The Tivoli - Saturday Nov 18

Q-Unique steps to the stage looking like a Puerto Rican pest controller in a New Yorked-out one-piece jumpsuit and takes the by now quite considerable Tivoli crowd through last year’s Uncle Howie Records debut Vengeance Is Mine – even beginning with the album’s introduction where the emcee and often under-estimated producer reminds us “Who the fuck you think produced both of those Arsonists albums!?” If Lord Finesse represents the cool and charisma of hip-hop’s last 15+ years, then surely Q-Unique is the fire and the focus tonight; spitting ox-blades and box-cutters at the crowd, and getting everyone from the front to the back making as much noise as you’d hear fishing with dynamite in an on-shore squall. Standing on stage alone, with Non Phixion’s DJ Eclipse bringing in his back-ups in, both off record and with the mic, Q-capital took us back to revisit the classic sound of the Arsonists’ releases and even the explosive Non Phixion collaboration track, 14 Years of Rap, before breaking out. Not long after DJ Grandmaster Roc Raida brought the boom bap back with a bumping club set, Lord Finesse came to claim his throne. Breaking out everything, from his ’89 debut full-length The Funky Technician, featuring the classic Bad Mutha, to Return Of The Funky Man (’92), and You Know What I’m About (Trespass movie soundtrack), he even busted out an exclusive DJ Premier re-working of Funky Technician off an upcoming remix album! Getting to the Awakening album, this is where most of the crowd seemed more at home, and this is also where he left us tonight… of course, not before getting everyone to put their “Ls” up for Big L and a solo rendition of Day One by DITC. In my ten years of hip hop shows, this really does stand out as the most memorable and influential. Did someone say Digging In The Crates Australian tour? Say word.

SMASH ROCKWELL

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