First and foremost I want to thank everyone who works at the Rev Room. Recently they have been booking great shows and returning to the status of one of the better venues to take in amazing live music. I've had nothing but great experiences since my one rough patch at the Toadies concert several months ago. However, Lucero, Girl Talk, and Lord T & Eloise have more than made up for it.
Speaking of Lord T & Eloise, I saw them for the second time and much to my liking and amazement, had an even better time than the first time I saw them. Perhaps that was because I was a hundred times more familiar with their music and could interact more, but there were so many other variables to make it a fantastic night. I really have Eloise to thank for this. When he last took Little Rock by storm with Al Kapone, he graciously gifted me a copy of his new album, "Chairmen Of The Bored." I have listened to this album countless times since I got it and must say it's superb. I'm in love with the idea of Aristocrunk being showcased to the world in order to save the dwindling hip hop scene. I highly suggest if you don't know much about this dapper duo and their never ending supply of backup singers/collaborators, you should check out their website. It's rather explanatory, and I'm fairly certain you will get a chuckle out of it.
So, back to the show. Scratch Track opened and it wasn't quite the band I imagined opening for what was sure to be a glorious night of Aristocrunk. This group consisted of a beatboxer/singer and a guitarist/singer. Albeit the beatboxer was good, the overall feel to their set was too laid back. I kept thinking that they're not getting me excited for what was to come. However, I feel that while they were really solid, they'd be more suited to open for a non hip hop oriented act.
After Scratch Track finished up, DJ Witnesse took the stage. He started spinning mainstream hip hop much to my chagrin. However this was his main tool to get the crowd pumped up for Lord T & Eloise. MysterE (pictured), often jokingly introduced by the duo as the best soul singer Memphis has to offer, ran up on stage twenty or so minutes later and the crowd went berserk. They inevitably knew what was coming and couldn't contain themselves any more. Everyone started dancing around and laughing as Lord T & Eloise took the stage. Always the proper showmen, they simultaneously burst through the fog and the show was kicked in to full gear.
They rapped about the finer things in life, the CEOs, and even black limousines. The content of their songs is extremely satirical towards mainstream hip hop music today, and it is portrayed through witty lyrics and mesmerizing beats. Not everyone will like Aristocrunk, I can almost guarantee you that. I personally didn't know much about it to begin with, brushed them off, but eventually read up on it and fell in love with this aptly, but strangely named genre of music.
Lord T & Eloise performed a healthy ratio of newer material to the older. I myself was much more familiar with the newer stuff so I was singing along to those songs. Obviously I was doing something right because each Lord T, Eloise, and MysterE put a mic down at separate times for me to sing parts of the songs. I always get tickled pink when musicians do that because it's just one more small thing that distinguishes them from other artists and blurs the performer/crowd boundary. I love when that threshold is crossed because it's something that I don't see as many performers doing as much of lately.
Per usual, several champagne bottles were opened, passed around, and enjoyed by quite a few of the crowd. It's one of their trademarks and it always amazes me to see people who don't know that it's coming. To round out the night, during the song "Make Dat Monet" several wads of one dollar bills were randomly tossed in to the crowd which just got us all even more excited. It's signature moves like these that make this act insanely unforgettable.
These men come to entertain, which they do a hell of a job at, make people believers of Aristocrunk, and most importantly they crusade to save hip hop. I have never left one of their shows disappointed and hopefully never will. Keep your eyes and ears open for these kind gentlemen because they have played Memphis in May, Bonnaroo, and are headed to this year's SXSW festival. I expect great things to come their way in the near future, and can only hope they will continue their crusade to make hip hop a viable genre again.
--L
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