El P, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Rjd2 & DJ Abilities

Yes, right to it. The evening began around 9:30 PM, and shortly thereafter, the Minneapolis / New York combination of DJs Abilities (Rhymesayers) and Rjd2 (Def Jux) were mixing, scratching and juggling a quick, mellow beginning to an evening that didn't waste much time in getting started. There were no opening acts, nothing to sit through while waiting for the featured performers - it was all Def Jux and nothing but…exactly what everyone there wanted. About 20 minutes after the pair of DJs began mixing hip-hop of various style and genres, Def Jux MCs Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif took the stage with the shortest of introductions, and promptly began to rip the mics.
The duo are no strangers to sharing the stage - the Def Jux rappers tend to occupy that space together, each taking turns as frontmen and hype men - and together the pair presented a selection of raps from their respective releases. Mr. Lif, who is apparently now a Bay Area native, was well received by the crowd, and he really knows how to work the live situation. A practitioner of the call-and-response method of getting a crowd hyped, Lif managed to get the whole place fired up with his charisma and conscious rhymes over battle-style beats, and had the floor jumping despite the fact that it was a rainy Monday night. Aesop Rock was obviously the crowd favorite, and throngs of bespectacled college kids and indie hip-hoppers with crooked mesh-back caps matched Aesop's flows rhyme-for-rhyme, pointing at the NYC lyricist on stage during songs like "Lucy" and "Daylight" as if they were confirming his every rap. After a verbal assault by Aesop and Lif that thoroughly charged the near-capacity crowd, the DJs switched up the music, and the evening's most anticipated rapper loped onto the stage with a foaming Heineken and a big grin.
It's been three years since former Company Flow frontman and Definitive Jux Records chief El Producto played in San Francisco with Co Flow, and it was obvious by the turnout that he has been missed. Slamming through the bulk of his recently released solo effort, Fantastic Damage, El P hit the crowd with a full-frontal and fearless attack of rugged lyrics both scathing and personal. Positioned at the front of the stage staring into the audience's front rows as Aesop and Lif paced behind him filling in backing vocals hyping the endings of key rhymes, El P developed a connection with fans almost immediately. Anytime he held the mic out or the music and vocals dropped out at strategic places, the crowd always knew how to fill the holes, and El responded to the adoration with a dynamic stage personality that seemed to grow with the crowd's excitement. Interspersed with Fantastic Damage tracks like "Squeegee Man Shooting," "Deep Space 9mm" and "Stepfather Factory," Rjd2 had some fun on the turntables, and Aesop kicked a few of his own jams, including the amazing "Big Bang" off the Float record. However, it was El P who stole the show when he stepped up and put down Company Flow's "Vital Nerve" and "Fire in Which You Burn Slow," giving the crowd a reminder of where he's from, after drenching them a with a full and fantastic dose of where he's at now.
- Words and photos by Max Sidman

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