Rocksteady Crew 38th Anniversary Recap
By J. Burke
By J. Burke
I’ve been attending the Rocksteady
Crew Anniversary show for about 13 years now. I haven’t been to every one of
them but I’ve seen it go from the pier in New York, over to Newark and back to
New York as part of Central Park’s annual lineup of Summerstage events. This year was a big one for me because the
headliner was Big Daddy Kane. For myself, this is the emcee that I grew up on
that got me interested in hip-hop. Needless to say I was definitely looking
forward to seeing him live for the first time.
When I got to Rumsey Playfield
in Central Park, I quickly noticed how packed the show was already about an
hour before the starting time. No amount of rain projected in the forecast was
going to mess up this Sunday event that people come too with friends and
family. It was a typical set up hosted
by the host of the longest running open mic in New York City, End of the Weak.
I don’t recall the name of the opening act as
they weren’t listed on the flyer or website, but after that was a set by Ea$y Money
who put on a solid performance and even brought out Boston’s Termanology. After
that was an artist I’m very familiar with, Queen Herawin of the legendary
underground hip hop group, The Juggaknots, along with her group mate and real
life brother Breez’ Brewin. Queen Herawin also put on a solid set and even
brought out her daughter to perform with her. The crowd enjoyed the performance
but the sometimes-unorthodox flows of the group sometimes go over people’s
heads.
Your Old Droog would hit the stage next and for some reason incur the
wrath of the crowd’s lack of patience. I don’t know if it was the weather as it
actually did start to rain at some point, or Droog himself, but the fans were
definitely chanting for him to go home towards the front of stage. Rocksteady
typically brings out an older crowd and with Droog being the newest artist on
the bill, it wasn’t his type of audience.
It was now time for the well-deserved Pumpkinhead tribute who passed away
a few months ago but has been supported by the hip-hop community since his
passing.
eMC comprised of Masta Ace, Wordsworth and Stricklin hit the stage next
and showed what it is to have stage presence, crowd interaction and even an
in-sync uniform. They also brought out the bars and made a lot of new fans I’m
sure, especially Wordsworth who went on to freestyle an entire verse
incorporating members of the crowd into it. eMC is the definition of a real hip
hop group and the type of act that needs to be seen live.
When Whodini hit the stage sometime after, I wasn’t sure what to expect
as their music was before my time, but I surprisingly knew every one of their
songs. Their live show is probably as
great as it was back when they first started as they danced, held the crowd’s
attention and even hit a few splits like they were back in their 20’s. The
crowd sang along to all the words and in many people’s eyes, they might have
been the highlight of the show, but we couldn’t forget who was up next, Juice Crew
legend himself, Big Daddy Kane.
As expected, Kane ran through classics such as "Ain’t No Half Steppin" and "Set It Off". He would eventually perform Warm It Up Kane and bring out some guest on his set to pay respect to some of his influences. Dressed in all white from head to toe, and with women screaming for him to marry him from the crowd, Kane looked like he hadn’t lost a step both lyrically and presence wise. Time was running down on show time so he brought out his crew to end things off, and by crew I mean the Juice Crew including Marley Marl, Masta Ace, Craig G and Kool. G Rap to perform “The Symphony”. Rocksteady Anniversary is always a great event with a mixture of old and newer artist and what better way to end this year off.
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