Review: Rock The Bells Hits NYC With A 1990s State of Mind

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Bad news first: By far the worst part of RTB was the venue itself. When you attend a festival along with roughly 17,000 other fans you must endure the humiliation of port-o-potties and possible death by trampling. Hey, it’s all in the game.

But a ferry ride? As if the march of the lemmings at the entrance and exit wasn’t bad enough, having to get on a line to board a ferry boat (still the slowest form of transportation) to make the crossing to Governor's Island is worse, much worse. Although the trip is short (10 minutes, tops) the arrival process was sluggish even when most of the crowd was still sober.

All of which explains why we got to hear the sounds of Random Axe booming through the speakers but didn’t really get to see them perform. But as we made our way onto dry land, we could sorta see them blessing mics on the distant Rock The Bells Stage. And they weren’t the only acts we missed.

On the opposite end of the main stage were three smaller ones: The 36 Chambers Stage, the Paid Dues Stage, and the Grindtime Stage. We never made it to the Grindtime Stage, but that was all DJs and battle rappers. We spent too much time running back and forth to the main stage and 36 Chambers that didn’t find time to make it to Paid Dues either—which was unfortunate, since it featured plenty acts we love like Freddie Gibbs, Big K.R.I.T., and Slaughterhouse. Yes that’s right, despite being signed to Shady Records, Slaughterhouse couldn’t get a set on the main stage. Where is the love?

The first act we actually caught for a full set was Black Star. Talib Kweli and Mos Def pretty much stuck to the script, performing their 1998 Rawkus Records classic Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star in its entirety. Back in ‘98, a collaborative album between two solo rappers was rather unique, but since the release of Hell: The Sequel by Eminem and Royce da 5’9”s and Watch The Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West earlier this year, news of Mos and Kweli reuniting for a long-awaited sequel seemed a little underwhelming.

But the album still plays well, and songs like “Definition” and “Respiration” got the crowd going—although one can’t help but smirk at dated lines like “What a pity, blunts is still 50 cents.” Mos has an especially commanding stage presence, but it’s hard to maintain a high level of energy when you don’t have big hits, which is why even if “Brown Skin Lady” and “Thieves In The Night” are excellent records, they can still fall flat during a live set.

Mos Def has only released two albums in the last 10 years (let’s pretend True Magic never happened), but he still shined bright on stage rocking a fancy red microphone. At one point Kweli declared, “That’s the second time we did that song in 10 years.” We’re still not sure if he was boasting.

La la la lalalaaaaa. After all these years, Cypress Hill can still bring the ruckus. They kicked things off doing jams from their self-titled debut album (which recently had its 20-year anniversary). But Cypress quickly switched things up and did some of their best-known hits like “Throw Your Set In The Air”—which was a wise move: Those songs might be less beloved, but they’re more uptempo and better for a live performance.

B-Real and Sen Dog rocked on stage without any help from DJ Muggs (Julio G was on the 1s and 2s) but they did bring a live band, which complemented their set nicely. This year’s show was nothing compared to RTB 2007, when Cypress hit the stage with a huge inflatable Buddha and smoked out of six-foot-long bongs. But we didn’t have time to catch the entire set as we made the trek to the other side of the field to catch...

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…GZA! We could hear RZA’s voice blasting in the distance as the host of the 36 Chambers Stage performed a verse from “4th Chamber.” GZA hit the stage hours ahead of schedule, swapping places with Childish Gambino (who really had no business sharing a stage with hard rocks like Roc Marciano and Mobb Deep). The weed smoke was heavy in the air as GZA ran through songs like “Liquid Swords” and “Shadow Boxin’” while fans chanted “WU-TANG!”

The Genius wasted no time between tracks, playing beat after beat and delivering each song with minimal talking in-between. On stage, GZA was a battle-tested veteran (he recently turned 45) who seemed weary but still focused. Like Cypress, he mixed up his tracklist with solo material and Wu classics like “Triumph.” This set was one of the most energetic moments in the crowd. Wu-Tang always brings out the die-hards.

But the energy dropped down during songs like “Crash Your Crew” and “Beneath The Surface.” It was another unpleasant reminder that GZA (like most Wu members besides Ghostface) didn’t have a deep catalog. His first album was his only certified classic.

Whenever things got dry, GZA resorted to Wu-Tang songs. Even album cuts like “Reunited” and “Older Gods” got a better reception than his later solo material (although GZA’s swords were noticeably less sharp on those Wu verses). The highlight came when GZA brought out Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son—who’s called, yes, Young Dirty Bastard—to perform “Shimmy Shimmy Ya.” Wu-Tang is for the children, indeed.

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Back at the 36 Chamber stage, RZA was back to hosting duties. Just before he brought Mobb Deep to the stage, the RZArector brought out two unsung heroes: Matty C and Scott Free of Loud Records, the first label to sign Wu-Tang Clan. Quoting GZA’s classic line, “Who’s your A&R? A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar?” RZA explained that Matty C and Scott Free were the first A&Rs he met who were actually from the hood and truly understood hip-hop culture. They didn’t get much of a reception from the crowd but the props were richly deserved—if you don’t know now ya know.

