Look out! He's got a knife!

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Saw this last night at the Festival. I only knew Chappelle from hosting a Talib Kweli mix-tape while doing a Rick James impersonation, but this movie is chock full of performances by my current favourite MCs: Kweli, Mos Def, Common, Kanye West, etc. Awesome RnB/Soul divas Erykah Badu and Jill Scott sang together at one point, which was amazing. The Roots made for a tight back-up band - and were much better for a live concert film than a DJ could ever be.

Dead Prez, who I've heard not too much of, impressed me greatly with their tight flows and right-on politics. The Fugees got back together for the show, but unfortunately they sang Killing Me Softly (a great song that they absolutely butcher - I still hate their version).

Dave Chappelle himself was funny as fuck. The doco bits were great, but I was disappointed that they kept cutting away from the music in the middle of a song. Common seemed to get really short-changed here; he was on stage almost constantly, but almost every time his verse was coming up they cut away.

There was something really special about seeing Kweli do Get By with Mos singing the chorus, Common chanting along, and the Roots providing back-up. Likewise Kanye West grinning from ear to ear while a marching band played Jesus Walks.

What was up with Kweli's voice, by the way? He was all deep and raspy. Maybe he had a cold.

Hopefully the dvd will have heaps more of the music. The movie really captured the excitement of a great live hip-hop show, which seems to be hard to do. Praise to music video genius Michele Gondry, who directed the movie - let's see him do more live stuff, huh?

Posted by pearce at July 27, 2006 11:41 AM