Little Brother

Inspiration: Last night's Little Brother concert

What I'm Listening To: A conference call for work. Damn, I can't believe I am at home taking calls.

Question(s) I Asked Myself Today: "If an if was a spliff, would we all be stoned?" Don't ask, people always say "If this happened" or "If that happened." You can't worry about the what could have been, you just gotta live your life, dawg. I know this question doesn't make sense to anyone but me, but it's my blog so deal with it.

So I meant to write this post last night, but I came home and crashed instead. Last night was the Little Brother show at the Roxy and to say I enjoyed myself would be an understatement. I had been looking forward to this concert since I first got the email back in January. But I almost didn't make it...

In anticipation of going out last night, I had rearranged my schedule at work to get off early. That meant that I had to go to work at 7:00 in the morning. Anybody that knows me knows that I am not a morning person, so that was a struggle for me. I made it to work around 7:30-ish and proceeded to go about the mundane duties of my day. Everybody was shocked to see me there of course. I can't count how many times I heard, "T., what are you doing here this early?" I even caught a couple of my employees casually strolling in late. It was funny to see them start walking more quickly when they caught my disapproving gaze from my desk and then come up with lame unsolicited excuses. But anyway, my plan was to get out of there at 3:30, take a nap and get to the Roxy at 7:45 to pick up my ticket from the Will Call window. Somehow, I got caught up doing stuff and didn't even take a lunch. The next thing I know its 4:00 and I am still at work. I turn off my computer and say peace to my team and at that point everybody and their mother decides that they just have to talk to me before I go. You know that scene in the Godfather where everybody was trying to get a favor from Don Corleone? That's what it was like. I literally had people lining up at my desk to talk to me. Now, I wasn't trying to be rude, but I think I came across that way b/c I wasn't really listening to anything they were saying. I was just focused on going home. After cutting several conversations short, I finally made it out the door at 4:45 with my plans for a quick nap dashed.

When I got home, I ironed up the Roc-A-Fella shirt, one of the few remaining casual items in my wardrobe and sat down at the computer to catch up on blogs. I know I could have made better use of my time, but I am a procrastinator. In my mind, I had plenty of time; the show didn't start until 8 and according to MapQuest (the sorry muhfuckas, more on that later) it only took 19 minutes to get to the Roxy. The next thing I know it's 7:00 and it was time to be out. Did I ever tell you I have a horrible sense of direction? I think it's hereditary. If me and my family were runaway slaves, we would follow the underground railroad the wrong way and end up even deeper in the south. Knowing my shortcomings, I allowed 45 minutes for a 20 minute trip. So, I'm following the directions I had printed out and everything was cool. I actually thought I would be somewhere early for a change. I was following the map perfectly: I-75 to exit 255 - Check. Turn left on West Paces Ferry- Check. Ride for 3.2 miles and turn left on Early St- Now we have a problem. Where the f*ck is Early Street? I looked at the odometer, I was at 3.2 miles but the street was nowhere to be seen.

I rode past for a few more minutes, think that maybe Mapquest just had the mileage wrong, then got anxious and busted a left on some street thinking I could still find what I was looking for. That was a dumb move. Don't ask me how I got there, but next thing I know in heavy traffic on Piedmont looking for landmarks that I remembered from a drunken night in Buckhead 2 years ago. What happened next was a comedy of errors. I made a series of bad traffic decisions and ended up back by Lennox Square Mall. I know the questions you are asking yourself, cuz I asked myself the same thing. Why didn't I just turn around and go the way I came from? Why didn't I just ask somebody how to get there? T. don't roll like that. Logic goes out the window when I'm driving. It's like my IQ level drops significantly when I'm looking for something. I eventually found 285 and just took the long way down Roswell Road, which is what I should have done in the first place since I know that street. I finally got to the Roxy at 8:40.

After picking up my ticket, I headed to the bar to get a quick drink (shit, I deserved that after what I put myself through) and asked someone what I missed so far. I didn't catch the opening act, Defari, which was no big deal for me. The consensus was that his show was nothing special. Besides, I only came to see Little Brother anyway. I made my to the performance area and waited for the next act. That's when L.B. came out. They did about an hour set. I was rapping along with them and getting hyped up. Now, T. don't dance, but he damn sure was throwing his hands in the air and waving them like he just don't care. It was a great hip hop show. They did a lot of my favorite joints of "The Minstrel Show" and a couple off of "The Chitlin Circuit", and one old joint off the "The Listening." The great thing about their show was that you could just feel the love they had for performing and they had a lot of fun on stage. You didn't see a lot of the posturing and looking hard that you find in a lot of rap shows. These brothas have a pure love for hip hop and it resonates in their performance. They ended the show with their single "Lovin It" (I still don't understand why they don't have another single out yet, the album is full of hits) and I was thoroughly satisfied, although selfishly, I wish they would have stayed on longer, and did some more of their old joints.

The headliner of the concert was Dilated Peoples. I tried to get into their show, but not having heard much of their music, I wasn't really feeling it. I did know 2 or 3 of their songs, but that was it. The high point of DP's show to me was their DJ, Babu. He took it back with his mastery of the turntable. You don't really see that many cats who can scratch like that and build a track live on stage. Babu was nice with the cuts. I got one of their free CD sampler so I can see if I can get into Dilated Peoples. They had a pretty nice following, but I was just standing there trying to feel the music, but not succeeding. After the show, Little Brother was hanging out in the lobby signing autographs and taking flicks. They were very accommodating to the fans. I'm no Stan, so I just gave them a pound, and told them "Great show" and kept it moving. I took the scenic route home through Downtown Atlanta, and when I got home I tried to write this post and watch the season finale of "The Shield" but fell the f*ck out instead. I woke up this morning with a hoarse voice and happy that I went to the show. Right now I am typing this while on a conference call for work, so I have to go now.

It was written...