It takes a Village

From behind the purple curtain that drapes the Brooklyn Bowl stage came, clad in all black, the Soul Brother No. 1, Pete Rock. One of hip-hop’s most legendary producers, who released with CL Smooth two of rap’s most iconic albums ever, The Main Ingredient and Mecca And the Soul Brother. The crowd’s low murmurs grew silent as Rock picked up the mic and simply asked: “Who’s ready for that real hip hop?” The crowd roared, and the tone was set. 

The night began with illustrious Cosmo Baker playing a slew of hits that had the growing crowd’s heads nodding. I’m pretty bullish on the idea that no one has better DJs than Philadelphia, and Cosmo is one of our elites. As the building filled up, another hometown hero and recent Grammy nominee for his album with Bilal followed: Beat Society’s Hezekiah, the human amplifier, who has a history of magical production and songwriting; Ohio’s own Vice Souletric

 and HiJinks then raised the bar with their performance. All brought the energy in the building to a very high level and set a precedent that would be hard to follow. 

Pete Rock then, behind his turntables, started a run of classic hip hop songs from what many consider the golden era of the mid-90s. From Mobb Deep to Onyx to Biggie, the crowd rapping along without a lyric missed. He then slid into a collection of West Coast anthems from legends like 2Pac, Dr. Dre, NWA, and even the Lady of Rage, before diving into his deep bag of classics he produced for artists like Nas. Pete Rock then did a medley of his timeless masterpieces with CL Smooth. They played “Straighten Out,” Take You There,” “Lots of Lovin,” “In the House,” before playing the beginning of Tom Scott’s “Today,” which was sampled for their biggest hit—“To Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”—that tells CL’s history up to meeting and befriending dancer Trouble T Roy from Heavy D & the Boyz. I could argue it’s the best song in rap history. The horns that open the actual track (sampled from “Today”) are probably the most recognizable in hip hop. Pete finished his set with new music with AMXXR, who ripped through songs off the forthcoming album Dope Boy Soul. 

The headliners for the night, Slum Village, then took the stage. T3 and Young RJ, in place of the sadly gone-before-their-time Baatin, proceeded to mesmerize the crowd, kicking off their set with evergreen hits like “The Look of Love” and “Players.” Slum Village exploded on the scene with then-member J Dilla, who is widely considered the greatest producer in hip hop history, his beats giving them a perfect backdrop to launch their careers. Dilla would later move on to work as a solo artist and sadly pass long before his time, but he laid the groundwork that made Slum Village sound timeless. Their Detroit-player lyrics fit perfectly over his grooves. T3 and RJ paid tribute to their fallen friend by covering his “Fuck the Police,” which had the crowd repeating the hook back to them at the top of their lungs. Rolling into the song “Disco,” which T3 said was a number one hit in Africa. Slum Village’s music was always aimed at the ladies, with songs like “Climax” and “Fall In Love” getting the women in attendance moving. Despite their connections to Dilla, their biggest hit was the Kanye West-produced “Selfish,” which had the audience singing along before closing their set with the amped-up “Raise It Up” to end the night bouncing. 

An amazing night of hip hop at the great Brooklyn Bowl was a great way to start the weekend.

Photo by Coup d’Oreille via Wikimedia Commons, ShareAlike 3.0 Unported