Category: "Concert"
The Realest Dude in the Room
Shirea and Young Jeezy it's the only way to go...and so...I did. Last night, August 26, 2008, at New York City's Blender Theatre I went into the standing room only venue on a mission to see why the hood thinks Jeezy is soooo real. Here's the beats:
Arriving at the theatre, Vibe was greeted by Island Def Jam and ushered into a room full of rough-neck-thugged-out dudes, mixed with hip industry cats. Drinking, smoking, drooling over the occasional females sprinkled in the crowd, Jeezy had full support from New York's goons.
After the DJ warmed up the crowd, Jeezy finally made his appearance. With the chorus of "I'm So Hood" playing, Jeezy made his way on stage in black head to toe: Atlanta fitted, jeans, a black tee underneath Harley Davidson bulletproof styled vest. On stage, a few of the members in his crew wore the clever "My President is Black" T-shirts, supporting Barack Obama. I had to be standing next to the most amped dudes in the crowd, and all I knew if they stepped on my foot one more time, I was going to show them why I'm so hood.
So Jeezy is doing his swaggaliscious thing on stage, paired with one of the fattest hype man I've ever seen. I'm trying to figure out if he has all that energy to run up and down the stage with Jeezy, how come he's so damn big? He had to lose at least 1,000 calories a night keeping the crowd excited. I'm just saying...
Jeezy asked the crowd what boroughs they rep, and went into one of my favs, "My Hood." Shortly after, I hear a Fabolous' beat and I scratched my head trying to figure out what verse Jeezy has on the song? I feel silly when I realized he hasn't rapped on the track, but used the song to bring out the champion speller, F-a-b-o-l-o-u-s. Fabolous came on stage and got the audience hyped, looking like Jay-Z's mini-me. His lack of original style didn't keep the crowd from chanting "1 into the 2, 2 into the 3" on his song "Breathe." Jeezy thanked him by saying "Forget this rap shit, Fab is my nigga, he put me on my first real album." Afterward Jeezy showed New York some love when he announced, "New York is my f*cking city, if they f*ck with you here, they f*ck with you anywhere!" How profound....
He gets extra-serious when he asked everyone to put their lighters and cell phones in the air, so the dudes next to me stop lighting their blunts for a second to do as they were instructed. A familiar beat is faintly heard in the background, as Ms. Short Stuff herself, Lil' Kim, came strolling on the stage with the toughness of a man and the sassiness of a woman. With the tightest top, and even tighter pants, she rapped and belted out the hit "Welcome to Brooklyn." While Kimberly didn't command the crowd as much with her lyrics, she controlled the stage with her sheer see-through pants and wannabe Buffie-bootie. Yes, sheer, Ms.Thing.....
Maino came out as the last "surprise performance" of the night and performed "Hi Hater" and while I am a fan of the song, it wasn't much to write about. So moving right along...
Jeezy said, "Yea, you can't do a show in New York without bringing someone out, I'll fuck around and bring Bin Laden out here." Chuckles came from the crowd. Jeezy, suddenly for some reason, began to transform from yuck to handsome, and it scared me. I began to rationalize, Well his head isn't that big..., and Dang he is sexy in a gangsta not-to-cute way.
I snapped out of my trance when he went toward the back of the stage to become pseudo-dj. When he returned front and center he preached to his hood congregation about thug motivation and politics, "First in my book is Tupac, and then Barack Obama, " Jeezy barked.
The energy of the crowd went down a tad, but changed when he performed "Soul Survivor" feat Akon. The crowd went through the roof when he performed his last song of the night "Put On."
I left the concert loving that Jeezy is about one of the only rappers in a image created industry, that doesn't have a manufactured toughness, and whose street-cred is not a question. Trap Star first, Rap Star second. I luv it! Yeahhhhhhhh!
Lesson: To thine own self be true, it'll take you futher.
BIG UPS: Gabe Tesoriero (VP of Media/Artist Relations, Island Def Jam), Julyann Moon (Atlantic Records), Cathy Dononvan (Atlantic Records), Jason Bonello (JTech), Shannon Jones (Zomba Label Group), Frances Turner
