Great Expectations...Mos Def & Jay Electronica Live in Miami (Part 2)...

So Jay finished his set, and was about to exit the stage, when he got the "whisper in the ear move." You know the move, the one that leaves the person on the receiving end of the whisper looking real nervous, and the whisperer walking off saying, "Damn, I'm glad I'm not the one letting them know." This usually takes place right before the flying bottles, sometimes after the booing, right before the "bearer of bad news" proclaims, "Don't kill the messenger, calm down," usually accompanied by something like, "the star isn't performing tonight, but we do have a special..." In come the bottles.

Lucky for Jay, he was told to stall, so he called up some local B-boys on stage to break for a few. But here's my thing, at a show of this caliber, should an artist really be stalling, using people from the crowd as fillers, just a question.

This all seemed to be pointless, because after everything was said and done, the B-boys came off the stage, Jay exited the stage, took his dj with him, and the crowd was once again left to the mercy of dead silence, no music, the Arts Center transformed from a concert to happy hour, because there was nothing else for entertainment. So here is my question: What was the point of stalling, if nothing happens on stage after the said stalling, once again, just a question, that's all.

While everybody was still talking about the week that just passed and catching up on old news, in walks a non-descriptive-type-dude onto the stage, and the unrecognizable figure sits down by the drums, while two non-descriptive-type djs set up shop.

All of sudden, the lights dim, and the non-descriptive-type-dude starts playing the drum set. At first there is a delayed reaction by the audience, before they realize it is the man thsy came to see, it was Mos Def, the Wizard of Oz had arrived.

He started off singing and spitting over the drums while he played, which was cool. Then he got in to his show set, and ran through the usuals, "Ms. Fat Booty," "Definition," which would of been dope if Talib came out, "Umi Says" and so on and so forth. He also performed his new joint, "Auditorium," minus Slick Rick, which once again, would have been dope if he showed up as well. Overall, his catologue set was good, it just felt rushed though, because he ran through them like Adrian Peterson. The last part of his show was basically the djs playing diffrent records, classics, a reggae set, and a Michael Jackson semi-tribute. When the reggae tunes were playing, the djs were the selectors, and he played the role of the "Mic Man" or MC, singing over some of the tunes, as if we were at a session...

Ofcourse, the highlight of the night was when he did the moonwalk to one of MJ's tracks, I forget which one it was...but overall, it was a good show, it just left a lot more to be desired from the cult-classic emcee/actor...especially in Miami, a city which often gets left out on most underground hip hop tours, i.e. Rock the Bells, but that's a whole other story...

Great Expectations...Mos Def & Jay Electronica Live in Miami...

I had Great Expectations like Charles Dickens...but instead I got the refix, The Great Disapointment. Here's how the story goes. The time was August 15th, 2009. The setting was The Arsht Center in downtown Miami. The plot is an artist and his girl walking down the grey brick road, like Dorothy and the Scarecrow, or Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, on the way to see the Wonderful Wizard of OZ, otherwise known as The Mighty Mos Def in some circles...



We got there early, got our seats in the Arsht Center, which by the way is a dope venue, the acoustics in that place is ridiculous...nice spot. The place was packed and looked like it was close to sold out. On the stage, there was a drum kit, and two dj sets, four turntables on a raised platform...and that was it...Tickets were between $30-$60 a pop. So needless to say, well, I think it would be safe to say that in addition to myself, all the patrons had great expectations.

The show began with the opening act, whose name I can't remember right now, but when he came out, I thought he was the MC for the night. He asked how the crowd was doing, check, welcomed everybody to the show, check, but then started rhyming...I was like, alright, cool, maybe the MC for the night will come up after him...

After his set, he walked off the stage, and the lights came on and there was silence, no music was playing, no MC came to talk to the crowd, his dj walked off, and that was it...First Disappointment...

The time kept passing, and then another dj walked on the stage and went straight to his turn tables...he never said anything to anybody, he just started plugging up. (What ever happened to hyping up the crowd before the show like Fatman Scoop, or Jam Master Jay..RIP, or Stone Love, or Renaissance) Then Jay Electronica came on the stage...and he started talking to the crowd, check, did a couple of his tracks...some of them he did acappella, which was good, since his material was new to some people, and his lyrics were on point. He interacted with the crowd in between tracks.



Before he performed a J-Dilla...RIP...produced track, one of the patrons held up his J-Dilla t-shirt, and he asked him to bring it up so he could wear it on his shoulders while he performed the song. He made jokes with the crowd, check, and told everybody to remain positive and stay far from the negative people in life, check, overall, he had a good set...seemed a lot more comfortable on stage than his other shows which I read about in other online reviews...