NAS + Talib Kweli + DJ Green Lantern + Jay Electronica @ Metropolis

By Döc Holidæ - Phantastiq Cypha - 07/22/2008

“Ether.” It was all I could think about as I made my way to the Nas concert. Would Nas spit the track that some called be best diss track ever written? Now that Nas and Jay-Z have put their dislike for each other behind them and have even collaborated on tracks together, it was safe to say he wouldn’t go there…or would he?

Let’s start from the beginning of the evening though. I got to Metropolis at exactly 8pm (when the show was suppose to start). Lucky for me, two guys were break dancing on the floor and drew attention away from the stage. I snuck my way to the front, bumped into my friend Roberto and we found ourselves dead center of the stage.

After an hour of nothing, a young, shy looking DJ took the stage and started to set up his laptop and turntables. He started to scratch, then Jay Electronica jumped on at 9.05. I was annoyed; this was the second show in a month that I went to that was running a lot later than it should have been, but Jay held it down. I’ve never heard any of his stuff but I can easily say I liked his performance. The first thing he did was throw his cane into the crowd, and people went crazy. He continued to make dedications to NY’s finest, dropping a Biggie verse and spitting a few Nas lines. His performance wasn’t only good, it was smart. He spoke to the crowd, jumped down to get close to the front row, and did everything to help the crowd forget the long wait. I say that because by the time he left the stage, I completely forgot that the show started an hour late.

After another twenty-minute wait, we we’re graced with the presence of Talib Kweli. Now. I know a lot of people who only went to the show for Kweli, which I can understand because personally, I’m a bigger fan of Talib Kweli than Nas. He performed numerous tracks from almost all his albums and collaborations. If you ask me, take a verse from “Definition” off of Black Star, sprinkle a little of  “Move Somethin” from Reflection Eternal, add some “Get By” from the Quality and top it off with “Hot Thing” from Eardrum, and you have the perfect performance. Kweli joked about losing his voice a few tracks in because we had him so hyped up. Trust me -- we were only giving back what he gave us.

As Kweli left the stagem the girls that were standing in front of us decided to head upstairs to look for seats. Roberto and I moved forward and waited patiently for Nas to take the stage. The wait was a little long but when he did get on he was well received. While I was a bigger Talib Kweli fan and still hadn’t heard Nas’ new album, I was anxious to hear some of the tracks. As he introduced the song “Sly Fox,” he spoke about his dislike for FOX News and Bill O’Reilly much to the pleasure of the crowd. He went on to perform “N.I.G.G.E.R.,” “Black President” and “Breath” from his latest release, Untitled. If these songs are just the tip of what that whole album is like, I’m definitely going to buy a copy. For those who love the older stuff, Nas dropped “Got Urself A,” “Made You Look” and “Life’s a Bitch” from Illmatic. Each and every song was delivered with more energy, building up right to the end, when the crowd started chanting for “Ether”…which brings me back to the beginning. Would he spit the track that some called the best diss track ever written? Regrettably no. Knowing that the battle with Jay-Z was behind him, Nas opted to not perform it, but instead gave us an extended set with some freestyle tracks.

I forgot to mention that his tour DJ was none other than DJ Green Lantern. In one night, I saw Talib Kweli, Green Lantern, Nas and was introduced to Jay Electronica -- definitely a concert worth seeing. If you’re reading this and they haven’t been to your city yet, go get your tickets now.

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