There were no wasted moments when Sean Price took the stage at University City’s Marathon Grill on Saturday night. With a strong undercard of Cymarshall Law, Ethel Cee and Reef the Lost Cauze, the Brooklyn rapper capped off an excellent show that ranks up there with the best of the year.
Electric City’s Mighty Flipside Esq. played host while Bee Eater Records’ DJ Ultraviolet spun for the Marathon crowd pouring in from the rainy West Philly streets. Attendees got a somewhat rude surprise when they were told upon entering that they’d have to take off their hats while in the building. If you aren't a fan of hip hop, this might not seem like a big deal and if you are a fan, please, put down your torches and pitchforks. While no hats at a hip hop show is a bit like no oversized foam fingers at a football game, the four artists that took the stage made that inconvenience worth it.
U.K.-born emcee, Cymarshall Law, was first up and knocked it out of the park with a ton of energy and a distinctive voice that warmed the crowd up on the chilly October night. Currently residing in dirty Jerz, Law is no stranger to rocking Philly stages or opening for Sean Price; the two were in town a few months back at the Khyber for a great Heltah Skeltah show. Just like that evening, Law impressed with his performance and undoubtedly made a few new fans with his excellent live show.
Next up was local female emcee, Ethel Cee, whose fierce lyrics caught the crowd’s attention and raised the energy a few notches. While the audience definitely started getting into Law’s set, especially towards the end, they got even louder for Ethel Cee, even urging her back on the stage for an encore. Cee graciously complied, and rocked another jam to cheers from the slowly expanding crowd.
Widely considered to be one of the best emcees in Philly, Reef the Lost Cauze needed little introduction to the now amped audience. With no delay, Reef launched into several songs from his 2008 LP, A Vicious Cycle, hit the crowd with a couple tracks from his cult classic, Feast or Famine, and even gave longtime fans a taste of his 2003 album, Invisible Empire. While Reef joked that he’s had the same set list for the past few years, there’s nothing broke and nothing in need of fixing; the intensity of his live show makes each song shine if regardless if its your first or tenth time hearing them.
After a few miscues and a bit of stalling from Flipside, Sean Price finally took the stage, letting loose with an unusual but outstanding performance. As one half of Boot Camp Click’s Heltah Skeltah, Price (aka Ruck) made a name for himself with his partner Rock as one of Brooklyn’s best duos right up there with M.O.P. and Blackstar. Sean Price by himself is a force to be reckoned with, as he proved with his 2005 solo debut, Monkey Bars and the albums and mixtapes that have followed. His upcoming Kimbo Price mixtape, scheduled for release October 27th, looks to continue this line of great solo material and cement his place among the best doing it at the moment.
Sean’s stage show was a bit unorthodox to say the least. Starting from a seated position and opening things while Boris Gardiner’s rendition reggae classic “Every Nig*** Is A Star”, fans kind of got a clue that this wouldn’t be your average show. Sean P’s actual performance was just as interesting in that rather than doing entire songs, he tended to hit a verse or two from one before moving on to a verse or two from another, touching on everything from “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka” to “P-Body”. It sounds weird, but it played out like a Sean Price highlight reel and made for a fantastic set. With an unconventional entrance and performance, Sean P’s exit was just as odd, as he abruptly left the stage without a goodbye, goodnight or anything of the sort. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing; any emcee that can get on stage, rock the crowd and bounce is okay in our book.
Shows where every act puts on a great performance are few and far between, but that’s exactly what fans that braved to cold and wet weather were treated to Saturday night. If the weather did keep you indoors, you missed a real gem; from Cymarshall Law’s first bars to Sean Price’s last lines, this show was a top to bottom example of hip hop done right.
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