Incomparable is the word best suited to define the presentation of American hip-hop artistes, Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick when they performed at Pier II, Chaguaramas in the Passion of Dance old-school party at the weekend.
By Wayne BowmanTruth is, their performance was probably the best delivered by any North American act to have visited these shores within the past couple of years. In fact, the arrival of Doug E Fresh on stage opened the way to salvation for what was turning out to be a horrid Saturday night.
Adrian Don Mora introduced Doug E Fresh at 2.54 a.m. and as the rapper waited for a working microphone to be handed to him at the bottom of the stage, his DJ began to play cuts of some favourite old-school R&B including "Rappers Delight." The crowd, which by that time was tired from the long wait, became re-energised and went wild as Doug E Fresh started to hype them up.
As the music for "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" began to play, Doug E Fresh told his audience that he wanted to test their intelligence a bit. Doing a piece reminiscent of Jamaican toaster, Tiger, called "Come Again," the rapper had everyone finishing his lines in rhyme. The DJ continued to run snippets of back-in-time soul, funk, R&B including cuts like "Brick House," "I'll Take You There," "ABC" and Candy" as Doug E Fresh kept the people dancing and singing along.
Asking how many patrons remember having a black and white TV with the wire hanger for an antenna and a pliers with which to change the channels, Doug E Fresh told the people that he was going to, "switch some channels old-school style." The DJ then played the theme for Bill Cosby's, Fat Albert Theme. The crowd sang in unison as the DJ played the themes from Sanford And Son, The Jeffersons and Cheers, bringing back memories of a sweeter time.
Doug E Fresh then told his audience that the roots of hip-hop are in the West Indies. "Hip-Hop would have never been created without the foundation here in the West Indies. This is the place from which the hip-hop music we know today was born and it never would exist without songs like these," Doug E Fresh said as the DJ played Bob Marley's evergreen song, "Redemption Song." This was followed by "Ring The Alarm" and other classic reggae songs.
Little Vicious then joined Doug E Fresh on stage to perform their hit single from the mid-1980s titled "Freak." Vicious was a tiny mite when he and Doug E Fresh recorded the track, which features Vicious chanting over a beat-box rhythm performed by Doug E Fresh. Although still physically small, Vicious is no kid and took command of the stage. The crowd again went wild as Doug E Fresh started to perform some high-speed beat box as he called on the soundman to mix him down.
Doug E Fresh also called on the DJ to play some old-school soca for him as he continued to pay tribute to the West Indies. People laughed as the music of "Bonnie & Clyde" by Destra struck up instead of a back-in-time soca piece. Oblivious to his inaccuracy, Doug E Fresh jumped and waved his rag as the music played. The DJ also played as old-school selections, "Footsteps" and "West Indies," which was released by Dawg E Slaughter only about three weeks ago.
As the music for "The Show" began to play, Doug E Fresh introduced Slick Rick and the audience again went into frenzy mode. Madison Square Garden, which is what Pier II is now being called, was turned inside out as everyone in the venue started to dance and rap alongside Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh. The people continued to chant along as the duo moved into "La Di Da Di." Doug E Fresh then took out his harmonica to play simultaneously with his beat boxing.
After performing "Mona Lisa," Slick Rick reminded the people that he was wearing bling before anyone knew the term. A woman then brought out several huge pieces of gold jewelry including three humongous medallions and placed them over Slick Rick's neck as he started to perform "Bedtime Stories." Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick ended their presentation at 3.47 am, leaving thousands thoroughly satisfied after the exhaustingly long wait for their arrival.
The night featured several DJs taking turns on stage prior to the live acts. Most of these failed miserably as they just did not seem to get the crowd moving.
The fact that the entire General Admission area was at least 50 feet away from the stage because the VIP Section stood between contributed to the frustrations of the general section patrons. Most of the night's DJs just did not seem to know what it took to keep the crowd happy. There were also too many lulls throughout the night.
The exceptions as far as the performances by the DJs were concerned, were Adrian Don Mora and Chris Boines who successfully brought the people to life during their respective sets. Don Mora pulled extra duty playing for more than his allotted time, while Boines who got folks dancing from his first plate, had his time cut short to allow local hip-hop group Spotrushaz to perform their single "Triniman."
Jamaican dancehall act, Lloyd D Stiff proved entertaining although there were several dreary moments during his set. The man talked too much and also chose to perform songs from his new CD entitled Back To The Future that nobody wanted to hear. The people went wild, however, when he sang his old favourites such as "Condom," "Skin To Skin," "Rough Wine," "Pull Up" and "Boom Boom Fatty."
There was a bit of a wait between Lloyd D Stiff and Shannon who it was reported refused to perform until she was paid in full.
Accompanied by several dancers, Shannon took the stage at 2 a.m. singing "Give Me Tonight."
After an unknown track she sang "Hearts Divided," and although Shannon delivered a fine presentation, the patrons did not seem overly impressed with her offering. Shannon danced to the ground as she performed "Let The Music Play" before exiting the stage at 2.25 a.m.
