Thursday, May 21, 2009
Lol excuse the over-excitement but i cant help but to sit in this desk chair and reminisce on the show for a sec....
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Ah yeeeeaaaaaaa. It was that great haha
To truly even halfway understand how I feel, you have to realize Im used to performing with a full band. Whether it be with my amazing band The Legendary Biscuits and Gravy or just my solo band The Freshness League, performing with a live band is soooo much easier. People, whether musically inclined or not, are more drawn into band performances just for the different elements of the overall show. The diff instruments, everybody on stage rockin, the overall showmanship of the entire band is what can easily capture people. The audience is able to focus on sooo much more than just the lead singer, which allows their attention to be on the act for even longer.
But solo????
Omg thats a diff story.
Me, a microphone, and my beats, either with a CD player or an iPod...
Its a very intimidating experience, the crowd is depending solely on me for entertainment for my entire set. Very rarely will an audience member be intrigued by an artist performance for their backing music alone....
My last few shows have been completely by myself because my CLEAN CUT partner Openmic has been really busy, and since the semester ended its harder for me to get my solo band together for practices. So I have tried to get DJ's for the past couple of shows.... NO LUCK. Which brought me back to square one... an iPod lol.
First off, before Saturday, I DESPISED performing alone.
But Saturday night was magical, Initially, I was gonna have someone else DJ the material but it fell thru in the last moment. But LO AND BEHOLD, the DJ-ing duo, SPEAKERSPELL came to my rescue and agreed to play the tracks during my set. Which was a miracle because I would have looked dumb changing my songs with an iPod especially at an event of that caliber. And it all worked out perfect because I had been tryna hook up with them since I found out about them a couple months ago. YESSSIIIRRR
Oh yea Im getting ahead of myself... The show was a concert/fashion show at Mercy Lounge called "Naked Without Us" so there was a runway and models coming out on each artists set. The headline act was Lord T & Eloise. Other performances included Used Computers and Born Empty, who KILLED IT btw... that was the first time I had seen them. Their set was hyyypppeeee
I opened my set up with my self acclaimed classic "Family Matters" haha. The models came out and im not gonna lie, it took me a lil second to adjust and actually look cool, rap, and interact with the models all at the same time hahaha. But by the end of the song i was a certified "RIP THE RUNWAY" pro lol.
After that I performed my entire 5 track EP in order (my first time doing so live). This was the first time I did the entire SCI FLY EP from beginning to end, and it was apparently, the ride of each audience member's LIFE (not really, buuuut really)...
"Product Of The Game" is a hit in my opinion. Its more than a hit, its an anthem. People adore that song. It so real, the track is hot, the flow compliments it perfectly, but the chorus is what makes people fall in love with it
Forgive me if I dream too big and stunt in this life I live/ But baby I'm just a product of the game
Forgive my designer clothes and my materialistic flows/ But baby I'm just a product of the game
The song is honest and unapologetic. I live by those lyrics.
I then went into the club banger of the EP, "Girls Like". And ohhhhh myyyy did the ladies loooooove this! Its SOOOO catchy! I love when I see ladies in the audience sayin every word of the chorus as if it wasnt their first time hearing the song. Even the fellas were gettin hype, whether it was for me or the ladies, who cares...
And the perfect thing about it is, the models, unexpectedly, modeled to this song. They came out on the runway, We interacted, I even danced a lil with some playfully to the audiences liking. It was crazy cuz by now I could tell I had fully engaged the crowd, and the house was PACKED
Ive never performed "Cleaning Out My Hard Drive" live (well technically I have, but no one was at that show so lets just say I didnt...) mainly because there is more emphasis on the lyrics in the verses to really get the metaphor of the song, and Its hard for people to make out all my words in certain venues sometimes, but I went ahead and did it, and didnt know what type of reaction to expect from them, but to my surprise people were laughin at the lyrics and singin along with the chorus by the end of the song! GO FIGURE!
"Heartbeat".... hahaha you either LOVE this song or u dont pay attention to it. Haha thats apparently what Ive been able to gather from people's opinions of it. But live??? EVERYBODY jumps. this song is a RAVE ANTHEM! LOL I love this record and I have NEVER failed to make people in the crowd JUMP with me when the chorus hits. It never fails! College parties, venue shows, drunk people, kids, everyone gets hype with me on this song. And Saturday, the whole runway was surrounded by people jumping up and down screamin at the top of their lungs... "COME ON, GIIIRRRLLL!" When I finally get enough confidence to stage dive and crowd surf... it shall be to this song!
And finally I closed out the show with my techno/dance love ballad "Grow Old With You" which is one of my favorite songs period, but I was reluctant to end with it since the energy level was sooo high on the previous songs. But once I started the song I remembered, "Grow Old" is a crowd favorite. Its something people can relate with, who doesnt want to find that someone you want to grow old and spend the rest of your life with?? People were singing their hearts out... and so was I. On my knees belting like Jodeci, and the crowd was loving every second of it....
The songs ended. I threw the deuces, shouted my website, and left the stage. It was one of those perfect nights...kinda like those cheesy scenes in movies, when the underdog finally rises to the occasion and is met with the long awaited adoration of everyone. Yeeeeaaaa, it was just like that. Drenched in sweat and unable to talk, I walked off that stage 50 feet tall, as the crowd received me with open arms, crowning me the victor and Lord of the stage that night LOL hahahahah ok i quit, but you get what Im sayin...
So, in recap, things i learned from Saturdays show
1. I CAN rock a stage solo w/o a band and still KILL it
2. I look really good when models surround me
3. And finally my EP is a freaking masterpiece. Is this me being cocky? Why yes it is.
DOWNLOAD IT, IF U HAVENT YET
In all seriousness tho, Ive never even gotten crowd reaction like that WITH a band. And Ive been even more hype on other shows so I know its not a matter of my energy level. Its song selection. And THE SCI FLY EP is just a 5 song documentation of where Im at musically, emotionally, and spiritually in my life right now. And apparently alot of people are on the saaaame exact page. People have been lookin for something like this, someone like me, and each show I realize that more and more.
With that being said, I feel like Ive in part accomplished what I wanted to do with the EP. All i need now is for the rest of the world to catch on...
PEACE
Labels: biscuits and gravy, born empty, future, mercy lounge, naked without us, openmic, speakerspell, the sci fly ep, used computers
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