Too Poor For Rap

On Rakim and peing too poor for rap...

So last Night I went to see Rakim and to be honest, $30 a ticket and he played for 45 minutes. I remember Chuck D having something to say about this when they performed here in Denver... Seriously, What the fuck... I would have forgiven if he had a lack of material, rookie or something, but the guy is a fucking legend and he pulls some shit like this... With Kid Capri as his DJ, shit he could have done a set all by himself, But nope... Brother Ali was good, but had this intro that was kind of a nod to his favorite MCs and it was way too long as his intro... As far as concerts go, This gets a D... I do not know who to blame about ticket prices, I remember bitching about them here before and getting called out because allegedly the artist has no control of what the club charges, but Seriously, I remember Fugazi never charged more than $7 for a performance... $30 for a club whose remedy for bad sound is to turn it up really loud (resulting in FUCKING LOUD SHITTY SOUND) a show that started 2 hours later than the ticket said, Rakim playing a 45 Minute set, You couldn't go sit down unless you bought a bottle of over-priced hard alcohol, so you were forced to stand for 2.5 hours before the OPENERS took the stage... Fuck that... And A Tribe Called Quest's reunion tour is $35 with an $8 service charge... Mabye I am too poor for rap, but this shit is fucking ridiculous... And after being ditched 2 times by Mos Def (He cancelled his Denver show to do another concert in NY for Dave Chapelle, and on the Breed Love tour he got sick and it was the 9th show into a tour) Seriously... Rap needs a Lollapalooza type show to knock some sense into this... I remember going to the first and third Lollapalooza tours for a combined total of $40 ans seeing the likes of: Ice-T/Body Count Jane's Addiction Arrested Development Mutabaruka Tool Rage Against The Machine Alice In Chains Primus Nine Inch Nails Henry Rollins Living Colour Violent Femmes Fishbone and a metric fuckload of bands. For about the price of a single ticket to Tribe. Meh, Mabye I am just too old and too poor for rap.
To Quote Omar:
it's official: i've become too po' for rap. i can't afford to go to see a good hip hop show without breaking the bank. what ever happened to $5-$10 shows? what happened to free? I'm pisssed. Mos def won't perform in denver...it's the second time he cancelled his denver apperance in a year...and i was planning to see tribe called quest next month cuz i've never seen them perform ever...and it costs close to $40.so i said fuckit and went to Lodo to see some slam poetry.For a whopping $10 i got to hear some overweight poets complain about how they're oppressed and can't get no satisfaction. following this reasonning....someone owes me close to $1.2 billion....and a sandwich. I'm done with Rap music; it SUCKS!
In the middle of this Alkie poet-chick's rant, i realize 2 things: the U.S flag is nothing but a marketing tool and everything in this society is pre-pakaged: entertainment is prepackaged,anger is pre-packaged, the revolution is pre-packaged, and so are our feelings and emotions.
After 9-11 people went on calling the FDNY and NYPD heroes. sure they did what they were supposed to do but i can't help to ask: Does the NYPD no longer shoot innocent people 41 times, especially when they're black or brown? If there's a fire in the PJ's does the FDNY no longer take their sweetasss time to extinguish the fire off the back of ghettos dwellers before they turn to bacon? i'm sick and tired of being sold pre-packaged ideas and emotions.and i'm sick of people passing off pre-packaged knowledge as intelligence.
"Give us Free"- Cinque