Hip hop fans young and old bounced, jiggled and rolled into ANZ stadium for Australia’s largest urban music festival Supafest. The gin ‘n’ juice was flowing (okay – mostly just the juice), hands were up in the air, and yeah, did I mention the jiggling? Oh lordy, did they jiggle.
Keri Hillson rocked the stage in her short shorts followed by an all grown up Bow Wow who mopped the sweat off his impressive six pack and threw that into the crowd… thought there might be a riot at that stage, but the lucky girl that scored it managed to get out alive. Speaking of unnecessary violence, when Ciara came out to prove ‘she had the goodies’, things heated up so much a nasty girl fight broke out not far from the stage.
The big let down on the day was Fat Joe. His set seemed completely disconnected, and maybe it’s just me, but there’s something about an unattractive, fat man, talking himself up, while selfishly stating ‘I don’t go down baby’, that just doesn’t do it for me. My friend assured me he was good though, so we’ll just have to take his word for it. The Game, though, was blazin’ (literally). The sweet smell of ganja filled the air as he made the crowd bounce with aptly named Dope Boys. His shout out to 2Pac and Biggie went down well too with the classics California Love and Hypnotize. Respect.
That brings me to the part of the evening that saw this reviewer lose her shit! Headliners Busta Rhymes, Nelly and Snoop Dogg made sure we didn’t forget who rules the hip hop world. While Busta’s middle age spread has gotten a little out of control, he sure hasn’t lost the ability to rhyme with the speed and skill of his younger days. He even made the super serious media crowd get their hands in the air. Nice.
I completely fell in love with Nelly all over again too. Most definitely the stand out of the day, not just because he busted out his good old hits like Country Grammar, Ride Wit Me, Batter Up and Hot in Herre (yep, I’m a fan), but because he managed to make a couple of very excited teenage girls’ year when he pulled them up on stage for a dance. Respect to them too for overcoming their obvious terror and working it! I just wished it was me up there!! Marry me Nelly?!
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of checks Snoop Dogg took to the stage with his cool swagger and legendary style. The classic he collaborated on with Dr. Dre, The Next Episode started his set off and had us all bouncing, quickly followed up by a few more old school classics like Gin & Juice. I was in hip hop heaven, until the old school was replaced by new school and I was left feeling a little flat. Judging by the crowd though, they didn’t share my disdain for Snoop’s new path…
