I Do It For The Culture: Nas Ruined Concerts For Me.

I used to LOVE going to concerts. And this was before I could even go to most of the concerts that I really wanted to go to. I used to scroll through the Hip Hop section of ticketmaster looking for the all-ages shows, seeing what i could possibly attend. Finally, I came across a Nas show. It was part of the 'Hip Hop is Dead' tour, so it had to be a HUGE show. I bought a ticket, went with a couple friends, it was a good time. One of my boys DJ MENSA opened the shows and KILLED it, his set had the crowd going crazy, picking the right balance of bangers and throwbacks. Just crazy. And then Nas, came on with Dj Scratch, and to be honest it was a pretty good time. Nas did a lot of his newer songs, and to the crowds content he also performed every song off Illmatic (except for Halftime, which is pretty much what I was waiting for). Dj Scratch had one of the craziest scratch solos I've ever seen and my head was spinning it was hype etc etc. I had a good time.

Degenerate: But Pablo, how did Nas ruin concerts for you? It sounds like you had a good time?
Pablo: I didn't finish.
Degenerate: Oh word. Keep going then, my apologies.

When I saw that Nas concert, I was like 14-15, and it was one of the first concerts that I had gone to. Plus the fact that I was seeing NAS, the legend Nas, Nasir 'I wear chains that excite the feds' Jones, definitely made the whole experience seem maybe a little more grand than it really was. Anyhow, it was a good show, and I didn't regret it.

Fast forward at least a year or two later, to when Nas is passing through Toronto again. It wasn't for any specific tour, his new album hadn't dropped yet, and he was just passing through basically. Remembering that I had had a good time last time, I decided to buy tickets again, this time with another group of friends. Since the last Nas show I had seen Common live, Kanye West live (who is absolutely CRAZY live) and some other shows that I'm forgetting now. Safe to say I had matured as a concert goer since the last Nas show.

The doors were supposed to open at 8. Obviously they didn't, but rappers run on Hip Hop time so whatever,it was expected. The wait outside wasn't too bad. It was a cool night and I was with my friends. But it was the wait inside that was fucking stupid. Nas draws a big crowd,so once we were inside it got crowded pretty fast. You know how it is,shoulder to shoulder, everybody pushing, if you passed out you'd probably still stay upright. But I knew that was in stock- it had been like that last time. Only on this fateful night, Nas decides to take his sweet fucking time. FAMOUS was the opening act, and even he didn't get on until at least 11-11:30. By the time he was onstage the crowd was so fed up they didn't give him much love (he also made the poor decision to have a costume change, which just pissed everyone off) in spite of a pretty good performance on his part. Toronto definitely stayed true to it's 'SCREWFACE CAPITAL' nickname that night. Finally when Nas gets on, it's like, fucking 12:30 at night, which is just stupid. But whatever, Nas is here now, so no point complaining right? At least it will be a good show now right? WRONG.

This time around, Nas had almost the exact same fucking set as last time, only without a big coffin prop that had been used the last time, and minus maybe about half and hour forty five minutes off the time of the last show. There was nothing new aobut it, except for maybe the switching around of a single or two, and he performed everything exactly the same. I also realized he is just a bad performer. Don't get me wrong, Nas is one of the best rappers of all time, and I don't think there are many rappers who can touch him on a lyrical level, but dude cannot perform for shit. When I saw Kanye West live, he put on a whole long ass show without a hype man and he was going crazy running around jumping everywhere leaving it all on the stage. But with Nas.... Dj Scratch (acting as his hype man) was saying pretty much every other bar for him. Plus Nas in his old age was quite sedantary and was slugging his way around the stage. Not even slugging, he just didn't have the energy I expect from a LEGEND. And then after making everybody wait in the suffocatingly hot Kool House for a million hours, he doesn't even have the courtesy to do a fucking encore. I think it goes without saying that an encore is required. And the whole audience expected it. He finished on kind of a wack note, walked off stage, and everything went dark for a while. The whole crowd was just waiting, yelling ENCORE ENCORE ENCORE expecting it. Then suddenly, up go the house lights, and I swear you could have seen the disappointment in the air after that. There was like 10 minutes of waiting for the encore, and everyone kept thinking he would come back on...then NAH.

After that show, I was done with concerts. It had just been such a terrible experience I was like 'fuck it' and with one exception, I haven't been to any big concerts since.

The one exception being Rock The Bells when it came through Toronto. Obviously I had to buy tickets for that. I got right when doors opened in the morning (or whenever they did) and stayed until the end. I wasn't the type to stay in the crowd the whole time waiting to get up right to the front- I stayed back, enjoyed myself, sat down for a bit, moved into the crowd for the sets I wanted to see up close, and then moved out for food and washroom breaks. Some acts, had much bigger crowds than others. Let me explaing that: Rock the Bells was held in like a coliseum or a huge big convention center or whatever, so even if everyone tried to form a crowd around the stage, there would still be a lot of space around. When Rakim or A Tribe Called Quest were performing, the crowd was HUGE, everyone was super close together enjoying the show. When it was Jay Electronica or The Cool Kids (nothing against them) the crowd was smaller, with more people going to the washroom or sitting back against the walls.

But when Nas was performing, it was a HUGE crowd as well, because Nas after all is a legend. And when that happened, my friend was trying to get me to move up as close as posibble. And you know what I did? I said fuck that. I'm getting pizza. And I did. And then I went to one of the back hallways and relaxed . And I had a much better time than I had had at the Nas show. I could even here him performing everything the exact goddamn same. When Nas performs 'One Mic', everytime Dj Scratch does the extremely annoying thing/hype-up when during the chorus he yells 'ONE FINGA IN THE AIR, ONE FINGA IN THE AIR' over and over again.

Now, I still think Nas is one of the greatest rappers, I just think he is one of the worst performers. But because I feel a little shitty for talking smack about one of my favourite artists, I'm going to post some of my favourite Nas songs.

'I gave you power' is definitely one of the best lyrically constructed songs I've ever heard.

'Halftime'. Might be my favourite joint off of Illmatic, although each track is straight crack.

and finally "Surviving The Times". I didn't come across this track until recently, but it has quickly become one of my favourite songs of all time. Not one of Nas' greatest lyrical performances, but the whole vibe and feel to this song makes it a classic for me. You be the judge.