Hip Hop a Hippy to the Hippy the Hip Hip Hop and Ya Don't Stop
Friday night, I went to see Q Tip in concert. Two points: a) if you haven’t got his new album, The Renaissance, go get it and b) if you’ve never seen him live, go do it.
It was, quite simply, the best show I’ve ever been to. And I’ve been to some pretty damn good shows.
One thing that never fails to irk me at hip hop shows though, is the insistence upon the crowd to make some noise.
When the first support act came on, that’s apparently, all they wanted us to do. After each song (and occasionally in the middle of a song) they would tell us to ‘make some motherfuckin’ noise’. I’m not sure how one goes about making ‘motherfuckin’ noise’. I’m not entirely sure what would constitute ‘motherfuckin’ noise’ to be honest with you and I’m not sure I want to know. They also requested that we make ‘Goddamn noise’ a few times. Is that different from ‘motherfuckin’ noise’? And if so, how?
Honestly, if I knew what it was, I would try and make it for you. I can do a mean round of applause. Sometimes, if I’m really impressed, I’ll even lift my hands above my head while clapping. I can clap in time to the beat, which, as we all know, is a major accomplishment for a white person. I can do a ‘woo’ every now and then and on occasion, I have been known to bust out a prolonged ‘WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!’ But ‘motherfuckin’ noise’? I’m not sure I can muster that up for you. Would it involve me learning how to do the fingers-in-mouth-whistle? Because that is notoriously hard for a girl.
Anyway, when the next support act, The Cool Kids, came on, they just required us to ‘make some noise’. It didn’t have to be ‘motherfuckin” or ‘Goddamn’ noise, just ‘some’ noise, was sufficient. I appreciated them not putting too many demands on me as a spectator.
When Q Tip came out, he didn’t ask for a thing, he just got on with it. Performed his ass off. And I danced and danced. And about half way into his performance, when the opening bars of ‘Check the Rhime’ played, I officially lost my shit. And I believe at that point, I made a whole lot of ‘motherfuckin” and ‘Goddamn’ noise.
