Those of you not on the west coast may want to skip this post, but I couldn't resist mentioning this concert gem: GZA will be performing at the Independent in SF (I'm heading up there tonight, in fact), with Blue Scholars--but that's not all! He's performing the classic album Liquid Swords in its entirety. If you can't make it for the March 31st show, don't fret, he's doing a second date on April 1st as well.

Tickets to the first show are sold out, but for $25 bucks you can snag some floorspace for an April Fool's Day performance. I've never actually seen any individual Wu members on tour, but the last time I saw the entire Clan in action was an absolute delight. Also, full album performances like this are relatively rare. If anyone goes, let me know what's good.

I have to admit, I haven't been following Atmosphere much lately, but Ant & Slug are prepping a new album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, and hitting the road in support of the disc.
I've seen them a few times in concert, and though Slug tends to step up on a soap box from time to time, when he's not lecturing the audience dude knows how to put on a show. Looks like they're doing two nights in SF, so I may head up.

04.22 Chicago, IL The Metro
04.23 Chicago, IL The Metro
04.24 Toronto, ON Opera House
04.26 Boston, MA The Roxy
04.27 New York, NY Webster Hall
04.29 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
05.02 Austin, TX Emo's
05.03 Austin, TX Emo's
05.05 Phoenix, AZ Marquis Theater
05.06 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
05.07 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
05.08 San Francisco, CA The Regency
05.09 San Francisco, CA The Regency
05.12 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
05.13 Seattle, WA Showbox
05.14 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
05.16 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
05.17 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
05.18 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre

I'll be interested to hear the disc when it drops. When these two are in the studio, they tend to produce. Here's one track sent my way via Rhymesayers:

Atmosphere - Shoulda Known (zShare)

Sounds familiar, no?

Everyone's favorite revolutionary of rap is coming west for a quick tour.
I've never actually seen Immortal Technique myself, but if his shows have even a hint of the same passion that characterize his recordings, I imagine that they aren't to be missed. Looks like he'll be in SF, so I may head up and peep game.

March 7 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
March 8 - Los Angeles, CA - Oasis Locations
March 9 - San Francisco, CA - The Filmore
March 12 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
March 13 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
March 14 - Denver, CO - Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom
March 15 -Aspen, CO - Belly Up Tavern
March 16 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre

Along for the ride are Poison Pen (Stronghold!!) and DJ G.I. Joe. Looks like Tech is prepping to drop The 3rd World with DJ Green Lantern sometime soon, so expect new material on this tour.

Wale ripped mics to a packed Club Mighty in San Francisco on Friday. Dude seemed happy to be there, and raced through a quick set including "Nike Boots" and the wonderful Justice mix, "Wale D.A.N.C.E." I'm not sure that he ever stopped smiling, and it felt much more like a dance party than a traditional hip-hop show. The man still seems to be a bit struck by all the sudden attention he's got--from blogs to Rolling Stone and XXL, everyone want to say that they called him the next big thing. Despite the hyper-hype, he had poise and held it together well on stage.

Wale put down a couple of frees, even digging deep for some 2Pac over which to flow. He dissed ringtone rap, gave love to Bay Area hyphy and spent a few bars discussing Eli, the Giants and Tom Brady's Super Bowl self-destruction. In the end, however, his set was a bit too short, maybe only 45 minutes.

I hear that there will be photos from this thing up on the Fader blog later today. So peep that, since I didn't bring a camera. And since we're talking about Wale, his track with Bun B, "Go Mode," finally made it to the blogs without a cease and desist notice.

Update: Fader blogs the show, with photos.

Hipster-rapper phenomenon Wale (previously) is coming to the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco this Friday, and I've got two tickets to see dude tear it up at "the best new club in America," Mighty. (Am I going to need glowsticks to fit in here?)

Can't wait to see how this show goes down. I'm suspecting it's going to be more of an electro-dance party than a showcase of Wale's skills on the mic. Props to Zoe for the info on this show--it almost slipped right under my radar, as Noise Pop is a festival that doesn't exactly cater to rap fans. More details after the show. Bet.

Yesterday Evergreen College--hippy dippy West Coast liberal arts alma matter of Simpsons creator Matt Groening--held a forum to address a riot that broke out last week during a dead prez concert on campus. In this video it looks like the kids are saying it didn't get violent until the SWAT team busted out the pepper spray. To be fair, the kids also boogled a laptop and a radar gun from one of the cruisers they trashed (seriously guys, the radar gun? Nice touch).

On the one hand, I can't help but feel like everyone lost in this situation: dead prez probably won't be booked for another college show any time soon; the Evergreen prez pretty much grounded the students after giving them a stern talking to; and I think we can all agree the pigs suffered a blow to their collective ego. But on the other hand, I mean come on, fuck the police! Tell me you don't just a little get a kick out of these pictures (and check it, at least they recycle!):

Nas performing "NY State of Mind" live in New York with Busta offering up "Touch It" to a go-nuts crowd. Shit is classic. Marley Marl on the decks.

Found this gem via Crate Kings, dudes seem to be up on everything lately.

I've never been a person much for going to concerts. I like them just fine, but more often than not I find myself feeling a little let-down, even with some of my favorite groups. It's seems rare to find both a great artist and a great performer and the older and broker I get, the more willing I am to stay home, rather than go out and try new things.

Fortunately for me, my college will occasionally bring us free shows and its under this circumstances that I got introduced to Blitz the Ambassador.

Now, I'm going to be upfront--Blitz is solid, lyrically, but he's not amazing. A good, standard underground type guy, as far as a I could tell. But man alive, could he put on a show. He played to a crowd of only about 50 students, but he it was like he was playing to a crowd of thousnads. He put all his energy and heart and skill into and gave me one of the most enjoyable concert experiences I've ever had. At the end of the night everyone (including him) was grinning and dancing and having a great time and, shit, how often do you get to say that about shows?

So, buy the single or not, but if you have a chance, go see him live. As concerts get more bloated and impersonal, as performers get lazier, and as more people show up just to be obnoxious, performers like Blitz will be harder to find. See him while you can.