For the second straight year Guerilla Union and Murs
put on the Paid Dues Festival in southern California. This years show
took place at the Orange Pavilion in San Bernadino, the location where last
years show was supposed to place before a last minute cancellation. The ten
hour show began at 2pm and ran until midnight, fueled by a who’s who line up of
indie rappers, dozens of vendors hustling, and $7 beers.
The billing of this years show somehow trumped last years event (as Guerilla
Union always manages to do, if you’ve been to their Rock The Bells
Festivals), check the line up; Def Jux’s Hanger 18, Los Navitos,
Pigeon John, Evidence with Alchemist, Visionaries, Zion I
& Grouch, Cage, Devin The Dude, Jean Grae, Brother Ali, Blackalicious, Sage
Francis, and Slug & Murs as Felt.
Hanger 18 kicked off the show just after 2 pm and by the
time they and Los Navitos had run through their sets people
were still just showing up. The first wave of people who showed up were swarmed
hard by Brother Ali’s street team, the cats with stereos in
their backpacks and big ass signs promoting The Undisputed Truth were
also handing out black promo t-shirts that had “The Truth Is Coming”
in bit bold white letters on the entire front. Seeing hundreds of people coming
in with these t shirts on was a really ill sight.
Things had picked up a bit when Pigeon John took the stage,
who was just happy to be there,”being a part of the indie and
underground rap scene, it’s a great time to be a part of it. I think everyone
is still kind of growing. We have a freedom to do what we want artistically,
but we’re all learning how to make a living off of it, too.“
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Evidence was up next and ready to put it on the line with
all new material from his latest offering The Weatherman. Before Ev
could begin though, he had to show some love to the man who provided the
backdrops for his album. None other than the Alchemist popped
up and snatched a mic to deliver some potent rhymes from a few of his own
ventures including the smash Hold You Down. As Ev
kicked it into high gear for the slowly packing venue, he showcased Mr.
Slow Flow and numerous other treats for fans. He did bring it back to Dilated
moments with This Way but when all was said and done, Evidence
made a name for himself as a solo act with a high energy set.
The one act whom I hadn’t seen and was looking forward to taking in was Devin
The Dude, and he did not disappoint. If you know his music then you
should know his set isn’t a live, energetic one. But that isn’t to say The
Dude’s charisma and charm isn’t every bit as evident on stage as it is
on record. When Devin got to his new hit What A Job
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one naively hoping Andre 3000 and Snoop
were gonna hit the stage. The Bay’s Zion I hit the
stage with Living Legends’ The Grouch, with
whom they recently released an album (Heroes In the City of Dope) and
they rocked a nice show to keep things moving as the venue got busier.
As the show crept into the early evening the crowd started to wear a bit, Cage
and The Visionaries crew put on good sets but the crowd
struggled at times to stay into it. The same went for Mr. Lif’s
set, who ended up being very disappointed in his set. Lif is
typically one of the most energetic and engaging performers around and his show
was enjoyable on my end, especially when he rocked the crowd favorite Washitup!
He ended his set with a dedication to an old friend “who was in the crowd’ with
For You off his latest album Mo’ Mega. Nevertheless, Lif
expressed his disappointment in his performance and his inability to really
connect wit h the crowd. Crazy talk! Keep your head up Lif!
Jean Grae would be the only female rocking the mic tonight
and the “backpackers wet dream” set it off with quite an interesting set.
Backstage, Jean had mentioned that her burner was totally messed up and had to
rock her show with her iPod. That and mentioning that her and Mr. Len
hadn’t worked together on stage sounded like it could have been a problem. But Jean
didn’t give a shit and let it rip with some new material and older joints for
the crowd to enjoy. Even delivering some bootleg classic joints from the
as-yet-released 9th Wonder collabo. While the crowd
may have been showing wear and tear, Jean got their asses in
gear with some crowd participation. Too bad she didn’t have a longer set.
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If the crowd was getting fatigued (it was about 8:30 by this time), there
was one man to bring them back to life, and Brother Ali did
just that. The imposing emcee commands attention on stage whether you like it
or not. Ali rocked the spot with some new material such as his
new single Truth Is and some old favorites like Star Quality
and Forest Whitaker. The truth is definitely here. Ali
definitely proved to be the energy boost the crowd needed for the home stretch.
Blackalicious blew the roof off and Gift of Gab left
every jaw on the floor with his mind blowing dexterity on the mic. Sage
Francis’ set was very different but just as entertaining. Sage
performed some new songs off his upcoming LP Human The Death Dance and
some older crowd favorites such as Sea Lion. That really took a
backseat to Sage’s breakdancing and the Super Dave
impersonator.
The house was absolutely packed for the headliners and Slug
and Murs, with Ant on the 1’s and 2’s, did
not disappoint. No one was outside getting food or checking out the merch
booths, no one was laying on the floor. The headliners ran through most of
their sophomore album and one of the highlights came when they stopped during Early
Morning Tony (or was it Morris Day?) to talk about Murs’
lyrics and realize he spells out L-P…and out came DJX head honcho El-P
to rip his new single Smithereens. It only got better though, Ant
threw on Company Flow classic Vital Nerve and Mr.
Len hit the stage as two thirds of the groundbreaking trio performed
together. After closing things out Slug left the stage and Murs
addressed the crowd, telling them how much he appreciated the support for the
show he helped put together and his career in general. He then explained all
the “Murs For President” banners that were up, telling everyone it was
his campaign for his upcoming major label debut on Warner Bros. It was a great
speech that really seemed to hit everyone, to cap it off Murs
rocked the spot once more with a unbelievable rendition L.A.
At that point I left the stage from where I had watched the final set and
waded through a great sea of garbage that was once a concrete floor, several
security guards were struggling to make it to the door with the waves of water
bottles crashing down on them. I feel really bad for whoever was cleaning that
place up. But I digress, the show was an unbelievable success with great
performances, no violence, and an unbelievable vibe through and through. The Guerilla
Union crew can’t get enough credit for pulling it off. Until we Rock
The Bells…
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For a visual taste of the show check out HipHopDX’s Parties & Pix section. Click here.
