The Constorium of Greater Minds

Last night the Stones Throw 2K Sports tour came through DC, stopping at the infamous Blackcat nightclub.

Despite its infamy, it’s not the usual hip hop venue. It most often plays host to up and coming or underground indie and punk rock bands. Nevertheless, I’ve seen plenty of shows there and I’m always happy with the intimacy of the place. The main stage, where last night’s show was held, is small enough with a high enough stage to make no view a bad one. Two bars flank the standing-room-only audience section ensuring a quick trip to the bar without missing any of the action.

The Bounce Tour brought label founder and president Peanut Butter Wolf and his stable of MCs, producers, and DJs together for a night of beats and rhymes. The night started with a no-name DJ, who may or may not have been part of Stones Throw, playing “name that song” with the audience. He was helping the audience “know about hip hop” because, apparently, we thought “we knew about hip hop” but “didn’t really know about hip hop”. Frankly, I’m tired of shit like this. This is what hip hop has become and I hate it. Just because some cat found some common $20 record with a well-known sample on it doesn’t mean he knows about hip hop or “digs in the crates”. What happened to being humble and doing it for the love. But I digress.

The show officially started with Medaphor taking the stage, followed by Guilty Simpson, Percee P, and finally Madlib. Peanut Butter Wolf, in his characteristic behind-the-scenes style stayed mostly off in the wings, emerging only to make a few plugs for upcoming releases. I gotta say, in my opinion, Stones Throw’s music has never really struck me as live club music. I’ve always seen it as better suited to headphones or a quiet room. The audience seemed largely to agree with me. Despite a few hands-in-the-air moments, the crowd was relatively staid and subdued. The intricacies of the beats got lost over the PA system, leaving them stripped to droning bass. Punchlines became muddled and incomprehensible helping to tamp down any energy the MCs may have temporarily created. But since most of the Stones Throw catalog doesn’t feature catchy lyrics, pop melodies, or infectious hooks the more live moments were only fleeting. One of the highlights of the night came when Guilty Simpson joined Percee P for a rendition of “Watch Yo Step”.

It didn’t seem like most people were up on the label’s current music either. Honestly, neither am I. Besides Guilty Simpson, whose stuff I’ve heard on the Stones Throw podcast and who put on the best show of the night, I don’t really follow Percee P, Medaphor or the vast and somtimes confusing array of Madlib’s aliases. The crowd seemed to get more into Madlib’s set, though, when he did some of his older Quasimoto and Lootpack stuff. But then again that’s the material with the most crossover appeal to the quasi-backpack hip-hop stoner-indie kids, who made up most of the crowd.

Which brings me to what I think is the key take-home point from last night. I don’t think I really like the direction Stones Throw has been going these days. Like I mentioned, I think Guilty Simpson is a good pickup for the label with his more thug-style raps and distinctive voice and rhyme delivery. I think he has great potential for growth and with practice he’ll be putting on great live shows. Guilty aside, it seems like untimely death of Detroit super-producer and MC J Dilla, aka Jaydee, has been both a blessing and a curse for Stones Throw.

On the one hand, it’s really given the label a lot of notoriety and drawn in fans who otherwise never would have heard of Stones Throw (although this has lead to a mainstream commercialization of both J Dilla and Stones Throw). But nearly three years after his death, he still carries the label singlehandedly. All the Stones Throw MCs are putting out new verses over old Jaydee beats. There have also been a steady stream of J Dilla re-releases, remixes, reissues, and box sets coming off the presses over the last few years. Trust me, you’ll be hard pressed to find a bigger fan of the man’s music. He did great things not for just hip hop, but music period; he was a true innovator and musician. But Stones Throw needs to move on. It seems like they’re not looking forward. They need to be building off of the foundation J Dilla laid for them, not just recycling the same old formula. Until I feel like Stones Throw has been able to do this, you can count me among the casual followers rather than a hardcore fan.

Overall show rating: 2.5/5