All That Carmen San Diego Paid Off

So when I was younger I used to always play Carmen Sandiego...and not to brag but I was pretty good...the problem solving part of my brain always worked better than the creative side but that was probably the last time I had to do some detective work. Picking up on non-verbal cues has never been my forte (see all past relationships) but when a problem lies in plain sight I can usually get it figured out...

So first off let me back track a tad... when I'm out in Germany (6 hours ahead of NY) and I wake up to Crooked I's (LA rapper 3 hours behind NY) late night tweets like "glad we had such a good turnout at the impromptu show tonight" I started to learn that people will really give no word to where they're going to be except on Twitter...I never paid it any mind until the European Slaughterhouse Dates online conflicted to what these dudes had on their Twitter accounts...so after that, I started to base my knowledge of where they perform on their Twitter accounts.

So now all week they were being "Shady" Royce Da 59 was out in LA with Crooked I at the Lakers Game...Joell Ortiz was getting shows in Boston canceled...and Joe Buddens was just being Joe Buddens. But I started to hear the innanets buzzing about a show in NYC...so now I'm locked in to every tweet they make because the first time I saw them perform at Rock The Bells they killed it...but it was a small stage out back (because Wu-Tang was there...some of you may remember that). Anyway all I see is Slaughterhouse x Eminem NYC June 21st...so now I'm on Eminems Twitter, NYC shows' Twitter blah blah blah and no one is giving me a solid answer.

So I go online and find out about this Road to 8 Mile rap battle...but it's at the Bowery Ballroom (200 people maximum)...he can't be doing a show there...and then I see it...Eminem writes online that the first 50 people that email emonletterman@gmail.com get to see his performance live in NYC...album dropping the same day...the whole works...so I'm like that has to be it...but I can't get tickets for Letterman...I emailed anyway though. Ended up getting on the standby list for Letterman but also copped two tickets for this RedBull Road To 8 Mile show...just incase...

So now my best friend and I drive down to New York City and catch up...it's been awhile since we kicked it and he's working full time...finally got some time off and I told him about this Lupe styled Fiasco that was going on. He has not ventured off into the Twitter world and seemed lost when I tried explaining to him that I bought tickets because of rumors...but he's the kind of guy who respects real Hip-Hop and would've been fine with just seeing the Freestyle Battles.

So (yes I'm going to start every paragraph with "so") now we're down there at this quaint quiet little ballroom that can barely hold 300 people. Any more than that is a guaranteed fire hazard, but we're there early and we're standing right down by the stage and the DJ is on stage playing a ton of NY rappers keeping the crowd entertained (unlike the Drake concert a week back) and we're having a few drinks waiting for everything to get started. Then I see The Alchemist who is a judge later that night and I'm telling my boy that him and I used to go to the same barber back when I was in college so as he's walking by, I go "yo do you still get your haircut by Steve?" and he looked at me and said "I was just there" and from his crooked line up I figured he wasn't lying. But he was just on WorldStarHipHop with Eminem and Royce Da 59 drinking RedBulls wasn't he? We'll come back to that later..

So now the MC battle is about to begin...there are four white guys and four black guys and it just so happened, randomly of course, that in each of the first round battles a white guy was battling a black guy...now we all know black people can rap better (Vanilla Ice and Eminem cancel each other out) but of the four rappers that advanced...3 were black...and I'm just saying that to say that the judges were wrong...the one white guy that advanced shouldn't have and the two that didn't should have (the other guy got cooked pretty bad). Now I'm internalizing this like Eminem in 8 Mile...because rumors have it that he's showing up tonight...Bunny Rabbit...gotta beat the 3 black guys to advance...it's working out perfect...that was until round two where he choked and got booed off the stage.

So now we're waiting for the Final round and Bun-B rolls thru, Royce Da 59 is kicking it with the judges and I see Joell Ortiz walk in. I immediately shout YAOWA (ya'll actually one world away) which is his individual little ad-lib catchphrase and he immediately looked up and dapped me up...so now Royce and Joell are in the building...Joe BuddenEminem but I would have been FINE with just them...Finals are over...DNA wins over the crowd with a shoutout to the judges (something about my homies just blaze...) and then finished with a shoutout to the XM radio station (like Shade 45 I'm Dead Sirius...then something about being over for this Maxi Pad...Period) and with that...DNA took the title

So we're waiting for the DJ to make an announcement after the finals because now all four members of Slaughterhouse are present and accounted for. They finally come out one by one and kill their song Sound Off...they then pay a tribute to Hip Hop with their song Woodstock Hood Hop...have us all hold our one's up in the air and The One and finally finish with my favorite Slaughterhouse song... Microphone

 So...I'm all set...my favorite Hip Hop group did 2 of my favorite songs and I got to see a very good rap battle all for $20 (4 Jim Beam & Cokes cost more than two tickets)...then Slaughterhouse exits stage left and no one moves...the "Shady" chant starts and the DJ walks off the stage...hmmmm??? Come to find out the Alchemist is going to be on the 1's and 2's for this "special performance." If it wasn't obvious before it just became clear to everyone there that Eminem was going to be performing. But we were nervous all night because we were hearing that he was on a rooftop performing Renegade with Jay-Z and I know he was supposed to be on Letterman tonight...but who the hell else could upstage Slaughterhouse at this concert???

So I'm getting the vibe all night...especially looking at the crowd that most people weren't there to see the rap battle...you could just get that sense...they were there because of the fact that Eminem was rumored to show...so all of a sudden the Over beat by Drake comes on and people are looking around like...wtf??? Is Drake here? No way, he was just in LA pulling Kobe on stage wasn't he? Well his concert did get shut down? Wait a minute...then this big ass black dude runs out on stage and I'm like no way is that Ving Rhames? Turned out it was Mr. Porter (from D12) and Eminem came out spitting his Despicable Freestyle

He then goes into On Fire and Won't Back Down...I didn't expect him to give us a 10-song set for $20 so I was cool with the 3 he decided to do...he then got a little emotional thanking the fans from Day One...telling us that he wouldn't be where he was today if he didn't start out battling...gave a tribute to his boy Proof and then walked off stage...people started cheering Encore and part of me thought that that he was going to bring Slaughterhouse out and perform Session One aka My New Favorite Song with a mystery verse from Joe Budden...but that would have just been asking too much. Night was over and I went home...but definitely the highlight of my summer to date

You probably won't hear from me again until AFTER Vegas...things are bound to get a little craaaaazy but whatever I can remember/am allowed to blog about I will...

"Do What You Do" --blackhercules21