This Page Was Posted on November 2nd, 1996
Contributed Under Permission by KTM, Kevin Murphy.
Review of Hiero Show at the Electric Ballroom,
Tempe Arizona, Halloween
Here it is-on of the most off the wall shows I've been to:
It must have been a full moon on Halloween, cause this was one of the craziest shows I've been to. (Electric Ballroom, Tempe, AZ.) First up to bat: This new kid from the West coast, DBA Flip. Nothin' to write home about. Recycled beats and recycled lyrics. I'm just waiting anxiously for Del. Flip started the show that was supposed to start at 8, but we all know how that goes. Flip came up at 10. Then, Del finally came out. The mighty Domino was on the wheels of steel. Anyway, Del was hella phucked up. And that's an understatement. His eyes were about clamped shut. He came out doing some dance all messed up. As Domino put it, "Del's a little tipsy tonight".
Nuff respect to Pep Love. This was the first time I'd ever seen him live. His rhymes are TIGHT. We got a little treat. Pep dropped a preview from the Family Album: "After Dark". Shit was nice. Well, needless to say Del freestyled EVERY song. He might have started a song with the original first sentence but after that it was all off the lid. Well, he freeestyled over "Ahonetwo, Ahonetwo", "Catch a Bad One", "Undisputed Champs", (Pep kept his verse original), "Boo Boo Heads". There were a couple of others too. He played a new song, but who knows if the verses were original or freestyles (most likely the latter).
Del was dancin' like a madman. There's a little gap, almost like a moat, in between the crowd and the stage and Del fell on stage and almost fell in there. As Pep put it in one of his freestyle verses "...and them niggas is down, my man Del is actin' like a clown..." It's always good to catch Del live. This was the first time I'd ever seen him like this, though.
So while we're waiting for the Pharcyde, some fool sprayed pepper spray into the crowd. Everyone was on the floor chillin to the tunes and everyone just started runnin for the door. Peeps was coughing and gaggin and shit. So everyone sat outside for about 15-20 minutes. I turned around and Domino was right next to me. He was talking to some guy about Del. He said that [Del] gets like that sometimes and all he does is freestyle. I spoke to Domino about how cool it was that Tajai had responded to a post I made on the bulletin board. Tajai actually went out of his way to find a single for me. Thanks goes out to T. Massy for doing some shit like that! But anyway. . .
We all go back in, and the Pharcyde comes out. They looked to be in Del's shape. Slim Kid 3 and Imani were high as the vocal tones of their nigga Bootie Brown. Fatlip was absent, a little disappointing. But they picked up the slack. They played shit like "Ya Mama", "Runnin", "Passin Me By", "Soul Flower", and "Drop". Anyway their set was done at 1:00 and everyone was out. Domino and Pep were hypin' up the Family Album to be almost done. Be on the look out, all. From the sound of Pep's "After Dark", shit is gonna be tight. The Pharcyde said they're planning on their new one to be out sometime soon too. So peep it. Flip's debut album is in the store, check it out, if you want. Peace!
-KTM
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