IRS at the Reverb, May 5. Tickets: $5. Attendance: 350. Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
at almost every hiphop show i go to, I can barely make out a word that’s said. I figure it takes a lot of thought and work to write a rap, and it seems tragic when all that devotion gets reduced to a din of incomprehensible rhyme.Such was the case at the IRS show Monday night at the Reverb. I could hear things like (I think) homies, hoagies and perogies spewing forth from the mouths of Black Cat and Korry Deez, but I just couldn’t get the gist of what they were saying. And, well, isn’t that the important part of watching two MCs?
I asked the guy next to me if he could understand what they were saying.
“No. Not a word,” he replied. “I’m just listening to the bass.”
The bass was pretty good. DJ T.R.A.C.K.S. did a bang-up job of putting the needle on the record, and the show had huge energy. IRS was joined onstage by Brassmunk, Kardinal, Grimace Love and members of Monolith, and there was some great freestyling interaction betwixt them. It’s great to watch a bunch of guys playing off each other onstage, even if can’t catch what they’re saying. You can hear the rhyme so it becomes a groove.
It was awfully short, though. Having been told the show started at 9 pm sharp, I arrived on time only to wait an hour and a half for it to begin, and then IRS offered approximately a half-hour of showtime.
After that, Lindo P. got up and did an impromptu ragga rap about SARS, which was easier to hear due to the fact that it was just one guy. He got the whole room laughing. Very clever. Good ending.
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