Busted Rhymes

After the burger and booze at Drift, I fell asleep and didn't make it to Droppin Knowledge monthly hip-hop showcase at the Rivoli until 10:50 p.m. I was there to see Eternia, a Canadian female MC who was now based out of Brooklyn. I thought I had missed the first act, Street Justice, a trio of rappers from Inkster near Detroit. But probably because the early crowd was a bit sparse, they waited until 11:30 before going on. I've been to other hip-hop shows, but this was my first in a club.

Street Justice opened the show with a couple of songs. Though each rapper had his own style, they can all switch it up depending on the song. What stood out for me is that they had ok singing voices. Sometimes they sang a refrain in harmony, with one of them doing a real nice bass. I think they should do more arrangements that take advantage of this, considering how many other rappers need to rely on auto-tune.

Next up was a baby-faced Double X. He had a more laid-back rap style that was almost old-school. Then came Ron Dias. He also was a old-school rapper. Both performers were ok, but my own preference is for a rap style with more internal rhymes and a faster flow.

The DJ then spent 20 minutes mixing some tracks because apparently the main headliner, Eternia, was nowhere to be found. The crowd got really into it with a bunch of couples grinding. I didn't really enjoy this style of rap which was mostly about thugs, bling, and whores. I don't think Eternia would either since her songs are dismissive of that type of pose.

Finally Eternia came up on stage. Apparently, she was a DJ for a cousin's wedding and things ran over. With her curly hair cropped short and large over-sized earrings, she looked more like a suburban housewife than a rapper. But she showed her skills the minute she opened her mouth. She went hard right away and for the whole night, spitting out lines fast and furious. She was all over the stage, ran down on the floor, even stepped onto some precarious bar tables at the front. Her stage presence was much more powerful compared to the previous acts. Her sister, Jessica Kaya, even joined in for one song. Eternia put on quite a performance.

Sadly, I also experienced another concert first: somebody threatened to kick my ass. About 2/3rd through Eternia's set, the guy in front and a little to my left turned to me and, shall we say, informed me that if I didn't give him some space, there was going to be trouble. Given that we are all crammed up at the front of the stage, any contact would be incidental and accidental. I was speechless because for the first few moment, I had no idea what he was talking about. My bewildered silence only got him even angrier. Well, I wasn't going to argue with a guy who outweighed me by 70 lbs and stood a full head taller. So I made some vague, reconciliatory hand gesture and gave him whatever extra space I can.

Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the next couple of songs very much. Given that the late set  was approaching 2 a.m. already, and I had an early morning schedule, I skipped out on Eternia's closing numbers and grabbed a taxi home. Ignoring the angry hip-hop fan, I was glad I caught a full set of Eternia instead of the abbreviated version a few months back at Dundas Square.