FOR WHOM THE BELL(S) TOLL: RTB BOSTON CANCELLED: FARAONE ON SUICIDE WATCH: HIP HOP DEAD AS FUCK.
We’ve had many challenges with this show including numerous scheduling conflicts, bad weather and logistical challenges but hope to come back to Boston with Rock The Bells soon.”
- Chang from RTB
Um.. so there is a 10% chance of rain two weeks from now, and well.. you know how Joe Budden doesn’t like to get his rare air max wet, and like.. well I mean, logistically – we’re not really sure if we can accommodate the elaborate hologram machine that creates the giant five dimensional brain that Killah Priest performs his classic “Heavy Mental” album in front of.. and like, Lauryn Hill has her baby cousin’s daughter’s baptism that weekend so you know, we tried to move that backstage, but she’s got a big family and we’re not really sure if they want to brave the traffic.. So, you know. We’re going to have to pull out of Boston. But it’s not you … it’s definitely us. We got love for you, we’re just going through a lot of personal shit right now. Our other shows just got out of the hospital, so you know, I’ve been really stressed out with that. Give me a call sometime, maybe we can get coffee. Also my phone was off.
…
And with that – The death knell of of hip hop has rang over the sunny shores of Mansfield, MA.
Can’t say I didn’t see this coming.
Here is the thing – people don’t give a fuck about Cypress Hill, Nas, Erykah Badu, Mobb Deep, Roc Marciano.. etc. I mean. People do, but they are my age. Most people my age are like me and I sure as fuck don’t want to stand around a crowd of frail south shore snap back wearing frat rap fans pretending they care about any of the artists on stage. Picture a sea of JKFGTs, drunk, akward, unsure of themselves, blankly nodding whilst playing on their smartphones while a fat fossil performs their last rites in front of a college band that normally draws 30 sorority chicks at the local sports bar in their hood.
Rap is not good live. It’s not. I’ve seen hundreds, maybe thousands of rap shows. I’ve enjoyed maybe – MAYBE 20% of them. Now put that in a stadium setting, it gets worse. There are no theatrics. There are no sets, no production value. It’s usually dude plus hypeman and a DJ. I’ve been seeing the same show for 20 years. Now they have added live instruments – guess what – that made it worse. I don’t want to see Mobb Deep rap in front of an all white hipster band from Williamsburg.
I mean these guys are performing albums from the 90s. Most kids were 3 or 4 years old when this shit dropped. They don’t give a fuck about “Black Sunday”. That is not entertainment for them. People don’t want to pay for that shit. They might go to M.O.P. at the Middle East downstairs and wile the fuck out and mosh and have a good time.. even if they don’t know the songs.. but that doesn’t happen in stadiums. Dudes stand around with their arm around their girl and they tweet for 5 hours.
I don’t know .. maybe they can come back on some blog rap shit next year… Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Kid CuDi, Odd Future, Kreayshawn, Curren$y, Lil B, Mac Miller, Moufy, Chris Webby, Sam Adams, Smoke DZA, Big K.R.I.T. type shit.
Chris Faraone is literally beside himself right now I am sure. Someone please check on him.
Sidebar: Upon showing Chris Faraone the ODB boxset I worked over a year on – he immediately told me that the next box set I put out should be Kabir. KABIR. Dude released one half ass EP in 2001 that barely got local attention and completely disappeared. He said this to me with a straight face. Like, oh hey, High Snob – Okayplayer, you like ODB – wait until you see what I’ve got cooking with virtually unknown trust fund rapper KABIR! FUCKING KABIR!
September 15th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Kid CuDi, Odd Future, Kreayshawn, Curren$y, Lil B, Mac Miller, Moufy, Chris Webby, Sam Adams, Smoke DZA, Big K.R.I.T. type shit.
that will be the line-up when JKFGT is 30-plus and want to reminisce about the peak of his life and how hard he worked to make them famous (sort like how Trees views his UGHH days)
But for real, this is a bad look for everyone involved. Live Nation and Guerilla Union obviously take a large portion of the blame: did it occur to them that people who are dropping $60-$70 for the cheapest tickets–basically paying to get in and watch the show on a big screen from the lawn–might want to be able to see both Lauryn Hill AND Nas…the two headliners? Apparently not, since they were both scheduled for the same set times. Also, the usual two stages makes it difficult enough to catch all the acts, but this time there were supposed to be 3. Half the time is spent pushing through people to get from one stage to the next. I’ve heard people say that at the New York show the staff couldn’t even direct people from place to place. All that is to say nothing of the obvious bullshit excuse about “weather” and “logistics.”
On the other hand, most everything Trees said about live hip-hop is sadly true. Hip-hop shows thrive on energy and song quality rather than actual performance most of the time. That being said, when you see artists at corporatized mega-venues like Comcast, at which people are far removed from the stage and it’s a bunch of corn balls and their girlfriends who bought tickets because they know one song from one performer, it just doesn’t work. I will love Illmatic, The Infamous, 93 til Infinity and all those other classic albums to death, now and forever. I still keep those in rotation to this day. But I would much rather see those acts at a smaller setting–Middle East, Paradise, Royale–than this ridiculous concert compound.
