Holding it down at the Roseland Theater was Cool Nutz, one of Portland's oldest and best-known rappers. He's got harder lyrics than, say, Lifesavas, who tend toward a more conscious sound. Cool Nutz can and will drop f-bombs, and you can't play all of his albums to grandma (well, not my grandma, at least). But he's a relentless supporter of the Portland scene, of the notion that real hip-hop can come out of this city. Hip-hop in PDX owes him a debt all the work he's put in over the years.
He's also a businessman, maybe more so than any other hip-hop artist in town. He made plenty of mention of his previous album, "King Cool Nutz," and his forthcoming album, "Young Obama." Let's guess low self-esteem is not a problem for him.
Maniac Lok joined Cool Nutz onstage Thursday at the Roseland Theater.
The Cool Kids lived up to their named -- helped, no doubt, by the fans' utter adoration. Seriously, I was afraid a few people were going to have strokes. The duo haven't been around long -- they only met in 2005 -- but they've already gotten lots of blogosphere and press love. Sometimes that's a problem for bands, who aren't yet mature enough to handle the pressure live. Happily, that's not the case with the Cool Kids, who showed tons of energy and playfulness.
The Cool Kids were met by an adoring crowd.
The Cool Kids played the Roseland Theater Thursday night as part of Musicfest NW.
Before Del the Funky Homosapien came out, one surprise: an unscheduled, unexpected set from Bukue One. It was a short set, and one laced with humor. Bukue's penchant for rapping/talking between sets in rhyme reminded me of KRS-One, who does the same thing. Bukue showed plenty of humor, and obviously gets the warm-up role, since he connected quickly with the crowd and got them chanting along with him with what seemed like ease.
Del the Funky Homo Sapien didn't have the warmest stage manner ever.
Del the Funky Homosapien felt interesting to me, but it took me awhile to put my finger on why. Then I realized how much distance, figuratively and literally, he was keeping between the audience and himself. He's a beautifully dextrous rapper, fitting his flows to his beats almost seamlessly. But he didn't approach the edge of the stage much, kept mostly to the back, didn't take off his shades after quite awhile in... I think he could have connected much more strongly with the audience. Del is, perhaps, used to playing roles (he's the rapper for cartoon band Gorillza), but it's nice to see what's beyond that costume, as well.
-- Luciana Lopez; [email protected]
He's also a businessman, maybe more so than any other hip-hop artist in town. He made plenty of mention of his previous album, "King Cool Nutz," and his forthcoming album, "Young Obama." Let's guess low self-esteem is not a problem for him.
Maniac Lok joined Cool Nutz onstage Thursday at the Roseland Theater.
The Cool Kids lived up to their named -- helped, no doubt, by the fans' utter adoration. Seriously, I was afraid a few people were going to have strokes. The duo haven't been around long -- they only met in 2005 -- but they've already gotten lots of blogosphere and press love. Sometimes that's a problem for bands, who aren't yet mature enough to handle the pressure live. Happily, that's not the case with the Cool Kids, who showed tons of energy and playfulness.
The Cool Kids were met by an adoring crowd.
The Cool Kids played the Roseland Theater Thursday night as part of Musicfest NW.
Before Del the Funky Homosapien came out, one surprise: an unscheduled, unexpected set from Bukue One. It was a short set, and one laced with humor. Bukue's penchant for rapping/talking between sets in rhyme reminded me of KRS-One, who does the same thing. Bukue showed plenty of humor, and obviously gets the warm-up role, since he connected quickly with the crowd and got them chanting along with him with what seemed like ease.
Del the Funky Homo Sapien didn't have the warmest stage manner ever.
Del the Funky Homosapien felt interesting to me, but it took me awhile to put my finger on why. Then I realized how much distance, figuratively and literally, he was keeping between the audience and himself. He's a beautifully dextrous rapper, fitting his flows to his beats almost seamlessly. But he didn't approach the edge of the stage much, kept mostly to the back, didn't take off his shades after quite awhile in... I think he could have connected much more strongly with the audience. Del is, perhaps, used to playing roles (he's the rapper for cartoon band Gorillza), but it's nice to see what's beyond that costume, as well.
-- Luciana Lopez; [email protected]
