I was thinking the other day about how I’ve never had the chance to see any of my favorite rappers live - from MF Doom to Ghostface, GZA to Madlib, it just seems like rappers either don’t tour, or don’t perform live in nearly the capacity that rock bands are, who tend to spend a good 9 months out of the year on the road.
Why?
Here are some possibilities:
They do, it’s just that the shows aren’t publicized as well as rock shows are, or happen at clubs that don’t have the advertising budget to get the word out, so it seems like they don’t.
Hip Hop artists not working below the “stadium” level - all but the most popular mainstream rappers like Jay-Z or 50 Cent - don’t have access to a nationwide network of small clubs like punk and indie rock bands do. The weirder alternative-rap groups have even less access to venues than smaller mainstream rap artists.
“Hitting the road” just isn’t as big a part of Hip Hop culture as it is to punk or rock bands; it’s not the same time-honored tradition and isn’t expected of an artist. Hip hop artists, even the mainstream C-listers and weirder indie groups, get by on local and semi-local shows due to heavy regional followings.
WAG - its probably jolly difficult to recreate the studio sound of most rap/hip-hop songs, w all the sampling, mixing, overdubs, etc. It seems like when I’ve seen rappers on TV (eminem on SNL, for instance) they sing over the studio versions of their songs.
Answer (1), with some modification. They tour, but you’re not aware of it, the same as you may not be aware of the latest developments in jazz, or opera, or whatever. Unscientific example - 50 Cent’s website lists 40 gigs from the past three months. That’s enough to match all but the most punishing of touring scedules.
I saw my first rap show in a long time back in July, and I came to the conclusion that live rap hasn’t progressed at all since Run DMC–actually since the Jamacian soundsystem toasters. Rock and roll lends itself to live performance. Rap, not so much. And I’m saying this as someone who likes and respects rap as an artform. Hell, I saw DJ Spooky–a renown turntablist–just three weeks ago and the limitations of his form in the live setting were quite evident. Rap just sounds beter in the studio than live.
Heck, even here in the Oh Kay Cee we see plenty of rap tours. we have quite a few different size venues, tho. That might have something to do with it.
I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, a you dont stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat
Shame the BBC Radio 1 Kanye West gig was only available for a week. It destroyed everything in this argument. I’m sure it’s available illegally, but I can’t talk about that.
I’d argue that this is a chicken-or-egg thing; do live rap shows suck because the performers don’t perform much, or do they not perform much because they’re bad live performers?
I saw Aesop Rock and El-P live, along with some other Def Jux (one of the better indie rap labels around) people, and it was horrible. I mean just fucking awful - each person screamed the lyrics, overloading and distorting the microphone, and they insisted on doing the “let’s get 20 people on stage, all shouting the lyrics into their own mics until it’s one big, unlistenable mess.”
Too many live rap performances are just glorified karaoke. They do tour, but a lot of the time, it isn’t even worth it. And don’t get me wrong, I consider myself in the loop as far as hip-hop goes. It just doesn’t lend itself to live performance.
Rappers tour all the time. GZA is currently in the middle of a nation-wide tour, and I believe Ghostface just finished one. In fact, for underground rappers, most of their money is made touring. Most of these shows just happen to be in small venues, so you won’t know about it unless you’re looking.
Well, as I understand it, at least Ludacris got hoes in different area codes, so it seems like he’s doing some touring.
As a serious answer, I have to question the efficacy of touring when (admittedly as not a rap fan) it seems that every major radio release has a “Featuring somebody else” tag on it. For the big name rappers, there seems like at least half a dozen different collaborations per album with other big names that cannot and will not show up, city after city, for one collaborative track.
Rap acts do play tour dates, but it’s usually not huge stadiums. I don’t know what the “official” reason is, but the reason told to me by a local club owner in the St Louis area is because there’s too much trouble at rap shows. Huge stadiums demand too much insurance coverage for most rap acts to afford to play.
…The guy that told me this used to have two clubs in the metro-area, one primarily black and the other primarily white customers, on the same street, within a couple blocks of each other. He closed the black one a few years back because even though it got a lot of business, the liability costs connected with all that went on there (people fighting and suing him for liability) cost him most of the profits.
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I’ve seen Jurassic 5 twice in the past 5 years and both times rank as some of the best times in my life. They just bring so much positive energy and sublime skills that you end up smiling for weeks after they’ve played.
Jurassic 5 is probably my favorite rap group. I also like Outkast, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Kool Keith (and all his various personas), Kanye West, Jay-Z, Dre, Snoop, and Ludacris, and I respect Eminem’s skills. But I think they’re all a cut above the average. Most hip-hop I hear on the radio leaves me cold – no substance and minimal style, pushed by their producers and labels for no discernible reason other than the fact they might look good in music videos. I can’t imagine your typical rapper would be any good in a live setting.