De La Soul is NOT Dead

De La Soul is NOT Dead
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

I went to see De La Soul tonight and the show sweet fucking rocked. De La Soul was dead on from the crowd warm up where Mase, rocked Wu-Tang, Red Man and Mobb Deep. To starting with music from the Grind Date to playing Stakes is High to every De La Song you'd want to hear. They then went into their first surprise Dres from Black Sheep, who also got the crowd lit up (Engine, engine number nine... You can get with this or you can get with that... You're the flavor of the month) Then the second surprise Jarobi from a A Tribe Called Quest and Phife! Yes Phife sweeting fucking Dawg! To those who didn't grow up in the golden of age hip hop, this would be like going to see the Rolling Stones today and the special guests being Robert Plant and Paul McCartney and Ringo. De La came on around 11ish and didn't leave until 1:15, the encore was perfect as 70% of the fully packed 9:30 club cleared out and it was intimate for songs like the De La classic "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" There was even a point when they kept on going over and over with "Rock Co.Kane Flow" and I was almost sure MF Doom was going to appear. In fact Pos said he wished he could pull MF Doom out of his pocket. There was also the messages that were shared that show De La as true hip-hop artists, from the talk of Trugoy about no buying the bull shit music that is killing hip-hop to, pointing out that they have known each other and remained friend for twenty years, to the message that hip-hop transcends race, class and sex, when Trugoy invited ladies up on stage to dance to "Baby Phat" and explained to the guys in the crowd that there are many women fans of the hip-hop culture also. Also big up to my friend Damien who made it on stage during the encore. De La Soul is fucking incredible.
You can find my De La Soul Flickr set here