Lil Wayne Concert Review: Newark, New Jersey
New York, NY (February 28, 2008) – From Allhiphop.com:
…”The self-proclaimed best rapper alive did it again for fans at the Newark Symphony Hall in Newark, NJ on Sunday night (2/24/08). In town for a court date stemming from a July arrest, Weezy decided he’d make the most of his time here by doing a charitable concert, with proceeds going to the city’s "Stop Shooting" campaign.”
Below is a video of Weezy performing at the show. In the discussion at AHH, some of the kids/white girls who went said his energy was good; and from everything I’ve heard, he does put on an exciting show. However, independent of whether or not I’m a fan, this performance borders more along the lines of Britney Spears than a hip hop show. Son was rarely actually rapping his words (at least in this clip) and seemed to be doing a lot of dancing/odd gyrating around. What hooks me about an emcee is if they can perform without a backing vocal track (I’m a fan of Skillz for life after seeing him shut it down at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival last summer); and maybe in an arena or larger venue like Newark it’s a different story. Either way, Weezy clearly has his own ideas about how a hip hop show should come off live and isn’t taking questions about his methods. And I suppose in that regard, he deserves his props.
However, there still is one problem that I think has to be addressed: dudes pants. I was in NYC on Tuesday when it was raining (and I mean pouring), and I saw some idiot walking around bow-legged to keep his pants up while his boxers got soaked. About five minutes later I saw another dude apparently embracing the same issue, this time actually stopping to adjust his belt so he could show off what appeared to be a flannel set of Joes. From a straight stand-point, it was obscene, but from a practical stand-point, I just didn’t get it. I understand people make, and will continue to make, fashion choices that, in my opinion, are retarded and leave them open for certain questions… but when summer comes, honestly… is swamp ass really going to be a good look? Seriously, what the fuck, people…