City Paper Digi-Cam | Image by 1st Family Entertainment
Thursday was a cold and drizzly night in Dundalk, but it was almost unbearably hot inside the Black Hole Rock Club, where fans had packed in tight for one of the best local hip-hop bills in recent memory. The label and crew 1st Family Entertainment demonstrated its growing importance in Baltimore rap by putting together the Master Showcase, and inviting a bunch of their contemporaries both from Baltimore city and from down in Washington and Virginia. Like any hip-hop show with a couple dozen different acts listed on the flier, the show went on for hours, and wasn't always good, but it moved along at a satisfyingly efficient pace, balancing unknowns with established names.
Early in the night there was a DJ battle, but local turntable legend DJ Vicious V made sure it was a pretty one-sided one with his usual fancy tricks, as he has at so many other competitions over the years. As for MCs, Huli Shallone took his shirt off and played his usual bleak trap music, while Ckrisis played a short set that ended with his sorely slept on 2007 single "Down For Whatever," and it was great to hear that track light up the club for a few minutes. One well known artist not billed as a performer, NOE, showed up and briefly hit the stage just to say some encouraging words to other MCs, from the perspective of someone who's been jetting all over the country with Jim Jones as of late and, presumably, living the good life.
The show hit a snag when the token R&B act of the night, female singer Moochie, began her set. Her ridiculous stage show, featuring back-up dancers and a weird cardboard cutout of herself that was more visible to the audience than the actual singer, felt sorely out of place in the middle of a grimy hip-hop show. And her material, with the exception of the Vanity 6-sample "Pickles & Fruit," wasn't really strong enough to transcend that clash.
1st Family, of course, had to jump up and play their own show, so crew members Dave Da Barber, Block Hugga, and Sonny Gramz performed a high energy set beginning with their most popular track, "Chop Chop," and ending with the new anthem "I'm So Baltimore," which may soon become as popular based on the response in the Black Hole.
After a brief set by N.E.K. group-mate Dollars, the biggest name of the night, Bossman, ran out to play a few songs, including his current single, "Break Me Off." The song has been something of a shot in the arm for the East Baltimore MC's career, which was in a lull after he left a long-dormant deal with Virgin Records. With "Break Me Off" quickly becoming his biggest radio smash to date, however, he recently inked a new deal with Interscope Records and MySpace Music, and seemed more excited to perform than ever. After that high point, though, Whitefolkz, a corny gimmick rapper from Washington, was up next, so we started to head to the exit, just as half the club seemed to be thinking the same thing.
