full set here

I have to say that I’m pretty exhausted after driving back from NYC at 2am last night. Surprisingly, the roads into DC are already getting busy at 5:00am. The trip was well worth it though, after seeing A Tribe Called Quest perform in New York for the first time in 11 years, and possibly for the last time ever. The Jones Beach installment of Rock the Bells was a who’s who of New York hip-hop music. Name an artist and they probably showed up for at least one verse.

I arrived at the tail end of De La Soul’s set and sadly didn’t get to see any of it. There were just too many acts to catch it all, and getting our media credentials took a bit longer than expected. Pharcyde took to the stage as we made our way to the front and performed classics such as “Runnin” and “Passing Me By,” getting the crowd warmed up for what would shortly turn into a pretty wild affair.

Up next was Raekwon and Ghostface, with what seemed like half of Staten Island on stage behind them. These two long time best friends and Wu-Tang heavy weights ran through their Wu and solo catalogs, performing classics such as “Triumph” and “C.R.E.A.M.”

Mos Def was next. A decent performance, but a little sing songy as Mos Def can sometimes be. All was forgiven however when Talib Kweli came on stage to collectively form Black Star and perform a number of their hits. Being in New York, guest appearances such as Talib were almost expected, but none of the sold out Jones Beach crowd was prepared for some of the unannounced guests that would follow. “Ms. Fat Booty”, “Definition” and “Respiration” (along with Mos Defs outfit) were highlights of the set. Just as Mos’ performance was winding down, he brought out another guest; this time it was Pharoahe Monch, jumping on stage to perform one of the rowdiest songs of all time, “Simon Says.” This song is my Redbull. Give it a try next time you’re getting ready to go out.

The next duo to take the stage shared a bit of news with us; How High 2 will begin filming later this year. Meth and Red seem to know each others every move, and took time to repeatedly remind us that NO ONE rocks a stage like Method Man and Redman. After a shout out to ODB, a guest performance by EPMD, and a Method Man performance from 20 rows into the crowd, they closed with “Da Rockwilder” and took the already frenzied crowd to an even higher (pun intended) level. One of my favorite parts of the night took place just moments before Meth and Red started their set, as we witnessed B-Real of Cypress Hill leave the Sandisk VIP tent to go to Meth and Red and jog to the stage saying “Red and Meth are about to go on and I don’t want to miss it.”

Nas was next and backed by a full band as well as DJ Green Lantern. He worked his way through almost every track of his 1994 classic, Illmatic, moved on to “The Message,” “If I Ruled the World” and “Nas is Like,” while sprinkling in tracks from his new album, Untitled. Then came the biggest surprise of the night. The premier name in Hip-Hop showed up in his Yankees fitted and took the stage next to Nas. I like to imagine that he probably just dropped by via helicopter, because I don’t want to live in a world where Jay-Z has to use roads. He came out for a few minutes to perform “Black Republicans” with Nas as everyone stood on their chairs and the place went completely nuts. The madness of the moment leaves nothing but a brief blurry memory; luckily there are a few photos to serve as reminder.

A Tribe Called Quest, Rock the Bells headliners, had a very tall task in attempting to even stay on par with Nas’ preceding performance. With Mos Def as their hypeman and their first New York performance in far too long, Q-Tip, Phife, Jairobi and Ali Shaheed Muhammad were up to the task. After a long day, the crowd was re-energized by the closing act as they worked through hits such as “Buggin’ Out,” “Electric Relaxation,” “Award Tour” and a cameo from Busta Rhymes when they performed “Scenario.” As the show was coming to a close, many of the previous acts came from backstage to witness A Tribe Called Quest for one of the final times. Before leaving the stage, Q-Tip asked “How can they say hip hop is dead? How can they say the music we make isn’t worth a damn? Just look at all of us in here.” It was simply a great show with great energy throughout; kind of like watching a group of old friends just hanging out and having fun together. With microphones. In front of 15,000 people.

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