for sure. He was mad animated on the mic, but when he was talking to the crowd his voice got way low. All in all, he has some joints I am gonna be looking for

Instead of doing a full blown blow for blow (which I was about to do) I just want to share an observation.

The ticket for the show was $45. That is alot of cheese for a Hip-Hop show. When you do the math, though this lineup justified it. You would easily pay $20 for Mos and $20 for Kweli. But I think a $45 ticket draws a crowd I simply do not enjoy partying with. I felt the same way at the big Ecko show at Central Park this summer.

at $45 you price out 'the heads.' What you get instead is a mix of industry cool guys - too cool to dance, drunk frat/sorrority boys and girls who step all over your Wally's while screaming to every song as if they know it, investment banker/yuppie looking types who are there for reasons I don't get quite yet.

Mixed in there are the REAL heads who save the $45 or deem this event worthy of such an expenditure. But the overall mix creates a really ill vibe.

-A few people didn't even know who Jean was.
-Way too many had no idea who Monch was until he rocked 'Simon Says.' (He did 'Queens' and the blank stares broke my heart)

Mos and Kweli came out and performed some Black Star joints, but I was suprised at how un-excited I was. Something has happened to me, the scene, and those artists since those crazy times when the Black Star, and Mos and Kweli's debut albums dropped. What it is, I am not sure. And I don't want to take a negative tone as I love those guys and want to put positive energy out there.

After they rocked some Black Star joints Mos went into some of his R&B, Rock stuff and I had to check out. On my feet for 4 hours, missed putting Miles to bed, and a nagging cold. I couldn't ride with them any longer.

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On another note, good to see the Live N Direct guys back in the mix. They are throwing a killer show at the Nokia Theatre in January. Doom, Little Brother, Pete Rock and someone else.