By Kelsey McArdle "It's bigger than hip-hop."
Bloomington was shot in the arm with a potent dose of politics on Wednesday night as Dead Prez overtook the Buskirk-Chumley Theater with Indianapolis' own Mudkids as the opening act.
Let me tell you this--it was mind-altering. Photos by Ryan Dorgan.
I arrived to the theater, bumping beats already emanating from the sound system. DJ Topspeed was manning the decks as the floor of the theater quickly filled up. Mixing live, Topspeed threw in samples from a mix of artists like Beastie Boys, James Brown and De La Soul and got a few people dancing before the show started.
Just after 8:30, as an eclectic mix of people filed through the doors, Mudkids took the stage, made up of DJ Elp-Mass and emcee Rusty Redenbacher. Despite the size of the stage and the venue, Rusty's energy immediately filled the room and grabbed the attention of everyone in sight. Throwing out rhymes like "I'm the Beatles, you're the Herman's Hermits" was enough to get me all hot and bothered, and the rest of the crowd seemed to feel the same way, as many people from the balcony joined the dancing crowd by the front of the stage.
Name-checking artists like John Lennon and Buddy Holly throughout the set, Rusty's rhymes were pop culture gold-mines and catchy as hell. Including songs in their set like "Ghost Before You Know It" (live video shot by an audience member can be seen here) , "Shade I'm Fly," "32 Until" and new song "Swim" off of their upcoming EP We Are Dynamic and We Love You, Mudkids had the crowd entranced.
As their set came to an end, the crowd was visibly ready to keep the energy going. Fellow Live Buzzer Alexa Altman loved watching emcee Rusty on stage.
"He had great lyrics and rhythm," Alexa said. "I thought he really hyped up the crowd!"
Also excited for Dead Prez, Alexa said she anticipated hearing songs from their 2000 album Let's Get Free like "It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop," "Police State" and "Psychology."
As 10:00 rolled around, DJ Mike Flo walked behind the decks, exclaiming to the crowd, "I thought y'all were here to see Dead Prez!" As the crowd screamed, DP emcees Stic.man and M-1 strolled onstage, Stic.man's seven-year-old son in tow (side note: pretty much the most adorable kid I've ever seen). Right away, they ripped into "Turn Off the Radio," followed by "We Need a Revolution," the bass absolutely bumping and shaking my entire body (but you'll have that when you sit right next to the 'woofers).
They continued with the set, the Bloomington crowd getting more and more wrapped up in the performance after M-1 told the crowd that, like 2 Pac, he wanted to "separate the riders from the punks." After a performance of their new single "Politrikkks" off of their upcoming album Information Age, he declared, "I think we got way more riders in here than we got punks."
Blasting through their set, the duo declared that Bloomington "harbored the O.G.s" and ripped into Let's Get Free's "I'm an African." Soon after, the politically-minded emcees began to "educate" the crowd on education reform, the Obama administration and the recent stimulus package, eliciting both cheers and a few boos from the balcony.
To lighten the mood, they launched into their health conscious rap, "Be Healthy," asking the vegetarians of the crowd to "represent" (consequently, I did--I had never had the chance to rep my meat-free-ness before).
One of the highlights of the night came a few songs later, as the opening notes of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" bumped through the speakers , DP reworking it with their own set of lyrics. Followed shortly after by a "song for the ladies," the duo got the crowd swaying with "Mind Sex" before launching into the greatest (and most anticipated) moment of the night.
DJ Mike Flo got the crowd hyped as soon as the buzzing beats of the group's most popular song, "It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop," (watch a live video of it here!) came through the speakers. With people rapping along and bodies moving on the floor, it was the pinnacle of the night's show.
Coming to a close, DP cooled down the crowd with an epic sing-a-long to Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," of which I am a majorly huge fan (I kind of nerded out, but it's okay).
The group left the stage to wild cheers, with Stic.man coming out soon afterward to meet and greet the crowd. I shook his hand and left feeling satisfied. Like I said earlier, it was a mind-altering experience. If you ever get the chance to see them, don't pass it up--you'll regret it if you do.
Here some more shots courtesy David Ray:
