Detroit came to downtown Oakland last night. And local venue The New Parish (looking more and more like The Fox Theatre's second cousin every weekend it seems) played host. The show was officially entitled "The Kings Court Tour" - except that the King of THIS particular court has been dead for a little over a decade now. In 2005, James Yancey; also known the entire world-over as J.Dilla; tragically passed away from Lupus at the still-young age of 32. What made it worse was that for a decade-plus BEFORE that ill-fated time period in 2005, Dilla had been putting in major dues within the music industry and was mastering his craft; preparing for a (hopefully) fruitful music career. And Yancey was finally starting to reap the rewards of all that hard-work producing for major-label artists, himself, and his personal group, Slum Village. Until time stopped on that cold day in February 2005. Now, in 2016, Slum Village (and "King's Court" fellow performers Phat Kat and Guilty Simpson) are all that remains of the active musicians that J.Dilla had his own personal fingerprints on (not counting major-label artists such as Tribe and De La). And even then, Slum Village; a once-trio, had been whittled-down by age and health to a sole original member in performer T3. The other two OGs - already mentioned Dilla, as well as fellow Conant Gardens dweller Bataan - have both passed tragically in their thirties already. And other constant member Elzhi (who joined AFTER Dilla left the group full-time in 2001) wasn't exactly repine' SV anymore, either. Indeed, T3 was looking somewhat lonely up there on stage. I imagined before the show that opening-act emcees Phat Kat and Guilty Simpson (who straight BURNED through his excellent underground catalog...) would substitute themselves for Jay Dee and Bataan's vocals. This did not happen. It also exposed how little I actually knew about the ever-changing game of musical chairs (literally) that Slum Village likes to participate in. As stated, Slum Village started as a trio out of Conant Gardens; an impoverished project/slum (hence the group name) on Detroit's Eastern Side. Jay was (obviously) the man-behind-the-boards (and his beloved, infamous MPC) and Bataan provided the group with it's "wildcard" role-playing member. Bataan was troubled with drug addiction to crack-cocaine, though - an affliction that would eventually be the cause of his tragic early demise a few years after Jay Dee in 2009. And then there was T3 - the emcee responsible for the strong-yet-steady (and never overpowering) vocal delivery and verbal assault on most-all of SV's catalog. And just like his style - T3 has become Slum Vill's constant, as well. As mentioned, T3 brought along some fellow Detroit-dwelling friends to Oakland too; including Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, and Black Milk. I arrived near the end of Phat Kat's set, and honestly didn't really ever feel any regret for that. Not that Kat's an incapable lyricist. It's just that his charisma was very unbalanced; plus he continued to verbally admonish the crowd for being "a straight sausage-fest" and continually asking where all the "bitches were at" in the building. We get it, Phat Kat - backpacker rap isn't exactly a girl's best friend. Much like the worlds of battle-rap and sneaker-collecting, backpacker rap music is most-definitely a man's world (word to JB). But it's slowly becoming more viable for the female gender and there were definitely ladies in attendance. But the ratio was still overwhelming guys. And when your sitting in a hot and stuffy, compact sweatbox-of-a-venue like The New Parish - I get that standing shoulder-to-shoulder with all dudes isn't the greatest. Luckily, it wasn't to the point of distraction - and Phat Kat continuing to mention this fact did more harm than anything else to the "vibe" of the night's performance. Phat Kat DID know how to execute a proper segway for Guilty Simpson to come-out and start his set. Guilty kilt it (no Scots) 100%; to the point that nobody cared they were almost hand-in-hand with the sweat-soaked, hairy guy next to them (probably me). Guilty Simpson has benefited handsomely from his involvement with Jay-Dee towards the end of Dilla's life. Simpson had (what seemed like) an endless supply of Dilla-esque beats; and indeed - if the beat wasn't produced by Jay Dee himself, then it WAS produced by someone to sound exactly LIKE Dilla. And this sub-world within hip-hop - the "cult of Dilla" if you will - has developed into it's own lucrative cottage industry. Independent music labels (no matter how small or large in scope their involvement was) like Stones Throw Records have made a killing off of J.Dilla's old catalog and productions. Much like fellow rap-music-martyr Tupac before him, Dilla left behind an ample amount of material in both finished and rough-draft forms. His work ethic was impeccable - perhaps even moreso than 2pac's due to the nature of a beatsmiths creation process as opposed to an 100% lyricist. Vinyl record-collecting has also shot into the stratosphere in terms of popularity lately - it completely DOUBLED it's yearly sales size in 2015 - so there's literally piles of 12" pressed vinyl singles, special edition EP's, and everything remixed, remastered, and re-re-RE-released one more time for good measure. Not that any of the artists under the Dilla umbrella are actually in the wrong. Indeed, Dilla himself would probably approve if he could be asked right now. And beside his infamously named "Ma Dukes" of a mother, if anyone should reap the benefits of the J.Dilla financial gravy train than it should be T3/Slum Village. And a whole lotta gravy left the train station last night. The New Parish was packed shoulder-to-shoulder; maxed-out with a mixed group of street-dwelling corner boys and suburban, soccer-playing and backpack-wearing white kids. Some were OG's like me, most were fresh-faced neo-soulphytes that probably discovered Dilla around the time Donuts came-out. Instead, they're live-and-in-the-flesh Dilla-esque artist of choice is Black Milk - who was easily the night's breakaway star. A prospect of J.Dilla when he was alive, Black Milk is basically Detroit's backpack rap golden child (and onetime possible savior). He was eager to make a name for himself after Dilla passed and handed him the mantle. Instead of proving to the audience exactly WHY Dilla chose him, Black Milk played an entire set "as if we in the basement playing beats for myself, y'all...that cool? You guys gonna rock with me??!". And rock with Black Milk for his 45-minute set, we did. He played weird loops and eccentric drum patterns, mixing all the rich tapestry of music that Detroit's served-up over the decades. He went from soul, to funk, to early Detroit house and then gritty net-soul that we were all in attendance for. Black Milk also guest-DJ'd for both Phat Kat and Guilty Simpson. Newcomer DJ Will (sp? different name? crowd was so f'n loud, smh...) provided assistance on the 1's and 2's for Slum Village. All-in-all, the night was a semi-memorable one fueled more by nostalgia than by current music. And nostalgia sells. T3 stated to the crowd at one point that Dilla's personal favorite SDV track of all-time was 'Get Dis Money', and he had a record label entitled 'Jay Stay Paid.' So yeah, I think Dilla would probably nod his head in approval. Just definitely not as hard as I nodded mine last night when his group rocked the mic on a surprisingly warm, full-moon lit night in downtown Oakland.
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