Live > Recorded

So in the past week, I've seen some sick shows. Straight up.
Wednesday the 12th I checked out Lupe Fiasco (with openers Hey Champ) at the first sold out full show of Club Nokia. Then Thursday night I was at the private album listening of Akon's new album "Freedom" listening party. Then I was at a club jammin out to Claude Van Stroke. Then an underground Drum-n-Bass club rockin out to D-Style. Then a few days later, luckily got to check out Pac Div/The Cool Kids/Q-Tip at The House of Blues!! Holy crap. I'm very tired after this weekend and need to sleep (ahhhh, work in only a few hours!), so I'm just going to post some tracks for my lovely fans to check out.

Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl [download]
They just signed to FnF (Lupe's label) and are touring with Lup. Cool electro rock from Chi-Town.

Lupe Fiasco - Daydreamin' [download]
This song is from his first major album, but the power and tenacity and raw emotion he delivered this song at the show, plus the speech about Barack and how we all need to always keep moving forward. Inspirational to say the least. He absolutely killed his entire set, controlling the live band with such power & finesse usually seen in a Jay-Z or Aerosmith concert!!

Akon ft. Colby O'Donis & Kardinal Offishall - Beautiful [download]
This has single written all over it. This got some serious feet-tappin' at the listening party. One of my top 4 favorite songs from his new album. He's goin global with this one...as in, club-inspired!! He doesn't care if the US market likes it, he knows the rest of the world is ready for the house music, so the entire world is his playground (or should I say, market).

Claude VonStroke - Who's Afraid of Detroit? [download]
One of the top DJs in the world. My boss is a big fan. Getting to see him live was ill.

D-Style - The Jakes - Swerve [download]
Not my absolute favorite track off their sampler. But the drum-n-bass DJ plus emcee combination was sick. The dude rapping threw it down on beats that must have been like 175 bpm!!

Pacific Division - F.A.T. Boys [download]
I missed most of Pac Div's set because of the huge "industry list" line I got stuck in. Everyone knows someone in LA....it was actually 200% easier for people to get in who just bought regular ass tickets!! Anyways...this song is dope, as well as the video, which gets solid rotation on MTV2.

The Cool Kids - One Two [download]
This isn't necessarily my favorite Cool Kids song, but they absolutely murdered this track live. In the first verse, when Chuck spits "it's the new black version of the Beastie Boys", they went into a sick mashup set with Beastie Boys instrumentals. They really made a statement with their ability to deliver their own lyrics on a beat you wouldn't normally imagine liking anyone else rapping over.

Q-Tip - Gettin' Up [download]
Q-Tip held it down all night. I've always been a big fan, but this show just upped my respect for his abilities. He really is one of the illest MCs. He can rap, he can sing, he can control a crowd, he can dig into a back catalogue of hits, or he can freestyle new lyrics to any beat. I'm still kinda in awe...

What a dope weekend of music. Right!>?