It was late 2006, it was 36 degrees Celsius and it was 8pm. I had just travelled over 19 hours with no real break to speak of and I had arrived to the thickest, heaviest heat I’d ever experienced at that time of night. I was clearly in the desert, Tucson, Arizona to be exact and it was my first evening in the United States of America. A trip that aimed to solidify family I’d never met but shared a blood line with. A family that I would soon find out, had a solid appreciation for old school, original hip-hop. Picked up by a car full of my cousins I was assuming I’d be driven to a house filled to the brim with family and friends, introduced as a long lost cousin visiting from a far away land, with amazing stories from Oz! I’d arrive to a nice American ale, a wonderful meet and greet and a quiet place to rest my weary head.
Instead, I was whisked away in a car full of unashamedly boastful early twenty somethings, down dusty orange swept roads, passed the largest industrial estates and cactus I could imagine and to an entertainment centre just out of town, which for a split second I thought, I was hoping, was their enormous abode! But no, I was in America and I was in for a surprise, a simple kangaroo riding country lad from down under that needed a bit of “Kultcha.” I was to be christened with my first real, original hip hop show and it was by the legendary Jurassic 5. Too right mate, no complaints here!
Kicking off the second night of their comeback tour in Melbourne and worlds apart from when I first saw them in America, The Palace was absolutely heaving with generations of hip-hop fans who knew how significant this moment really was. To witness perhaps that last time we’d ever get to see Chali 2na, Marc 7even, Zaakir and Akil up onstage performing their lyrical splits with seminal hip-hop producers and DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark. After the announcement last year the group was getting back together for Coachella and a string of Europe dates, it was no surprise a sea of youthful and in-tune snapbacks, was met with the brigade of beanie wielding baldies. Generations of hip-hop fans would attend this night and this show would provide the perfect melting pot of vocal dexterity, heavy bass and the most impressive array of scratching and beats a crowd could conjure. An audible testament if you will, pronouncing loud and clear, why such a legendary and profound hip-hop collective after being apart for so long still deserve our full attention.
Opening up with a string of classics, snippets from tracks from their critically acclaimed back catalogue, Jurassic 5 from the get-go are the ultimate hype masters, each feeding off the last line, whipping around stage like it was their first real show and filming themselves live with a go-pro, like they have to catch every moment. Taking tracks from their first self titled, follow up Feedback, Quality Control and the more recent (still a decade ago) Power In Numbers it’s a hard task to fulfil every fans desire for their favourite rhyme.
But low and behold, Jurassic 5 would give a verse or two from the real favourites, amongst a string of singles including Concrete Schoolyard, Great Expectations, Contact, a snippet from The Game, World Of Entertainment, What’s Golden, Quality Control and The Influence. Jurassic 5 are not performing some sort of lame, career resurrecting revival show. They are far from it and Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark solidify their presence with a constant battle of scratching, beat matching and getting in on whipping the crowd into a frenzy. They are actually the coolest producers and live DJs I’ve ever witnessed with an array of awesome and mind boggling stage props that include the massive J5 turntable that takes both of them to scratch and mix live. Cut Chemists straps on his turntable/synth guitar and Nu-Marks badass chain of clocks, that is actually a trigger for drum beats and ultimate hype wielding simply blow the mind of every punter in the crowd. It’s hard to summarise a show that holds you in an audible trance the whole way through and a crew of MC’s that each uniquely have you at their every beck and call. My mind is still blown and my body is still sore from all my inexperienced white-boy, out synch booty crumpin. Put simply, J5 are back. I just hope they stick together for another round, I want to be taken “back to the concrete streets, original beats with real live MCs.”
BY JETHRO FOX
Photo by Kate Davis
Loved: That not one hand was down, when rallied to put ’em up.
Hated: The sea of snapbacks blocking the view.
Drank: No time to drank.
