During a recent stop in New York City on their nationwide tour, Shad, k-os, and Astronautalis took a break from their sets to give the crowd something a little different. The three MCs took the stage together and broke into a freestyle cypher as k-os’s band provided the beat. It makes for an engaging viewing experience, and one that I’m terribly disappointed that I missed. Also, damn, man, Astro RIPS this. Makes me realize I need to hear of his music.
Anyone who reads this and saw them perform…um…HOW WAS IT?! Looks awesome, but hey, let me know. Plz.
Check the footage after the jump. Props to Rappers I Know.
Actually, props should go to my girlfriend, who I made film that video while I was nodding my head behind her.
I was in the house for this show and I have to say it was one of the best hip-hop performances I have ever seen live! Shad was amazing and I think his freestyle was the best of the 3. Astronautalis really surprised the crowd with how good he could rap and his subject matter. K-OS was top notch as usual although I wasn’t impressed by his freestyle. The venue was perfect for this type of show as there was no bad place to stand and the sound system was superb. The drink prices were a little high but considering Highline is in meat packing it wasn’t outrageous. If these guys come back to NYC I highly recommend going to see them! You will not be disappointed. You should be 420 friendly though as the aroma takes over when the lights go down, especially when K-OS hits the stage.
Sounds awesome! Thank you for the details and those photos are sick!
I was at that show. Just for short it was amazing. Everyone knows about Shad and K-OS. However Astronautalis took me by surprise. He had a pretty good flow, subject matter of his songs and was funny as hell on stage. He was tight but not because he was in good company. He absolutely held his own. Especially in the freestyle. What you don’t see in the video is that he also did a freestyle during his set about random topics from the crowd.
Then shad came on and ripped his set. He performed songs from all three albums but no “Yaa I Get It”, did not bother me though. He performed with his DJ T-Lo and guitar players backing him up. He put his new verse from “Rose Garden RMX” in the middle of his originals during the performance. He killed the rest of his set and the crowd was yelling “one more song” but then he gave way to K-OS.
K-OS comes out and I am not BSing at all. He daps me up during his first song “Tom Sawyer.” It might be new but I can remember because I was still star struck. He flies through classics like superstar but he killed it when he performed “Joni Mitchellin’ Peelin’ Out” off the Anchorman Mixtape. He ripped it and it was amazing. The crowd was into it the whole time. When his set was done, before the freestyle portion, he totally remixed “I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman” by starting out with “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. Then goes right into Phantom Planet’s “California”, but instead of singing California, he changed it to New York City which just elevated the show. Then proceeding to perform “Natalie Portman” was nothing short of amazing. So tight to see it live. The band was amazing. Astro, Shad and K-OS were amazing and it was a show to remember for real. I hope that the shows in the other cities were like this one.
There were all professional as this was one of the venues close to the end of the tour. A stellar performance. One question to everyone else. Do you prefer small venues like the NYC Highline Ballroom (I do) or concert festivals like Rock The Bells. Anyway it was amazing and here is a link to some pictures of the show. http://www.hificartel.com/photos/k-os/ Peace.