But in the most ironic thing of all, Guerilla Nation obviously anticipated some bullshit like this could go down, because they also organized the RTB Club and Theatre tour, which features a rotating roster (including Raekwon, Ghostface, Mobb Deep, Lauryn Hill, Nas, and Mos Def & Talib) of artists performing at small clubs in cities across the country. Bet those people had fun.
And no, that one’s not coming to Boston either.
September 15th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
word on the street guerilla union = bankrupt. they stiffed a security company like $60K for the NYC show..
September 15th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
We need to put together some numbers on how many times one of us has made a post that includes “Faraone on Suicide Watch.”
September 15th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
actually – word on the street was that after the show was postponed, they realized that they couldn’t compete with Fresh Pro on the 24th. Sorry Faraone.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
BTW – I’ve been waiting for you to put that Kabir box set out, Trees…
September 15th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
lol
September 15th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
RTB has always been too much. way too long, the venues are too large for the type of artists performing, too many stages. and then some dumb shit like having groups perform their first/most popular album is so corny. stuff like this always starts off ok then gets a little bit successful and then goes to hell.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
and yes i hate when rappers use a live band. that’s the worst. no one likes that shit except for people who don’t really listen to rap.
September 15th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
fuckin bullshit this was gonna be a reunion for a lot of my friends i aint in mad years from all over the country. theses greedy selfish rappers fuck’em i downloading all their shit for free and never buying their shit ever.
September 15th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
shoulda came out and saw nas in NY faraonie
too bad ur a race trading fence hopping faggot who switched sides
now look at urself
lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol
go tattoo “canceled” on ur other forearm, ya bitch
September 15th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
another reason why i hate massachusetts and their conservative liberal scumbag politics
September 15th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
faraone is what they call a wonder bread wop. i heard tony soprano use the phrase. its a dago with no sense of his culture trying hard to adapt and be accepted by the rest of the whites. he prolly scared to walk thru the north end
September 15th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
also
i was at the NY show and it ran smoothly and the sound was actually good
no problems getting between stages and the music didnt clash
nas and lauryn hill r bolth on the main stage so their sets couldnt overlap
lauryn hill & OB4CL overlapped in NY on opposite stages
just to rub salt in the wound that nas shit was fucking epic. you guys wouldnt have gotten the show NY did anyway tho if that makes u feel better.
ps yankees in first bitch
September 15th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
arena shows do suck tho & i almoast didnt go to RTB this year because of that
id much rather see a show at a moar intimate venue & usually do
i was srsly surprised at RTB tho. no complaints.
September 15th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
that mansfield joint is still open? i remember getting a tattoo on my ass (of larry king) in that parking lot while waiting for a bone thugs show to start. these eyes we’re bulging.
September 15th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Ahaaaa. Kabir! That’s awesome
September 15th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
shit like this only happens to bostons because u dnt matter
they wouldnt have even thought about pulling some shit like this in NY
just thought id add that
wuts it like being a second rate b-list city fellas?
nobody respect you guys ever. anywhere.
<3
September 15th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
trees, lemme get that ODB boxset.
shout out to Charles Hamilton.
September 15th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
the SF show was surprisingly good. well run, good sound, etc.
not surprised about the boston show. they didn’t even announce the venue until about a month or 2 ago. shit was doomed from the start.
September 15th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
70 bills for lawn seats was the only reason why I decided to pass. I remember paying maybe 80 for the pit last time it was in Boston. Can’t say I was to sad about the whole thing because I’ve def seen everyone already a billion times aside from Lauryn and Badu. That and Common’s classic album set was BE? GTFOH.
September 15th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
They cancelled the Boston show because Boston has nothing to do with hip-hop, no matter how much you wish it did. It has and always will be NY lite to everyone except Boston people who think their city is important. If you want to see how a music fest should be run go to Bumbershoot in Seattle, they know how to run shit. You are right about hip hop shows being 90% shitty, most of them involve to much towel waving and water bottle spraying. They didn’t have to cancel this years Gathering of the Juggalos, and they assaulted Tila Tequilia with their own shit, so what does that say about the respect they have for your city?
September 16th, 2011 at 11:27 am
Thor, Wite, & #Rubigang…Spot on analysis.
September 16th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
you cant get jumped into rubigang
you have to wait until a snow storm then stand in the middle of huntington ave in skis holding a lasso waiting for trees to pass by. wen you see him slide through in the rubicon you have a spit second to lasso the spare wheel on the back of his truck and then urban water ski down huntington ave, through jamaica plains, and into brookline. if you can make it to the last greenline stop on the T youre in.
skiboots get tagged then thrown over the phone wire
September 16th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
victory lap around the fenz
September 16th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
it wasn’t even really in “Boston” to begin with…the venue is in Mansfield and for students like me who don’t have cars and not a lot of extra $$$ to spare on transportation it seemed like a hassle
September 16th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
P.S. Rock the Bells wasn’t cancelled in Atlanta either, because even though most of it is shitty, the Dirty South contributes more to hip hop than New England.
September 16th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Boooooooooooo
September 19th, 2011 at 8:23 pm
Shouts to someone mentioning Kabir.
September 21st, 2011 at 11:31 am
Speaking of Chris Faraone and hip-hop. Hunter S. Thompson said something along the lines of how he’d feel trapped if he knew he couldn’t kill himself at any moment.