Action Bronson, Teleport Team, Rich P, ThaLSD
Wednesday, June 19 at Kingdom
Action Bronson’s been one of my favorite new rappers over the last couple of years, so it was really exciting to see that he was coming to town. Kingdom has been bringing in a bunch of good rappers lately, actually, not just Bronsolino but Riff Raff and Lil B, among others, so I have to give them props for that. What was frustrating about this show, though, was how unorganized the whole thing seemed. Confusion about openers and stage times, long unscheduled delays, and a headliner that didn’t hit the stage until after the show was supposed to be over were all components that made the way this show unfolded less than ideal. Once Action Bronson finally made the scene, he made up for everything, but the issues that occurred over the course of the evening can’t be completely ignored.
The show started off well enough–ThaLSD hit the stage not long after 8 and delivered a set that mainly consisted of songs based around sped-up soul samples. I’m into this particular style of hip hop, so I was digging it, but there were a lot of people onstage, with different people taking the mics on each song, and it was nearly impossible to keep track of who was who. ThaLSD are not so much a proper group as a crew of rappers who hang out and work together but mainly record as solo artists. By taking a booking as a group, they clearly intended for different rappers in the crew to get the spotlight on different songs, and that’s fine as far as it goes, but when you’re opening up a show in front of people who mostly don’t know who you are yet, it can be tough for the audience to follow what’s going on. I was completely lost after a couple of songs, and couldn’t tell you who was actually rapping at any particular time. It sounded like the group members were trying to announce each other as they passed the mics, but they were doing this over the intros and outros of the song, so it was tough to make out what they were saying. I enjoyed what I heard, though.
The next rapper was Rich P, a solo artist affiliated with So !lla, Broad St. Elite, and So Proper Entertainment. He wasn’t on the flyer, but jumped on the show at the last minute to replace Dem 360 Boyz, who had cancelled their scheduled appearance. Rich P took the stage by himself, and did a great job of keeping his music going and his flow tight, so I can give him props for that. His brief set wasn’t extremely memorable, but I saw a lot of potential. However, at the time, I couldn’t figure out who he was. He shouted out his crew a couple of times, but I never heard him say his name and only figured out who he was when I saw one of his videos online a few days later. I probably would have enjoyed his set a little more had I not been so confused. Next time, for sure.
At this point, there was a long lull. The first two acts had played with almost no pause between their sets, and neither one was onstage for more than 20 minutes. If anything, that was probably smart on their parts–when you’re playing for people who don’t know you, it’s better to leave them wanting more than to wear them out. But when two of the four scheduled acts had already finished their sets by 8:45, someone apparently decided that the show needed to be slowed down. So for over an hour, nothing happened except the DJ playing a shitload of hip hop records at top volume through the PA. People started gathering onstage, and at first I assumed they were in the next group, but when no one started rapping and more and more people crowded onstage, it eventually started looking like a really weird episode of Soul Train up there. The more boisterous (read: less sober) occupants of the crowd who took over the stage and strutted their stuff seemed to be having fun, but for those who stayed on the floor, the whole thing seemed a bit ridiculous. And it went on forever.
Finally, at 10 PM, Teleport Team decided to go ahead and play their set. A lot of the stage campers who’d been dancing for the past hour turned out to be friends of the group, so they stayed onstage and the performing area stayed packed for the entire next half hour. It can’t be denied that Teleport Team showed a lot of skill and rocked the crowd with some really good beats and rhymes, but when they’d strive for audience participation, it didn’t work as well as it could have, because their three dozen biggest fans in the building were behind them onstage. Hip hop as a culture is big on braggodocio and cultivating hero worship, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but when it results in a whole ton of hangers-on grabbing at any opportunity to prove how down they are, it can sometimes make for some silly situations. This was one of those times. But like I said, Teleport Team were really talented and good, so as long as they don’t let the groupies and yes-men distract them from what’s really important, I imagine they will go far.
