When they get it right, rappers can rival stadium rock acts. But a mere gust of wind can expose how few MCs can hack festivals
It's all about bass and beats. Nothing tops the feeling of a heavy, booming bass line reverberating through the soil and up your legs, alongside a syncopated drum line amplified through speakers the size of houses. Both are synonymous with festivals, and few genres deliver these as well as hip-hop.
Yet, often, when rap acts appear at festivals, all you get is bass and beats; it's almost as if the MCs needn't bother turning up. Failure to deliver live is a criticism often levelled at US rap acts playing European festivals ? but it's justified. Many times, an artist who kills it on record disappoints on the outdoor stage. Why?
One of the problems seems to be sound. However gigantic the PA system, acoustics at festivals are at the mercy of the elements. With bands forced to wing it without a soundcheck, it can take nothing more than a breeze to destroy a show. And for those artists who rely on the clarity of their vocals, this can be disastrous.
Because it's not just about sound ? its about performance, too. Wu-Tang Clan are responsible for some of the greatest music of their genre, their many vocalists each offering their own distinct wordplay and vocal stylings. Fans can easily distinguish their Method Man from their ODB, yet when the band played a number of festivals at their prime in the 90s, their live show was often little more then men ambling about in sportswear. Decent, but nothing to flip your wig to ? certainly not compared to their 1997 co-headliners Rage Against the Machine. Which makes you wonder how much time was spent actually rehearsing ? in a genre where timing is everything it's surprising how many rappers can't keep up with their own records.
If their mix tapes are anything to go by, young skate rats Odd Future are a band worthy of all the attention they've garnered in recent months. The comparisons with Wu-Tang mainly boil down to both groups' fondness for self-referencing ("Wu! Tang!" v "Wolf! Gang!") but with their galvanised live show owing as much to the gymnastic hardcore of Bad Brains, and frontman Tyler, the Creator delivering the darkest, dirtiest and most visceral single of the year with Yonkers, Odd Future are pulling hip-hop away from braggadocio raps about material wealth and taking it back to the streets. Yet reports round these parts suggest that despite a raucous ? and now almost obligatory ? stage invasion, the LA collective were far from amazing at this month's Primavera festival. A lot of shouting, a lot of chaos.
It's often the case that the bigger the rap act, the more muddled it can become. Citing Led Zeppelin's live shows as a prime influence, Public Enemy were an early exception: they knew that hip-hop had to deliver live and organised themselves accordingly, with camp dancers, faux-menacing guards and all the pomp and pyrotechnics of an arena rock band.
Deft MCs taking to the mic with little more than a DJ or Dat tape behind them can so often blow away festival competition: just look at Jay-Z at Glastonbury, or the many festivals Dizzee Rascal has ruled. Snoop Dogg continually cuts the mustard too on bare charisma, while Nas and the Roots rarely fail fans.
Yet all too often it falls flat at festivals. Lil Wayne may consider himself the world's greatest rapper but live he can be a surreal experience ? and not in a good way.
Maybe hip-hop works best on street corners, in school corridors or in clubs where stripped-down, sweaty rappers battle it out. As a summer of festivals looms, lets hope those rappers on the big stages can persuade us otherwise.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/jun/22/hip-hop-festivals
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