Thanks to my favorite publication that cultivates creative values that speak through progressive channels of music, style, art, youth culture, media, politics, film, technology, nightlife and innovative thought, URB Magazine

I got 2 VIP passes to saturday’s sold out show to the Rock The Bells concert in NYC!

The lineup included, Pharoahe Monch, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Supernatural, EPMD, The Roots, Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan and
Rage Against the Machine. Too bad that Nas was only doing the west coast leg of the the concert.

Mos Def & Talib Kweli

Hace Color!, It was so hot some people were passing out from the heat!

I was really looking forward to Public Enemy, too bad I couldnt get close enough.

They were in full effect complete with Professor Griff and the S1W’s.
When they did “Bring the Noise” the had Anthrax’s Scott Ian on guitar.
Flava Flav was milking his new found “Flava of Love” audience.

After Public Enemy did there thing he brought his 3 kids out, then asked if he could play the drums solo for awhile.
(He actually isn’t too bad on the drums)

Next up were The Roots, they ALWAYS give a good show.

Please note the TUBA player

Just as they went on I got into a debate with this guy who swore Black Thought was one of the top 5 greatest MC of All Time, and had the nerve to even muster the words “Eminem” in the same sentence.

My thing is why does everyone sleep on CL Smooth???…

DJ A. Vee!!

Me and HarvMoore back in the lounge
Took this short vid of this dude doing the windmill

Next up was Cypress Hill, who rocked it as they did when I saw them with George Clinton a few years ago.
Then there was Wu Tang Clan

It’s very exciting to see them on stage, but the performance doesn’t have as much energy when its just 8 dudes with microphones and no band to back them up.
R.I.P. ODB

Rage Against the Machine

I’m glad they are back together and that Zach de la Rocha clarified a recent controversial position:
He has not called for President George W. Bush to be assassinated.
He wants him “tried as a war criminal and he should be hung and shot.” “The real assassins,” he added, “are Bush and Cheney.”)

After running through our drink tickets, Harv bought :
One hotdog and chicken tenders for a grand total of $15 dollars.
After that I decided to go price out the drinks.

Bottled Water= $3.50 (FREE is you were dying of heat exhaustion)

RockStar Energy Drink=FREE when you walked in, $3.50 when you got thirsty later on.

Bottled Beer= $7.00

As Amy Winehouse would say, “What kind of fuckery is this?”
Come vendors, its not the Metropolitan Opera, its a hiphop concert!

I was also very interested in the technology aspect since Sandisk was a major sponsor.
I heard they were giving away SD cards with exclusive content, etc, but didnt see any booth or anything.

Overall I had a good time, special thanks to Paul and Michael and the rest of the folks at Urb.

Peace