DJ DR x DJ Questlove!! REAL HIP HOP ReLIVED!!

This past Saturday, SolKitchen along with the other affiliate coordinators, did what they normally do and spoiled Charlotte by bringing yet another one of the World's BEST Hip Hop DJs to the QC!!  The evening was perfect... Re:Public was the venue... DJ DR started the Patio Party off right with the ill classics as usual... and in DJ form like I had never seen him before, Questlove put down the drumsticks that he is arguably more famous for, and stepped behind the turntables to take us all back to the ROOTS of Hip Hop!!  In the words of my FRESH!MEN comrade, Eric S. who was also in attendence, Questlove took us on "a musical journey that needs to be witnessed again ASAP!"

The Mighty DJ DR

Questlove, DJ and Drummer of the Legendary Roots Crew

I'm not even a mobile user in the sense of being on Twitter or texting all of time, but when I saw Twitter blowing up with similar posts to how I was feeling, I personally couldn't stop tweeting and texting my friends who weren't there bragging about what I was hearing too!!  At one point I even tweeted: "I haven't gotten that hype to a Kriss Kross record since like 1991!!!! #YAK WOW!!" 

I mean to see a whole dance floor of grown, yet obviously 80's babies literally coming up off their feet, without care of spilling their top shelf glasses and beer bottles, was incredible!!  Observing a mixed crowd of blacks and whites rapping 2Pac lyrics in one moment and then singing the words of Frankie Beverly and Maze's "Before I Let Go" in the next is what we had going on that night at Republic!!  From the beginning, if you were not a REAL Hip Hop fan, you would have quickly realized that you were definitely in the wrong place!! 

Being a DJ, I respect the craft and the art it takes for a DJ to please the crowd all night long... Questlove wasn't really billed as a "performer" but I usually go to see "world renowned" artists with the idea of seeing a "performance" rather than a "party" just so I don't get disappointed.  But unlike some performing DJs with scripted sets that may make them seem to have overexaggerated hype once it's over, Questlove was not that!  With his trademark black fisted afro pick nestled in the headphone-mashed fro, bruh did his thing!  He didn't showcase a spectacle of great technical skills as say a DJ Jazzy Jeff, but he uniquely beat juggled/blended/chopped/cut records LIVE and on cue to precision!  His ability to keep the dance floor rockin while including the ongoing number of original samples that he did is unmatched to any other DJ I've witnessed so far!!  His sample sets were ba-na-nas and once he was in his groove, no matter what Questlove played, we all rocked with him!

2010 footage of Questlove rockin with DJ Jazzy Jeff

At the time I didn't realize how REAL the experience I was having was until it was all over.  In fact, it wasn't until I walked outside and heard a car drive by bumping some of this new "music" we still categorize as "hip hop" - that sounded nothing like what I had just left 3 hours of experiencing - that it all sank in.  So if Hip Hop is dead, I believe at least for a few hours, it was resurrected to show us that it can still be relived...

Some people may feel such a high after smoking weed, or drinking, or having sex, or whatever... but to be honest, when Questlove finished (similar to how I felt the first time I witnessed DJ Jazzy Jeff go in) - again, speaking as a DJ myself - I was speechless!!  Salute the DJs... and Thank God For DJs like YAK!