The Hunter Envoy

Issue date: 5/14/08 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Caroline Kelly Talib Kweli

There was a moment in Talib Kweli's much-hyped performance at Hunter where he paused to let the crowd recite his lyrics for him. His gesture left most of the crowd confused over the words to Kanye West's verse on "Get'm High," and left the rest of the crowd in silence, since they simply didn't know the words. But Kweli was better off letting the crowd recite the few lyrics they knew. It's not like the sound system was audible.

That isn't a knock on Kweli's mic skills-he's rightfully one of the most critically beloved rappers of his era-but it revealed that few members of the audience were truly Kweli fans, and a poor sound system wasn't helping.

The one song everyone seemed to be a fan of was "Get By"-which is the biggest hit of Kweli's career, peaking at #77 on the Billboard Top 200 in 2002. Its performance was easily the highlight of the show. It features a sing-song hook, so it's an easy crowd pleaser. Kweli (who really isn't known for putting on a great live show) had the entire front section with their arms in the air, chanting, "Just to get by" like a church choir.

But few of Kweli's other songs were as well received. Most of his set consisted of songs from his first album. Considering that nearly all the beats on Train of Thought are produced by DJ Hi-Tek, whose beats always have that "thump," this might have seemed like a wise choice. But without the proper sound system or catalogue of hits to back him up, it really didn't matter what song he did.

There were plenty of songs he didn't do. He avoided doing songs from his two other classics, only performing "Definition" from Black Star and "Get By" from Quality. In fact he did more cover songs (like Bob Marley's "Jammin'") than songs from some of his own albums.

Even in light of the recent acquittal of Sean Bell's murders, the overtly political Kweli steered clear of performing "The Proud" where he recites cold but profound lyrics: "They ask me what I say to a dead cop's wife/Cops kill my people everyday/That's life."

The USG deserves credit for getting together a truly hip-hop roster that featured beatboxing, MCing, DJing, and B-Boying. One of the other highlights of the show was the Supreme Beings dance crew. Their acrobatic moves and head-spins got the crowd so hyped even Kweli had to bring them out for an encore.

But Taylor McFerrin's neo-soul hip-hop style calmed the crowd down after the dancing got everyone excited. McFerrin only produces and beatboxes, so he brought out his emcee, TK Wonder. Wonder spit flows that were as smooth as syrup. Too bad hardly anyone heard a word she spoke.

The turntablist crew Ill Insanity opened the show and quickly wore out their welcome. Watching a group of turntablists at their best is like watching the Harlem Globetrotters play basketball. They both bring vaudevillian techniques to their craft. But in this case, it was more like watching a group of guys throw behind-the-back passes at Rucker Park. Yes, you're impressed the first few times. But you'd don't care enough to watch for 45 minutes.

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