Kool Keith: Dr. Dooom vs. Dr. Octagon Tour
Jake's Nightclub
April 17, 2009
Last Saturday night Jake's Nightclub hosted the infamous, free flowing hip-hop artist Kool Keith. While having an old school hip-hop icon perform in Bloomington was something great to look forward to, in this case the anticipation outweighed the payoff.
A mix of hard-core Kool Keith aficionados and casual hip-hop fans, the audience filled half the room at most. Troy Thompson, a long time fan of Kool Keith, was not particularly impressed with the performance.
Remarking how Keith played shortened versions of many of his tracks, Thompson added, "when Keith allowed himself to get into a lyrical flow he proved that he still has the gift of gab."
In stereotypical performer-ego fashion, Kool Keith was preceded by an assembly line of DJs and hip-hop artists that seemed last forever. Though it was obvious that none of musicians featured in the warm up act was a complete amateur, the wait for the headliner was excessive even for Keith.
Kutmasta Kurt was the prime time of the opening acts. When he hit the stage, the DJ was basically incognito, wearing an outlaw bandana around his face and shades too big for his face. Spinning records, throwing out beats, and occasionally yelling into the mic, Kurt never missed a beat.
After (what seemed like days), Keith finally took to the stage, backed up by Kutmasta Kurt. Keith himself was anonymous, draped in a sequenced hooded scarf and donning giant sunglasses. About a half hour later, over half of the crowd had left the room.
It's not that Keith put on a poor show, but his performance was nothing if not erratic. He played only the choruses to many of his hits concurrently, including "Earth People" and "HalfSharkAlligatorHalfMan," which made for a medley of pointless lyrical hooks. Keith sporadically told his DJ to change the beat, at which point he would spit freestyle lines that were rhythmically ingenious but never really went anywhere. Performing tracks like "Girl Let Me Touch You" and "G-Spot," Kool Keith has always been one to favor humor over substance.
"The medleys drastically hindered his flow," said Thompson.
His sidekick Dan D, who had the perfect backup voice but was there mostly for emotional support, joined Keith. Besides accenting the last syllable of each line, Dan D on several occasions affirmed Kool Keith's greatness: "Give it up for Kool Keith y'all."
For all of his supposed mental illness and on stage antics, Kool Keith was sorely lacking in stage presence. The show was highlighted by some glimmers of solid freestyle but overall lacked the energetic punch of live hip-hop.
-Doug Evans
