Maybe I just had my hopes set too high going into last Friday’s Common/Biz Markie show at Warehouse Live. But… I think my complaints are legitimate, so I’ll bitchily air them and let you decide. Both artists are deserved legends of hip-hop, with careers dating back to the mid 80’s (Biz) and early 90’s (Common) and records that not only hold up but stand out as influential and innovative. Biz’s playful lyricism and oft-unorthodox delivery laid the groundwork for the greatness of Ol’ Dirty Bastard and the Notorious B.I.G. “Nobody beats the Biz.” He is one of the most unique artists from the golden era of hip-hop, and I was beyond pumped to see him behind the mic rather than behind turntables as we did last October at Voodoo Fest. Equally legendary was the headliner. For the majority of his career, Common was one of the loudest and truest voices in socially-conscious hip-hop. In recent years, the lyrically-creative portion of his brain interested in social commentary and spirituality has substantially diminished, but I still enjoy his recent output for what it is (well, other than the shit-bortion of him guesting with the Jonas Brothers). So I, and most in attendance with me, were expecting to be nothing less than blown away by the show. What we got instead was two artists coasting on their reputation. Read on for more, as well as Eggs photos and some videos after the jump.

The buildup to the show was a sometimes enjoyable mélange of slam Poetry, generic DJ’ing, and a freestyle from a female MC who I’m 86% sure was MC Lyte. After one of the generic DJs, Biz Markie was finally up. He was a far worse offender than Common in the coasting department. He spent his entire set behind the turntables, spinning a mixture of old-school hip-hop and crowd-pleasers. To the very end of his 45-or-so minute DJ set, I held out the false hope that he was building up to at least a quick run of his own classic songs behind the mic. Eggs saw into the disappointing future though, and I’ve got to rescind my defense of Biz’s DJ set since it didn’t turn out as a precursor to him destroying the mic. This was not advertised as a Biz Markie DJ set, and I guess it establishes a sad precedent: in the future, we all have to assume that a DJ set is the default assumption to make.

Next, we got around 30 minutes from Common. Thirty. Minutes. Now that my anger at the length has subsided somewhat I’ll admit that it was a pretty fantastic 30 minutes, and I must recognize Common as a great live hip-hop act: there was no backing vocal track, his flow was on-point, his energy level was infectious, and he demonstrated that he has legit freestyling and breakdancing skills. We got some choice cuts too, albeit leaning towards his more recent work: “I Make Her Say,” “Universal Mind Control,” “The Corner,” and “The Light,” among very few others. The highlight of the show was an H-town centric freestyle between Common and Biz, captured by an intrepid YouTuber below.

The night concluded with an appropriately unsatisfactory ending: Biz coming back out to sing the chorus, but no verses, of “Just a Friend.” It was almost as if it they were teasing us with a taste of what the night could have contained. I know these guys have earned the right to do whatever the hell they want onstage, and I feel kinda whiny being so critical. But a massive rep doesn’t mean you can get away with the bare minimum (or even less, in Biz Markie’s case); the best hip-hop acts build upon that rep with epic, lengthy live shows (see Carter, Sean), and I’m sad to say that these guys no longer fall into that category for me after Friday’s performance.

-Bacon

---

Common & Biz Markie @ Warehouse Live

---

---

Words by Zach "Bacon" Vernon
Photos by Jim "Eggs" Bricker