It has been a while since a quality hip-hop show came through Albuquerque. The Quannum World Tour on Monday at the Sunshine Theatre was long overdue.
Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, Lateef and the Chief, Latyrx, Lifesavas, the Gift of Gab, DJ Shadow, DJ D-Sharp and Joyo Velarde came together on stage, providing the audience with one of the most dynamic hip-hop shows this city has seen in a while.
The artists, originally called the Solesides Crew, performed songs from joint Quannum projects as well as individual numbers.
With a group this large touring together, it could easily have gotten out of control and dragged on far too long. But members of the Quannum project were organized and professional, with synchronized b-boy moves and graceful transitions from one song to the next. The deejays were jamming behind the emcees, sharing a huge platform and spinning three turntables at once.
Giant screens with the artists' music videos played in the background, allowing audience members to get a personal and visual sense of the music.
One highlight was when Lifesavas performed "Hellohihey," a hilarious song about egotistical emcees who think that other artists are talentless in comparison. The paradox in this song is that the Quannum performance was the exact opposite. It was a group of some of the most talented names in recent indie hip-hop, sharing the stage and giving each other props throughout the night.
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DJ Shadow, often considered one of the best deejays and the most notable member of the Quannum Project, is known for his dark beats that sample everything from funk to classical. His performance alone was worth seeing. About halfway through the show he took the stage alone, spinning songs dating back to his first album, along with new beats. Shadow has a great stage presence and would stop the music abruptly, forcing the audience to pause as well, anticipating his next move. Then he would break into another round of music, causing an eruption of cheers. This show was probably one of the first packed hip-hop shows at the Sunshine where no one in the pit was getting smashed or blindly pushing their way to the front. It's almost as if fans knew the magnitude of seeing Shadow spin live and were actually behaving, waving their hands in the air and nodding their heads in unison to the melodious beats and lyrics.
Joyo Velarde was also impressive. As the only girl in the project, she was getting down with the rest of the performers, singing alongside the emcees, and putting the soul into the chorus. At one point, everyone stopped and let her sing solo for several minutes. The girl can sing, and sing she did, so well in fact that by the end of her short song, it was clear to everyone in the room why she is a permanent member of the Quannum project.
And like every good hip-hop show at the Sunshine, at the end of the night, several of the performers were outside hanging around their tour buses talking with fans on a personal level about upcoming projects and accepting demos from local acts. All in all, it was exactly the type of spring concert that was needed to put the rhythm back into the Albuquerque hip-hop community.
