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Volume CXXXII, Number 16 |
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Making the most of Mos Def
ERIC GOLDWYN & NICK HIEBERT
CONTRIBUTORS
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| Mos Def took the stage in Morrell Gym last Saturday to a mixed crowd of Bowdoin students, local fans, and other college students. His set was comprised of hip hop, reggae, and rock. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
Eagerly awaiting the rescheduled Mos Def appearance, throngs packed into Morrell Gymnasium on Saturday, February 15 to hear a straight hip hop show. Which it wasn't. Instead, five other musicians joined Mos-the band, Black Jack Johnson. Starting off the show with an old school hip hop favorite by Black Sheep, Mos eased the crowd into the material he came to present: fusion in its purest sense, a healthy smattering of rock, reggae, blues, R&B, and rap.
The evening of music began a bit late. Bowdoin's lyrical club Poeting started the show, followed by Bates' own Versatyle. Little Egypt took the state at 10:15 p.m. after the crowd was ready and eager. Some complained of Mos' late start. He didn't come on stage until well after 11:00 p.m. Though many students spent the extra time in Jack Magee's pub, many were angered by the slow pace of the show's opening. "I thought it was unprofessional to make such big crowds wait outside for over an hour," said Greg T. Spielberg '03. "Even so, I still enjoyed the show a lot."
Although the crowd had braved the sub-zero elements in order to hear a rip-roaring rap performance, Mos Def artfully energized a somewhat confused audience (surely, due in no small part to his percussive genius with the cowbell) with his silky smooth voice and high-energy flow. A handful of songs from his solo album, Black on Both Sides, breathed life into an at times demure audience and punctuated the accomplished play of Will Calhoun, Doug Wimbish, and Dr. Know-all institutions in their own right. Highlighted by the extended, extended, extended version of "Miss Fat Booty"-pulling from each genre that influenced the song's original recording-the band also performed, "Rock n' Roll" and closed with the now famous-thanks-to-Michael-Jordan-commercials, "Umi Says" accompanied by the Napster favorite "Travelin' Man" as an outro-both from his 1999 solo debut gold selling album.
By the time the concert ended at 1:00 a.m.-after roughly thirteen songs (some epic in proportion to others)-concert-goers left with mixed emotions about Black Jack Johnson's lesson in musicality. Some purists hoped that Mos would stay close to his hip hop roots and perform tracks solely from his solo album and his highly acclaimed work with Talib Kweli (the duo is known as Black Star). But music-listeners enjoyed the performance for its eclectic skill, inclusive offerings, and Mos' wardrobe (you had to love the wife beater, dungarees, suspenders, and sweet-ass trucker hat).
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