Def Jux Showcase featuring Cannibal Ox, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, plus Techno Animal & Mission

Mother's Cookie Factory is kind of an underground art gallery in East Oakland, a bare-walled space contained in a brick warehouse, with little outward indication of its existence. In fact, the only clue to its whereabouts (aside from the directions printed on the back of this show's ticket) were the few people standing out front when we first drove by looking for parking. And like the venue's exterior, the space's interior is nondescript, a typical empty Bay Area art space — a big open room with concrete floors, fresh, white, temporary walls (there was no art up, save the Def Jux Records posters), natural wood vaulted ceilings and exposed pipes. The space is clean and classy in that artsy kind of way, and though it's only about as big as The Blue Room Theatre's rock room (R.I.P.), its high ceilings create a spacious emptiness that lent itself well to the festivities of this particular evening. As it isn't a traditional venue, there was no alcohol for sale, and those who were of age made trips to the liquor store a few blocks away. A taco truck had been commissioned by the event promoter, and was parked in the gallery's rear parking lot, though I don't remember seeing anyone eating tacos.
Oakland-based six-piece hip-hop group, Mission, took the stage first, utilizing a live trio — bass, drums and keys — to provide the body of background music, over which a DJ cut and two MCs rhymed. The group's first release, appropriately titled One (Insiduous Urban Records), is an inventive romp through hip-hop territory that is akin to the kind of stuff The Roots do, but stays away from deeply orchestrated soul movements, choosing instead to keep it minimal and in the pocket; an ideal foundation upon which to build hip-hop. The highlight of Mission's set was the a capella kicked by rapper Raashan during their closing number, "Disturbing Behavior," a tune about the conspicuous consumption and rampant hypocrisy that mars hip-hop music today. Raashan's a capella kicked a particularly poignant section of lyrics, in which he called out wack rappers and admonished them with a reminder: "Whether you know or not, you represent me / we / minorities across the globe / creating the mold for outsiders looking in." That line rang in my ears throughout the evening, and is still floating around in my consciousness.
Techno Animal took their turn on the stage next and temporarily adjusted the evening's vibe substantially. Given the historically, generally inclusive nature of the Bay Area's various electronic music scenes, it's not surprising that a DJ cooperative like Techno Animal would find a spot on this bill, but the inclusion of a drastically different form of music in a strictly hip-hop show kind of threw things off. Violently loud washes of sustained sonic booms and wailing electro-noise moved freely over beats that were actually pretty cool, but buried under other music that, after a while, drove a good portion of the crowd out for fresh air. Outside, however, was the liquor store, the supposed taco truck, and a rhyme "cypher," a collection of MCs gathered in a circle, droppin' rhymes and beat boxing in a freestyle session; all of which made the outside time pass relatively quickly.
Between sets, various DJs provided the soundtrack to b-boys and b-girls doing their thing on the smooth concrete floor — and there were some footwork skills on display, but mostly, it was a part of the overall scene, a representation of one of the four facets of hip-hop culture. In fact, the only hip-hop art form that was not represented at the Oakland Def Jux showcase was graffiti, but to have graff writers bombing walls in such close confines would have had the whole crowd high on aerosol, so it was probably for the best that things focused on beats and rhymes, with occasional forays into breaking.
By the time the headliners hit the stage, the place was packed to the gills, and hot. Only one half of the duo Cannibal Ox, the commanding Vast Aire, was in the house (fellow rapper Shamar, a.k.a. Vordul, was jumped in an NYC club a couple of months ago and is out of commission for a couple more months), so instead of presenting the audience with three sets — one each for Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock and Cannibal Ox's Vast — the triumvirate of next-level rappers took the stage together and each took turns dropping their own material, backed by the two other MCs. Though it seems like Lif was at center stage more often than Aesop and Vast, it was obviously the latter two who the kids were there to see. Every time the mammoth Vast Aire (he stands at well over 6'6", near a few hundred pounds) stepped up to front stage, the crowd went nuts. With the first words of each rap, Vast paused and grinned as hands went up and shouts filled the air, and he sounded exactly like he does on record. Due to the absence of Vast's partner in rhyme, the material he kicked was mostly abbreviated stuff from of the Cannibal Ox debut album, The Cold Vein, with Aesop and Lif taking up as much slack as they could. And despite the fact that most songs, great numbers like "Iron Galaxy" and "A B-Boy's Alpha," lead directly into others and were shorter than usual, the seamless way the set flowed made it all work.
Aesop Rock, though not as much of a physical presence as Vast Aire, is every bit as commanding on the mic, and from the first words out of his mouth, he killed it all night. A gangly, white NYC b-boy whose distinct voice and inventive lyrical patterns set him apart from the pack; Aesop wore a grin for most of the evening (I don't think the headliners expected the show to be quite as big as it was), and when he stepped up, he dropped rhymes with precise conviction. As a part of the trio, Aesop worked well, but the shining moment of his part of the set was when he and Vast Aire teamed up for "Attention Span," off Aesop's last album, Float. And that moment was only out-shined by the freestyle session at the end of the set, a cypher that started with the Company Flow beats from both "Fire in Which You Burn Slow" and "Vital Nerve," culminating with the Def Jux crew, members of Mission, (the other) Aesop from the Bay Area's Living Legends crew, and Foreign Legion's Mark Stretch (the evening's host) all ripping it on stage together. The sight and sound was impressive to say the least, and as a reviewer, I can say that, if for some fucked up reason I don't make it to another hip-hop show all year, it won't hurt that much.

– Max Sidman

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