Talib Kweli, Jean Grae @ VillaNightclub, Perth (15/04/10)

Mon 19th Apr, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Find yourself in mattbedford86’s gallery

On a not so distant night, in a not so distant town, the sun could very well be rising into a not so distant day; as the eerie rush of cold and silence greets the early bird catching the worm. And there’s a not so distant club that leaves behind a trail of cigarette lights flicked and fading into the distance as silent feet slowly walk their way home with guilty regret. “However will we wake up for work tomorrow?” Yet through the world of silence, through hours that don’t exist on weekdays, the muffled sounds of another 90s hip hop classic is seamlessly mixed together; Talib Kweli is at the decks, Jean Grae, her busty soul diva companion and a limited entourage (or possibly a tour manager) are helping half the crowd up onto the stage to ‘keep this party going until they kick us out’. And who knows, they still may be there!

Which leads you to question why one of New York’s most prolific emcees, a superstar in his own right, would want anything more to do with the people he has just played to for well over an hour and a half, let alone perform an impromptu DJ set at the end! Maybe it was a strategy devised by the promoters? The last time Villa opened its doors to another hip-hop great Raekwon, fights broke out post gig and sprawled onto the street in everything you’d expect from the Wutang Clan ain’t nuttin to fuck with mantra. Tonight if there was even a drop of the rage virus in the venue, it had gone to bed rather too satisfied like a regrettable night around the Sizzler buffet table.

In reality, Talbi Kweli and Jean Grae are two of the nicest, coolest people you’ll ever see in hip-hop. They sincerely enjoy sharing their music, playing overtime and giving more than you’d ever expect at a concert. With a slight air of cheeky arrogance, Talib Kweli appears to be quite a laid back character. In 2003, superstar rapper Jay Z proclaimed in song; “If skills sold, truth be told/ I’d probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli” and the man in question didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Without letting the whole superstar thing get in the way, Talib Kweli and Jean Grae simply put on a refreshingly positive and fun show with all fists and fury left at home so you could do your own thing on the dance floor with space to move around to the vibe they set. There were indie kids, hip-hop chicks in Yankees caps and hoodies; hippies and B-boppers, hotties and hoppers (if such a thing exists). All together in harmony on one unassuming, hot sweaty, yes I smell weed, dance floor.

So at the start of the night, running thirty minutes late, after Perth’s very own village bike of vinyl Charlie Bucket entertained the crowd with some solid hip hop tunes, Jean Grae took to the stage with a modest opening that still let everyone know she meant business. Grae eased punters into her show allowing the unfamiliar to fall in love with her incredibly tight flow, witty wordplay and funky mumma next door personality. For those in the crowd who already knew Jeane Jean; there was no doubt she too was a worthy head-liner in her own right. And all it took was an hour and half to see the unofficial queen of hip-hop officially crowned; thanks to an engaging and funny set that was driven by remarkable rhymes defeating any chauvinistic outlooks on the scene.

Starting slower with some soulful hip-hop love songs, she invited her equally charismatic soul sister onto stage to provide stunning backing vocals and lead chorus breaks to her tracks. The DJ who also accompanied Jean was tight, scratch worthy and a backing emcee all in several swift motions and with this to play with, Jean Grae had officially adopted the crowd as her own.

And you couldn’t help but like her. She was open and engaging; in a floral dress but at the same time dark and assertive with a don’t mess with me or I’ll break your nose undertone. Maybe that was because under each flower printed on her dress was a grimacing skull. Maybe it was the fact that one of her lyrics proclaimed: “You don’t like the way I flow / She needs more emotion, no / I’ll give you emotion, it’s you holding your broken nose.” Ultimately, Grae felt more like a friendly old school master who you respected greatly and knew never to cross; but why would you?

Taking a short instrumental interlude to provide a running (wireless mic) commentary up a staircase into Villa’s fantastically visible VIP artist bar directly above the stage (much like a royal box in a Shakespearian theatre) the soul sisters returned with a goose neck beverage and a brief 101 lesson in mixing cocktails. Spotting a packet of cigarettes poking out of a bag shoved against a fold-back, she asked the owner if they had cooties before helping herself and sparking up on stage. And with a half sigh / applause, all the smokers in the audience found this enough licence to lead by example disregarding health laws. With a massively in sync breath of smoky relaxation, a strange tension you didn’t notice was there until gone filled the air. Jean Grae looked up from a cloud of smoke and proclaimed “Don’t applaud my nicotine addiction! Yay lets all clap because Jean Grae’s gonna die.”

Villa’s thumping sound system and its remarkably high stage made the perfect platform; everyone could see from all angles and vantage points. Having gone well over the advertised set times and after starting late, the crowd wondered if Talib Kweli would ever take to the stage at all; not that anyone really minded, since they were having so much fun! Suddenly, Kweli joined Jean Grae and her vocalist / DJ on stage to begin his set in a seamless crossover. The pair then performed a couple of their own collaborations before Kweli took the reins of what seemed to be a smartly uniformed set-up with the DJ keeping the show going clocking up almost five hours towards the end of the night. As Jeane Jean departed to leave Talib to do his thing, she humbly said how privileged she felt to be able to do this every week.

Everyone was in high spirits and the show kept going without a pause of breath. Talib Kweli demanded the already tired fists to stay up even higher in the air and worked the crowd hard, song after song. He was dressed unassumingly in a grey hoodie, roaming the stage with his amazing wordplay. Kweli treated the audience through a wide back catalogue including some magical moments from Blackstar with the song Definition giving shout outs to the album’s co collaborator Mos Def, before jokingly quipping, “He’s really not here tonight.” killing the small lingering hope in all the fans who missed out when Mos Def cancelled his performance two years ago in Perth because of a court trial for assaulting paparazzi.

The only problem with Talib Kweli’s set is that it was extremely exhausting. Being a Thursday night, already well past midnight, at this stage, meant it was hard to keep going when, for many, work the next day was a few short hours away. Jean Grae jokingly scolded him for working the crowd so hard telling everyone to put their hands down. During the middle of the set new material was tested and with tiredness creeping in, the crowd slightly thinned as people looked for seats; but only momentarily. Finishing the show with Get By from his debut LP; Quality (unfortunately the only track off the album on the night) caused an eruption from the crowd as it was one of the show’s highest points. Another came when an a’ Capella performance from Kweli showcased a spoken word rhyme clearly demonstrating the intricacy of his wordplay.

With an encore almost as long as a second set, Talib Kweli sent us in all directions, one favourite being Blackstar’s Respiration, taking us back to why Kweli’s collaborations are defining moments in hip-hop history.

For everything else that wasn’t said, it was spun; with tune after tune from admired emcees keeping the encore going into a massive after party courtesy of the never ending performer. Jean Grae yelled at the crowd; “why y’all still staring at us! This is a party, so go to the bar and let’s heat up this mother-fucker.” But it was almost three in the morning and half the audience had thinned away, speechless and too tired to buzz their way home; wondering how in the hell they could get a taxi at this forsaken hour of a Friday morning. As you read this review Jean Grae, Talib Kweli and crew could be still at it, like a stitch in time; the never ending party only a reality for the next city they meet.

Find yourself in mattbedford86’s gallery