Los Angeles “backpack rappers” and enjoyed a convivial crowd Monday at the during the first of a two-night stand.
Maybe it was J5’s sweet nod to Colorado in its recent video “The Way We Do It,” or the fact that this summer’s “Word of Mouth” tour marks the 20th anniversary of an important rap collective — Jurassic 5 — that has faced down as many demons as hip-hop itself.
Maybe it was the fact that after a recording hiatus, both J5 and Dilated Peoples step up this year with new material, or the fact that Monday’s show proved MC Chali 2na, the big man behind J5’s baritone flow, to simply be one of the most charismatic figures in music, regardless of genre.
It could also have been all the weed, consumption of which the venue officially discouraged with signage and frowny security guards. But bud comes with rap, most especially in post-legalization Colorado. DJ Cut Chemist acknowledged the phenomenon midway through J5’s set with an aural tip-of-the-hat to John Denver’s campy soft-rock classic “Rocky Mountain High.”
Regardless of the reasons, Denver fans did Monday like it was Saturday, blissfully keeping pace with DJ Babu’s familiar, booming gunshot and video game sound samples between each Dilated Peoples track, and then later getting frat-party, keg-stand amped during J5’s pivotal good-times track “Quality Control.”
These folks wanted and received what has become bread-and-butter for road-worn rap acts like Dilated Peoples and J5: razor-sharp, socially-conscious lyricism paired with sophisticated turntablism and many opportunities to bow down at the altar of classic hip-hop. New material shared the spotlight with cuts that many of these people have loved since childhood. There were few surprises or artistically avant-garde moments in the show. But that was exactly what this audience expected.
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Elana Ashanti Jefferson is a Denver writer, former Denver Post staff reporter and longtime music fan.
Kit Chalberg is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
