It can be tiresome to constantly hear about the demise of rap. Old-school romantics trying to convince people that Special Ed was a musical genius or that everything nowadays is garbage in comparison to back in the day. It’s just not true. Despite what some might think, bad rapping has been around as long as good rapping, and existed before Yung Juc was even born. It just has not stood the test of time, or we’ve chosen to forget about it. But there is one area in which these jaded, old school relics have a point, and that’s in regards to the decline of the live performance.
With the average rap show nowadays consisting of an uninspiring formula of towel waving and yelling, followed by a lazy rendition of the first verse and chorus of a song (which is usually cut off by some annoying explosion sound-effect), followed by more yelling and towel waving, the live rap experience has gotten a bit boring.
Which is why we should be thankful that after all these years KRS-One is still rockin’ shows. Since his early days as the leader of Boogie Down Productions in the late ’80s, KRS-One has become known as one of the best live performers in hip hop.
In a genre cluttered with hype-bloated studio rappers who don’t know the first thing about putting on a good show, and who are too disinterested to actually bother writing and performing a half-decent rhyme, KRS bucks the trend by still taking pride in the art of rapping.
Despite the inconsistency of his studio albums over the past decade, “The Teacha” has not lost a step when it comes to bringing it live, still busting out some of the best battle rhymes and freestyles you’re likely to hear at a show.
It seems ironic that it takes a 42 year-old man to show that hip hop is still fresh and fun, but as KRS explained in Step Into A World: “I hit you wit that traditional style of cold rockin’ givin’ options for head knockin’ non stoppin’ tip-toppin’ lyrics we droppin’ but styles can be forgotten so we bring back the raw hip-hoppin.'”
KRS-One performs Sunday, March 9 at Le National
