The Roots & Talib Kweli @ FUR, July 13th

I will never go to FUR again. I also don't see myself catching the Roots any time soon, either. Talib Kweli, on the other hand, is a different story all together.

FUR has a dress code. Strike 1, Strike 2 & Strike 3. We adhered, put on our collared shirts and then realized that FUR doesn't enforce the fucking dresscode anyway. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except it was hot as balls outside and a T-shirt would have gone a long way. Not to mention, our visiting professor, Dr. Thomas Beckett, who came down from Brooknam to hang out, doesn't own any shoes or collared shirts and had to jump in a Salvation Army dumpster on his way to the show to meet the aforementioned requirements. Once we got inside we did the right thing and informed people that weren't following the dresscode to remove their "hats," "boots," "t-shirts," and "flip flops" so that we could enjoy a draconic concert going experience.

The Roots came on at around 10:00 and I was a little confused because I was pretty sure that the guy right before The Roots came out wasn't Talib Kweli (Talib was opening and we had yet to see him when The Roots started playing). Then again I was shotgunning plastic dixie cups full of vodka/tonics ($8) upon admittance and most of this may not be all that reliable. From jump street The Roots didn't have the mesmerizing grip on me that they brought out at their 9:30 Club show. This was fine because I was pretty exhausted and the lack of aural magnetism to the show allowed me to fully engage in liver implosion.

About 10 songs in Talib Kweli explodes out on to the stage. Trips to the bar were delegated to Dr. Beckett. Top and I were enthralled. I wasn't surprised. THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE is one of my favorite hip-hop albums of all time and anyone who catches praise for lyricism from the likes of Jay-Z automatically assumes "pipe-hitting muthafucka" status in my book. The only thing I would change was the blinged out, red New York Yankees hat he was rocking. Outside of that he raised the bar and wiped away my painful memories of Wu-Tang Clan's dreadful performance at the 9:30 Club. While hip-hop remains in a state of 9-1-1 in my book, it is good to see someone as charismatic and talented as Talib Kweli bringing mind-blowing performances to live venues.

The Roots followed and ran through hits, medleys, and individual solos, none of which compared to their 9:30 Club performance. Perhaps the fact that there were giant circles running adds for KOOL cigarettes on both sides of the stage set me up for disappointment or somehow clouded my judgment. Kweli managed to rise above the egregious commercialism and I hoped that the second installment of The Roots would, too. In the end I walked away with a distinct vision of Kweli's bombastic delivery and a memory of the guitarist from the Roots walking through the crowd at the 9:30 Club during his solo while I stood in disbelief.

MP3: Talib Kweli ft. John Legend - "Around My Way"
MP3: Talib Kweli - "A Game"
MP3: Talib Kweli ft. Mary J. Blige - "I Try"
MP3: Talib Kweli ft. Common & Anthony Hamilton - "Ghetto Show"