Review by Ace Six | Photography by Will Nguyen

When a young, drunk, hood Common Sense first dropped ‘Can I Borrow a Dollar’ back in 1992, I was the only person in my high school with the CD. I definitely championed his work, despite the naysayers and shit-talkers. So by the time the rest of the world caught up around ‘Like Water For Chocolate’, I was already lamenting the loss of Common’s(still doesn’t feel right saying that instead of Com Sense)fire and intricate wordplay. However, there’s still songs on all of his albums that I love and when I heard “Southside” and “The Game” on the last joint, I was amped. Com Sense was back. Sadly, everything I’ve heard from the FKA ‘Endless Summer’ is on some borderline danceable hipster hop shit. Which, doesn’t really move me from a dude who could easily put out a real rap record and still sell to his new fan base.

I have seen him perform twice. Once in 1995, which was one of the best shows I’ve seen complete with a 5 min long freestyle in which he name-dropped all of Toronto’s ‘hoods and sports teams and had Mista Sinista from the X-ecutioners on the wheels killing it. The second time was probably 1997 or 1998 and Saukrates opened up but came back out to do “Play Dis” with him, plus Com Sense got down and did some floorwork on stage. Crazy.

Let’s switch gears to the opening act, Noone Ever Really Dies. I was into the Neptunes since when they first worked with Noreaga and shortly thereafter, Kelis and ODB. Their quirky, tinny electronic sound totally caught me given the lull that hip-hop was in at that point, and I have ridden with them ever since. When I first caught wind of their offshoot group, N.E.R.D. and that this was in fact, the type of music that they wanted to make, I got on my grizzly to find the record ‘In Search Of’ (it wasn’t out here yet). I was one of the first folks in my circle to have the European release that was produced and all-electronic as opposed to the North American release that they re-recorded with live instruments. I absolutely killed both versions of that album, in fact I’m listening to the Euro one as I write this. Then I scooped an early leak of ‘Fly Or Die’ before it dropped and that album became the soundtrack of about 2-3 months of my life when I was going through some real shit including surgery on my eye socket and leaving the city I was born in to move to Montreal.

However, I have not yet gotten up on the last album and given it a proper listen. I thought the single was clever, but wasn’t in love with the overall vibe. This may be why the mostly ‘Seeing Sounds’ show didn’t really move me, I was expecting to hear more shit from the 2 albums that got me into them in the first place. I had never seen them live, so this was my first look at N.E.R.D. in concert and I definitely was ready to be impressed, but with Com Sense I had a bar that had already been set.

The following is the Blackberry Messenger chat I had during the show. I know it’s not a typical review, but i’m not a typical reviewer. I have some closing statements and detailed explanations of what I say there to close this off so just give it a chance.

ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: There’s no music
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: So awkward
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: just crowd noise
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: And dark
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: And black light
<3 ~Keesha ~ Bailout: Haha
<3 ~Keesha ~ Bailout: U taking notes?
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: No. I’m not even paying attention
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Now the show has started
<3 ~Keesha ~ Bailout: Nice. U are the best critic everrrr. We are trying my moms weed in a bong
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Oh boy
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Bong of shake
<3 ~Keesha ~ Bailout: Ugh. This shit tastes so bad
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: This show’s ok
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Such a burn
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Call a bunch of girls on stage
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Then play the song about cokehead bitches
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Ha. Ooh
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: That’s amazing
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Kinda. But I feel bad for the sad pharrell fans
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Taking pics and dancing up on him
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: While thats playing
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: They why sad?
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I dunno. Its like watching someone sing on tv
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Awkward
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: So much hair tossing and awkward dancing
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: The scouting was good tho
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Its pure browns and light browns up there
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Maybe 2 white girls lol
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Lol. Should I save this convo as ur notes
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Yes
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Clearly
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: seriously. Like the asian girl on the boat
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: In that bad rap video u were in
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Watching 25 of her on stage
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Lmaoooo
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: My whole review
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Right there
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: In a nutsheell
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Sheells. I love sheells
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Yah
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I collect em
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: From beeaaches
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I’m bored
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I want common to effing hurry up
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: And get on stage
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: So it started on time?
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Nerd did
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: They’ve been off for a while
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: They like built a whole new stage set up
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Its basically been 35 mins since anything was happening
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Is that a good thing or bad thing?
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Ohhhh. That’s bad
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: My boy agile is spinning and the music is good
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: But
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I’m still bored
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I wanna sit down and drink san pellegrino
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Do it
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: This show kinda sucks
<3 ~Keesha ~ 20/20: Boooooo
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: My review is going to be a bad one
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: There’s this contrived theme and fake bar and shit on stage
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Mad acting
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Less rapping
<3 ~Keesha ~ shana tova umetukah: Aw that bites. R u gonna ask other ppl there what they think?
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I know what they think lol
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Same thing as me
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: Its over
ace seis-barbecueorboogaloo: I’m going home

First off, N.E.R.D. had good energy, and gave it their all. It may be that the crowd came to see Common and wasn’t trying to give their all to the opening act, but they got a lukewarm reception from the room. I enjoyed hearing a couple songs from ‘In Search Of’, but don’t even think they did one joint off ‘Fly Or Die’. Their set order seemed to be a bit off in terms of building momentum and Skateboard P was certainly very vocal in his demands that the audience crowd surf and give them more energy. I think that made them act even less amped and in fact, was the turning point in the show where I lost the vibe. When they brought up a whole bunch of girls and turned the show into a love-in for P and Shay, it was just uncomfortable. Especially when he called them out for being fans and taking pics on stage, get over yourself homie. You obviously love the attention, or you wouldn’t be have 20 young girls on stage surrounding you in the first place.

Now, for my dude Com Sense. What happened, man? I completely understand the rationale behind expanding your audience and pushing the envelope of the traditional rap stage show(guy rapping, a bit of walking back and forth), but you lost me. The interaction with you and those 2 cuties on stage was not something we needed to see, and the voiceover bumpers between songs were soooo fromage. For someone who made Electric Circus and totally stepped outside of the box on several occasions, you have definitely placed yourself in a box. A bland, cheesy, make a girl from the suburbs geek out over your “smoothness” type of box, too. I didn’t hear ANY of the tracks I wanted to hear, and I like songs from every single one of your albums. You didn’t even do ‘The Light’, and that’s the song that got you this crowd in the first place. The live band was tight, but their interpretations of some of the tracks just made them sound weird. See, Jay-Z Unplugged backed by The Roots for an example of how good rap can be played on live instruments.