Attention Rappers: How To Keep Your Live Show from Sucking

(The Roots - now this is how it's done.)

The live show is the make or break for a hip-hop artist.

For an established guy, it means he doesn’t really have to do much with a track because his lyrics and cadence have set him apart from others. Rookies on the other hand have to give the performance of their life every single night in order to garner more listening ears to their respective projects. It’s one of the major elements that’s seriously missing in hip=hop these days as these concerts usually feature the same tired clichés.

I’ve been to concerts all over the state this year, from Austin’s SXSW to recently The Smoker’s Club tour in Houston and each of them have had acts who failed to generally connect with their audience because they broke some, if not all of these rules below:

40 People On Stage, Two Microphones

(Case in point)

One of the things about Dipset was that you didn’t know how many people they would bring on stage, whether it be the main foursome of Cam, Jim Jones, Juelz & Freeky or the Dips nine million other subsidiaries. Nobody wants to check for one emcee surrounded by thirty people behind him who do absolutely nothing. What are they there for? Are they supposed to hand the artist bottles of water? Is there supposed to be a timeout during the middle of the show where one weed carrier discusses the next song and how should Rapper X come with it? Leave the entourage at home, cut it down to maybe one hypeman and a DJ and you’ll be straight.

The Jay-Z Performance Isn’t For Everybody

I’ll say this now, I love Jay-Z as a performer and he’s improved leaps and bounds from his early days but that stagnant stand in front of the crowd, make a couple hand motions approach? Absolutely boring if you transfer it to somebody on the rise. Yeah, Shawn has made “standing next to Memphis Bleek” as time honored a tradition as a misunderstood rapper feinting retirement (B.o.B, KiD CuDi, Lupe Fiasco) but it’s also limited the creativity of some of today’s great rappers. Catch Fabolous & Rick Ross in concert just lumbering around in jewels and little movement. No real emotion, just a bunch of audience glances and hand movements only Drake would love. Why can Jay get away with it? Peep the atmosphere he creates. If it’s not a load of guests, it’s a live band and if not a live band, it’s an intricate setting.

If You’re Going to Perform, Perform
Nobody wants to hear a rapper try to talk over the dubbed version of his mixtape track. It not only makes you look foolish but the audience feel dumb and agitated. A crowd comes to see a track come alive, not be recited for the sake of a check. If you want to give your all and win a crowd over, try pulling the actual instrumental you rapped over to begin with and start from there? Up until this year, I didn’t know teleprompter rappers existed and now I know.

Give The Fans What They Want
If you stress bars and lyrics all day, then prove to a crowd you can rap. J. Cole’s been all over the country this year proving that to people (and has won me over twice in less than six months of watching him live) and look where he is. Bring your audience into your world, your cadence, your life on stage. Folks pay to see a story, to be hypnotized by bars, lyrics and if you’re at a Luke show, asses. I mean, if you want to pull off a minstrel show, look no further than Antoine Dodson at the *gag* BET Hip-Hop Awards for proof of that. Whatever the case may be, take a lesson from Big Daddy Kane – ain’t no half steppin’ when it comes to the stage.