Wake Up Show Freestyle Battle on Saturday August 30, 2003 in L.A.

Featuring 16-emcee battle, preformances by Gangstarr, Crooked I, Planet Asia, 4th Ave Jones and others.


The show took place at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theatre in Hollywood, off of Hollywood Blvd. We parked and right next to us, pulled up Yukmouth. We said what's up, and he went inside. It started at about 7, but me and my boy got there at 8. Had to wait an hour to get in. All we missed was just a bunch of B-Boy battles, no preformances or anything. The place was pretty much packed, the floor and balcony were full. At a little past 9pm, Sway And Tech came out, and brought some B-Boys with them. They(B-Boys) did some breaking and poplocking, then Sway got on the mic. He let everyone know that MTV was recording the show, and it was going to be aired. Then, he dropped a shocker, The Wake Up Show is now going to be televised on MTV, starting in November. The crowd was pretty happy about that.

After a little intermission, Producer Rick Rock and his group The Federation came out. They had so many people on stage, but it was real live. I spoke with Rick Rock after the set, he told me the album is coming soon, and he said E-40's album is dropping September 9th, almost for sure. He produced a lot of tracks on it. As they were clearing the stage, Sway and Tech came out, and they were bumping Sly Boogy's "California Remix." They brought out Crooked I and he did his verse from it. A guy by the name of Note came on stage and they had him beatbox for Crooked I. Crooked I dropped 2 verses over his beatboxing, and then an acapella freestyle. Everyone was feeling him. He said "I'm on Deathrow, but I'm still Hip Hop" which got the a good response. First time seeing Crook live, and I was impressed. No hype man, just him alone, good little set. Next preformance was L.A. Underground legend, Defari. He started off with his verse from Dre's "L.A. Niggaz." He brought out Phil Da Agony and they did some stuff together. Defari did "Bionic" and closed with "Spell My Name." About a 10 minute or so set, pretty good. Great crowd control.

The next preformers were none other than Diggty Das Efx!!!!! They did "Mic Checka" "Real Hip Hop" and mixed in a 50 Cent beat and busted over that. Das Efx announced they had an album coming out on September 26th, and they did some new tracks. The tracks were OK. I'll still check the album, since it's Das Efx. We went from the sewers of NY, to valley of Central Cali. Planet Asia came out and did a quick, high energy set. Preformed songs like "Military Minded" and a few new songs. Real good preformance, too. At the end of the set, Sway and Tech called for some female emcees to come up. Two came up, and they battled. Both were pretty wack. After that awful showing of emceeing, we were treated to a set from Black Sheep! Really, their show wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but it was still good. They did some new tracks. Their new album, A.W.M. should be in stores in 04. The tracks weren't that great. To close Black Sheep did "Choice Is Yours" which kept the crowd hype as fuck.

The set of the night was up next. 4th Ave Jones', which is Ahmad's(of "Back In The Day" fame) Hip Hop band. He and a female emcee, with a back up singer, violinist, guitarists, DJ and drummer, make up the group. They call what they make, Hip Hop Rock Soul, and personally, I love the sound. Very high energy, Ahmad still sounds very good on the mic. He let it be known that he's against the war and all that and busted a quick acapella. One of their guitarists was ripping solos like crazy, as they were playing. To close the set, Ahmad asked his band to take him to Seattle. They began strumming the strings to Nirvana's classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and went right into their cover. The entire place was jumping for this, probably the most hyped point of the night. So much energy was put out by the band. They're easily one of the best live preformers I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty. As 4th Ave Jones' were leaving, Sway and Tech called out som B-Boys, they talked the band into staying on stage, and playing some break beats for them. They agreed. This was an amazing display of straight up B-Boying. Hip Hop at it's finest. The 2 crews were battling crazy. Out doing each other everytime. The band did all kind of beats, and sometimes Ahmad would rap the words, as the B-Boys battled. Very tight part of the show.

Def Jux was next. Started off as just C Rayz Walz doing his set alone, which I must say was very wack. I literally fell asleep. El-P came out and the crowd got into a little more, but not much. Very disapointed in their show.

Once they left the stage, a moment of silence was taking for Jam Master Jay(R.I.P.). Finally, the group everyone was waiting for, Gangstarr!!!! Premo came out first to get the crowd hype. He brought out Guru and they did a bunch of their hits, from "Step In The Arena" to "Mass Appeal" to "Rite Where You Stand." Premo and Guru knew how to control a show with ease. Guru was busting short acapellas frees inbetween songs, which were tight. Gangstarr then did a melody of songs. Premo said, "if I play it, it's real." He threw on Biz Markie's massive hit "Just A Friend" and had the whole crowd singing it. Played "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" from OBD, and of course "Nuttin' But A G'Thang" from Dre and Snoop. The crowd was very into this. Preem announced again that he plays nothing but the real. He let us know, though, that this next song he thought was real, and if you didn't like, too bad. "Poison" by Bel Biv Devoe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the old school heads were digging that. Made their show that much better. They brought out W.C., and he did parts of "The Streets," gave props to Gangstarr, and let everyone know, they've been down with each other since the early 90's. They did a Big L(R.I.P.) tribute, and after that I forget what they closed with, because it was already about 1:30am by the time they finished. But, they had a great set. I've seen them live before, but this time around it was much better. A smaller setting, more controlled crowd.

These three asian-teenage-deejays from the Bay Area came out. They did a dope set. They're going on to the World Championships, but I couldn't catch their name. As they finished, the battle was ready to start. I must say, I was very disapointed in the battle. I can't even remember half the cats that were in it, because they were pretty much all wack. Mr. F.A.B. from the Bay Area was there, but he lost in the first round to Kid Official. F.A.B. got cheated, because Official was spitting writtens. F.A.B. was finishing his sentences for him. But, the judges went with Kid Official. Official then, himself, got cheated out of a clear win, against some cat named C-4. Official got on him, but the judges went with the other cat. C-4 ended up losing to some kinda wack cat named Poseidon, from the 909 area. One cat who stood out was Dotted Line. His style was very unorthodox, but he crushed all his opponents. It was like he was just rhythm pattern talking to the crowd as he battled. He had a lot of funny rhymes, not really punchlines. Dotted Line got to the finals against Poseidon. Dotted Line got him in the first round, but messed up on his second shot. Poseidon ended up winning. The crowd didn't really care. It was a horrible emcee battle. I was under the impression that there was going to be somewhat established cats battling. Only one that had anything going for himself was F.A.B. Overall, great show. Hip Hop was well represented, even with the weak emcee battle.



[size=10]Btw, I wrote this[/size]

thx for the article

 

C-4 was in the battle? was it the same cat from the Blaze Battle 2k? sounded like a pretty dope show, nice to see wakeup show is comin to MTV

Thanx on the 411 homie...
And prop's on the time & effort.

DubCnn doing it again...

Sound'z like fun to me tho
U lucky bastard...lol

"Wake-up show" on M-tv..

OnE
Hatesrats 2oooTre