Their set ended with an unannounced treat for the hometown RVA crowd. After finishing their last song, Teleport Team announced a surprise guest that they were going to bring onstage to perform with them. Said guest was none other than RVA hip hop legend Nickelus F, who proceeded to drop two quick songs and outshine all who’d hit the stage before him in the space of about five minutes. The man is not only a master lyricist and a highly reputed freestyle champion, he’s an intense and forceful live performer. Even with 30 or so people standing around and behind him onstage, the second he got the mic in his hand, everyone knew who the star of the show was. I’m not sure if Nickelus F has the kind of notoriety he’d need in Richmond to book a headlining show for himself in the area, but he definitely has the talent for it. If I weren’t so excited to see Action Bronson, I would have wanted Nick to play for another 30 minutes at least.
As Teleport Team and their entourage exited the stage, we were told that Action Bronson would be on in ten minutes or so. 45 minutes later, at 11:15 PM, he finally hit the stage for a show that was supposed to be over at 11. Between the hour-plus dance party after the second performer and the long, boring delay before Action Bronson, this four-hour show consisted of over two hours of downtime, compared with just under two hours of music. What was going on there? A friend I went to the show with suggested that there was an element of “make ’em wait because I’m worth it” rockstar attitude from the performers, and that’s certainly possible, but I have to wonder what happened on the management side to result in these kinds of lengthy and unchecked delays. I’d like to hope the club has some control over this and could at least make sure the the performances stuck to a pre-arranged schedule.
Once Action Bronson started playing, though, it was hard to stay mad. It’s hard to explain how a fat Albanian guy with a big red beard is so incredibly charismatic, but in his presence, his charm was undeniable. Grinning as he took the stage to rapturous applause, Bronson attempted twice to launch into his first song, both times getting off beat and having his DJ start the song over, before finally getting it on his third try. There were false starts like this several times over the course of the set–maybe because Bronson was having trouble hearing his beats through the monitors, or maybe just because he was high, I don’t know. Regardless, it didn’t do much of anything to interrupt the smooth flow of the set, and once he got rolling on the songs he played, they all sounded great. Having released his latest EP, Saaab Stories, only a couple weeks before, he played pretty much the entire thing. He mixed in songs from some of his 2012 releases as well, though his earlier material was in short supply. Recent single “Strictly 4 My Jeeps” was a highlight, with the entire crowd dancing and waving their arms in the air, and a lot of the songs featured the DJ dropping the beat so that Bronson could deliver an entire verse a cappella. He never had any trouble nailing all of these verses perfectly, and unlike a lot of other rappers, Bronson didn’t have any hype men running around finishing his lines so he could take a breath. He nailed the verses just like he did them on record, with the same amount of intensity and impact.
At one point, Bronson brought out longtime collaborator Meyhem Lauren to do a collaborative track, and afterwards Lauren stuck around to do one of his own songs. This wasn’t bad by any means, but it’s obvious why Lauren isn’t as famous or well-regarded as Bronson is. He’s got talent, but Action Bronson’s on another level entirely. Bronson ended the set with a track delivered almost entirely a cappella, then briefly left the stage before being drawn back by fervent chants of “Bronson! Bronson!” from the crowd. Upon his return, he did a killer version of “Bird On A Wire,” his non-LP single done in collaboration with Riff Raff. Without Riff Raff in the building, he added a second verse of his own, then left the stage as his DJ played the song’s final chorus and the crowd went nuts. It was a few minutes before midnight, and Action Bronson had given us nearly 45 minutes of music.
People have attempted to diminish Bronson’s quality and importance by comparing his work to past hip hop greats, but if anything, it seems to me that rather than imitating, Bronson has carried on that legacy in a new era. Action Bronson proves his talent on record every time he releases something new, and from what I saw at Kingdom last Wednesday, his consistent discography is matched by the quality of his live performance. If you weren’t there, you missed out, and you better not make the same mistake next time he comes to town. This guy is the real deal.
Photos by Brad Kutner
