Paid Dues 2008, NYC (6/4/08).

(click for full size images)

Pardon my laziness in getting around to posting about this. A memorable night for sure, with performances from Yak Ballz, Kidz in the Hall, Supernatural and Scratch, Murs and 9th Wonder, Buckshot, Blackalicious, GZA and Rakim. Unfortunately, the Nokia Theater is not ideal for taking pictures, especially when you’re in the middle of a crowd and not seven feet tall. So I only got a couple of passable pictures. Also, take into account the fact that I usually use my camera to break open chestnuts.

Kidz in the Hall killed it, but their performance was a truncated, slightly more energetic version of their album release party last month.

Scratch came out and rocked it alone for awhile because Supernatural was caught in traffic. Luckily, he showed up with enough time to drop a great off the top freesytle, using a camera and an umbrella from the audience.

Accompanied by 9th Wonder on the 1s and 2s, Murs held it down. My favorite part was when he randomly gave out a cheat code for the old Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! game between songs.

Buckshot stole the show, doing some Black Moon classics before bringing out…

KRS-One! who I managed to catch looking like Michael Jackson at the end of Thriller. Buckshot also brought out half of Smif-n-Wessun (don’t know which half) who did Bucktown.
After a Blackalicious performance that went on for way too long, GZA and family stole the show again and did all the Wu classics. Masta Killa made a guest appearance. GZA stood still long enough for me to get my best picture of the night.

All that was left was Rakim, who was late. Technician the DJ, who I’ve liked since Styles P’s Live in New York, rocked it for a bit. Oddly, Styles’ performance on his live album also preceded a Rakim performance. Tech then passed the baton to Kid Capri who spun classic records until Rakim showed up.

At this point I had made my way from the overwhelmingly packed front to the back where a few people were break dancing. Rakim’s performance was well worth the wait, but was cut short at around 12:30 by the folks at the Nokia Theater. I bet he regretted showing up so late and then doing a good 5 minutes of ‘which side is the livest’.

But I’ll cut him some slack because apparently he had lost a loved one two days prior to the show, for whom NYC put up their lighters.

It was a great night that was unfortunately broken up by long waits between performances and cut short during its grand finale.