2002 kicked off the start of the Smokin Grooves tour in Nor Cal. The show was one of this years biggest hip hop tours, starting out a lil rocky with this first show at Shoreline in Mountain View, CA. The show was bangin’ all the way through to the explosive finale. J5 had quality control on the stage and showed the crowd who’s really golden, The Roots proved there were no clones out there that can funk a joint like they can and then came Outkast, elevating the show and bringing out all the classics including one of my favorite’s “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik”. The three mentioned rocked the show for me, but also shared the stage with Truth Hurts, Cee-Lo, and Lauryn Hill.
This year’s line up started with Cee-Lo, who’d been touring earlier with Musiq and now found himself flowing to 17,000+ fans. We missed his set coming in late during the next crew – Truth Hurts. The only track I know of their’s is Addictive but with out Rakim sharing the stage on this track I found no point to check them out. I went to the bar instead and got prepared for Jurrasic 5, a crew I’ve wanted to check out since 97 when I walked away from some house party with one of their teaser CDs. J5 is true to the form as they “take 4 EMCEES and make them sound like one”. Those being: Marc 7even, Chali 2na, Zaakir and Akil but don’t forget the two DJs: Cut Chemist (also a part of Ozomatli and working with the likes of DJ Shadow and spinning vs. sets with Shortkut at SF’s Future Primitive Sound Session) and DJ Nu-Mark who also saddles up at the FPS sessions. J5 rolled out the classics but I still see them as a crew that would perform better headlining at a smaller venue. Check out “Power In Numbers” to be released on October 8th.
Next Lauryn Hill took the stage with little more than a stool and an acoustic guitar as she played her newer “unplugged” material, which is much more political and personal than the funky fun of The Miseduction of Lauryn Hill. I napped on the lawn for this one and waited for Roots to take up the energy again. The Roots took the stage with little more than a back drop of their new album cover Phrenology but brought the energy up for Outkast. Outkast took the show with a huge stage presence. When the tour first started out, Cypress Hill and Lauryn were headlining and Outkast was the warm up act. Now in over half a decade the tables have swapped as Big Boi and crew take the final props in a hail storm of confetti.
Pics: #1-Jurrasic5 , #2-Roots, #3-Outkast, #4-Finalle, J5 Clip… Until the next….
