It's not every concert, where you pull up to the building and a crisply bow-tied valet offers to park your car. [Text by Christopher, photos by Andrew.]
But it was the Straz Center, one part concert hall, one part opera and theater house with well-coiffed bartenders, plush red seats — and no stale beer sticking to the soles of your shoes. In sum, it's a classy joint. And there couldn't have been a more perfect venue for what has to be the classiest tour in hip hop.
Mos Def and Talib Kweli took the stage as Black Star this past Sunday night and delivered an air-tight, no-nonsense show nothing like those the Straz is used to hosting. But in terms of musical integrity, Black Star was determined to be the hip hop equivalent. One thing rappers love to do is talk between songs, but Mos and Kweli might not have said a total of 50 words the whole night. Instead, they let their music take the starring role.
The reunited duo stepped out dressed like the mature men they've become in the years since their cult classic Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star dropped 14 years ago. Kweli rocked a fedora, suspenders and gray slacks, and Mos a crisp white button-down under a blue blazer, a red pocket square and white loafers. No fitted caps. No sneakers.
They stayed with the signature style of the Rock The Bells festival that spawned their current tour, and performed their only album in its entirety, managing to make it sound surprisingly relevant. Holding vintage-style mics that looked more like something Nat King Cole or Sinatra would have crooned into, they tore through recognizable tracks like "Definition" and "Respiration" as well as deeper cuts.
They only broke the album's sequence twice. Once to play a piece of "We Almost Lost Detroit" in a short tribute to the late singer Gil Scott-Heron. And later, to deliver an a capella ode in defense of executed Georgia inmate Troy Davis.
About Davis, Mos Def sang "Obama, if you find time can you call Troy Davis momma?" Kweli rapped in response, "Most upsetting is a man's life hanging in the balance and they balancing the budget."
They took a quick break after finishing the album, and came back out for a nice encore that included some of their later singles as Black Star like "Supreme, Supreme" as well as solo joints like "Get By" and "Umi Says."
But the best visual of the night had to be the bizarre finale: Mos Def spinning, jumping and playing a mean air-guitar during a dance that ranged from a full-on James Brown spaz attack, to slow reggae skanking as the DJ played the entire length of Tony Williams' instrumental "Wildlife". Kweli stood at the back of the stage recording the spectacle on his cell phone. It was a bold choice to end on, but Mos was feeling it so much, it was hard not to feel it with him.
Local female rap artist Dynasty opened up the show, and had the crowd feeling her DJ Premiere produced track "Epic Dynasty."
Random detail: I wonder if that was the first time weed smoke wafted through the Straz?
Venue: Great. It's hard to describe how a drink holder within arm's reach really changes a concert experience.
Crowd: An extremely diverse group of kids in t-shirts, and dressed-up grown folks who were almost old enough to be their parents.
Overheard in the crowd: (at 10 p.m. when Black Star still hadn't gone on) "It's Sunday night! We got work!"
Setlist
Astronomy
Definition
RE: DEFinition
Children's Story
Brown Skin Lady
B Boys Will B Boys
K.O.S.
Hater Players
Yo Yeah
Respiration
Thieves in the Night
Twice Inna Lifetime
ENCORE
Supreme, Supreme
History
Twilight Speedball
Never Been In Love
Pretty Dancer
Move Something
Get By
Umi Says
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2011.