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Less than two weeks away from the 15-year anniversary of Tupac’s death, Mobb Deep brazenly opened their set with “Drop A Gem On ‘Em,” their response to Pac’s dis track “Hit Em Up.” They also performed “Get Away” and album cuts off The Infamous. Although Prodigy is only a few months removed from jail, Mobb’s live show seemed much more polished than it did just a few months back during their performance at NYC’s Best Buy Theater.

But then, just as things were really starting to get good, Mobb brought out 40 Glocc to perform a guest segment. It’s nice that they look out for their boy, but who in their right mind was interested in seeing 40 Glocc at a moment like that? Come to think of it, we decided to get back to the main stage early so we could catch Ms. Lauryn Hill.

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Although many people are scared to admit it, in recent years, Lauryn Hill has become notorious for being an awful performer. Whether showing up hours late or singing with a cracked voice, Ms. Hill horror stories abound. At this point expecting a decent live set from her is like expecting a new Lauryn Hill album.

The first half of her show was just as awful as you might guess. She did sped-up versions of songs from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and struggled to keep up with her band. James Brown used to do sped-up versions of his songs too, but his songs were properly adjusted for tempo. Lauryn’s just sounded rushed.

That old L-Boogie confidence was M.I.A. throughout her set. She constantly made gestures at her band, telling them to turn it up or slow it down, as if they didn’t have a routine already figured out. When she sang, her voice was not like the one we remember: It was rough and weary instead of rich and smooth. When she moved around the stage, she shuffled her feet but never moved her hips.

When it came to confidence, Lauryn Hill was always head and shoulders above her female emcee counterparts because her self-worth came from impeccable rap skills, not an inflated sense of sexuality. But for much of the show, Ms. Hill spit out rhymes with no sense of timing or rhythm.

Yet all hope wasn’t lost. The catharsis that could not be found on material from her searing solo debut finally came through during renditions of “Fu-Gee-La," “Ready Or Not,” and “Killing Me Softly” from The Fugees’ 1996 album, The Score. Maybe after all these years, Miseducation still hits too close to home for the soul-baring artist. But The Score strikes the perfect balance—it’s legendary without being too personal for Ms. Hill. Maybe she messes up those emotionally raw Miseducation songs on purpose. After five Grammy Awards and millions of albums sold, it’s almost like she’s cursed to perform the album for the rest of her life—until she drops that sophomore disc.

Closing the show was none other than Nasty Nas performing his immortal 1994 debut Illmatic. But what should have been a highlight turned into a painful dilemma. On another stage at the opposite end of the island Raekwon and Ghostface Killah were doing Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.... Two of the greatest rap albums ever were being performed simultaneously within half a mile of each other, and rap fans were forced to choose which they preferred.

Nas had an intricate stage set-up: A backdrop of the Queensbridge projects complete with fake street lamps and project benches. The props served the performance well, among the many reasons Illmatic is so beloved is the way it romanticised hood life. From its album art to its lyrical content, Illmatic gave the impression that even if someone came from the same projects as Nas, they could still have deep, philosophical thoughts about life “beyond the walls of intelligence.” In Prodigy’s recent autobiography he even wrote about how girls in the ‘90s wanted to visit the hood because Nas’ album had them “mesmerised by the projects.” Say Queensbridge.

During his live set, Nas rocked out with DJ Premier, who also served as hype man along with AZ and Pete Rock, among other. He could certainly use the help: Nas is notorious for forgetting his lyrics, and this stop of RTB was no different as God’s Son struggled to recite rhymes that most of the diehard fans in the audience would know in their sleep. But it didn’t matter; Illmatic is still the most revered hip-hop album ever. Even if Nas stood on stage while the instrumental version of the album played, thousands of fans would still stand there reverently nodding their heads and rapping the lyrics for him.

After Pete Rock came out to perform “The World Is Yours,” Nas ruined his own momentum by letting Pete and Preemo get into a battle of the beats—going back and forth with classic instrumentals like “10 Crack Commandment” and “T.R.O.Y. (The Reminisce Over You).” It would have been suitable for warming up the crowd before Nas’ set, but not as an intermission. When Pete Rock asked the crowd, “Ya got that Watch The Throne album?” before playing “The Joy,” they answered with an unceremonious “No!” Their chilly reception made it clear that contemporary commercial hip-hop had no place at RTB.

Nas eventually came back on stage to march through a medley of hits from his massive catalog. But for us and many others, it was time to get the dipping. We’ve seen Nas move the crowd many times before, but we were already dreading that return voyage. If you thought a ferry ride at 12 PM was bad, imagine one at 12 AM after a show as exhausting as this.

As we boarded the ferry back to the city, leaving one island for another, we could still hear the sounds of the show. Lauryn Hill got on stage with Nas to perform their 1996 #1 single, “If I Ruled The World.” As with so many of the songs performed at RTB, hearing the performance was not the point. The song sounded best as the distant memories that it was.

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