BUSTA RHYMES with BISHOP and KYPRIOS at the Docks, March 12. Tickets: $25. Attendance: 470. Rating: NNNN
Rating: NNNN
Neither hell nor high water, not even a hail of leeches, could hold scores of Busta lovers back from hitting T-Dot’s left armpit last Friday to see Flipmode’s new-school leader get down and just do his thing, baby. But we first had to take in Vancouver’s Kyprios , a Justin Timberlake look-alike and tough sell to the audience, what with his peace-sign tuque, mid-90s moves and Satan-possessed stage persona.
Post-Kyprios came the localized heat of Scompton (Scarborough) rep Bishop and his entourage, Section Six .
Bishop’s thug wiles shone as he spit rhymes biggin’ up Toronto, hos and himself, making a growing audience show love. The spooky moves of Section Six’s two red-track-suited dancers locked Bishop’s set down as a hype opener for the headlining lyrical dragon.
So when his name was called and spotlights burst to life, heads bugged the fuck out as Busta Rhymes and his Flipmodian hype-man Spliff Star roared out to Make It Clap. Over the course of a white-hot hour-and-20-minute set, the insanely animated Rhymes and Spliff charged with frenetic energy through songs, skits and segues. They kicked every Busta remix cameo of late, Scenario (Remix), nearly his entire catalogue of singles and some obscure bangers.
When Busta asked the ladies to sing Mariah Carey’s part in I Know What You Want and they botched the lyrics, he teasingly made them sing the words with him until they got it. At one point he chugged a 26 of Courvoisier cognac before kicking Pass The Courvoisier, Part 2, with his mischievous 100-tooth grin.
The dynamic and chemistry between Spliff and Busta was sick, stuffed with choreographed quirks with accompanying sound effects, and the banter’s timing was vaudevillian.
The show was some hype shit. But the various ignorant fucks who inevitably collect near the stage at these events killed things, as usual.
During Busta’s phenomenal set, three in front of me raved about their friend’s new weave, and a thug wearing neon camouflage threw a girl who’d tried to squeeze past him at me amid the constant current of violent people.
I would have taken a hail of leeches over that.
