De La Soul & The Coup

The news of De La Soul coming to campus had sparked Chico with anticipation. And they did just what was hoped: lived up to the expectations. It was outside on Chico State campus and the weather was nice, everything was looking great. First up was The Coup. To everyone who was too cool to show up on time, you fucked up. The Coup took stage to a slim audience and then took control. The Coup's frontman, Boots Riley, spit out his clever lyrics like only he can. Boots' style is something like a Momma Zella's pizza: crazy different levels. Whether it's political awareness, some playa shit or some personal rhymes, somehow Boots is able to combine so many ideas and styles into his own. Unfortunately, the Coup's DJ, Pam the Funktress, was not in attendance, although they did have a band. I'll be the first to say that I'm not usually into rappers with bands, but the Coup's band was tight. The obvious backbone of the band was the drummer, this dude was the shit. There is no other way to describe him. He just went off and even sprinkled the crowd with a drum solo.
Next up was some time killing DJ, who spun a De La song (idiot). Then after some time Maseo, the DJ for De La Soul, came out and got things started. After a little intro, the two MCs from De La came out and ripped through about five songs. It was good times, everyone was dancing and enjoying themselves. And everything was going fine, then they started to perform "Oooh," but then they had to stop because the power went out. So the crowd patiently waited for several minutes before the power started flowing again. Once the power came back on, De La continued to play classic cut after classic cut. It was great. The threesome basically performed the singles off of each album, covering everything from "Potholes in my Lawn" all the way to "Baby Phat." They played so many songs I can't remember them all, but I do remember having a hell of a time and having a smile stuck on my face the whole time. After the power crisis, the crowd wasn't ready for any more surprises, but De La Soul had a pleasant one. They brought out fellow Native Tounge member, Dres, from Black Sheep. Dres came out and busted out two songs, one of which was the infamous "The Choice is Yours." Dres accompanied the trio on stage for the remaining length of the show. Overall, it was a very enjoyable show. De La Soul produced an excellent show, full of thrills that kept the crowd entertained for the length of the show and gave them something to brag about afterwards to their friends.
- Paul Davis
- Photos by Jeff Shaner

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