A bit of background before i start this story. When i was in college i was in a band of sorts, meaning me and my friend Erik would go to open mike nights and cover various songs and have a good time bragging to people that our band was gonna be huge. While this was going on, Erik introduced me to various different bands that i had never heard of. One of them was Atmosphere. For those of you who don't know, Atmosphere is a rap group made up of a really talented guy on the turntables calles Ant and a rapper with an amazing gift called Slug. The group also used to have a second MC called Spawn but he left the group a while ago. Recently Atmosphere released an album called GodLovesUgly on Rhymesayers records and they were touring to promote it. At a date on this tour Slug met a girl named Carliegh and, as the song says "we all know how people like to get down." after her night of passion, Carliegh went home with Slug's number in her pocket and called her friend Erik and asked if he wanted to meet Slug at a later date on the tour. Erik then called me and this is where we pick up the story.
I was so psyched for this weekend to come. Not only was i going to go see Atmosphere play in Champaign, but the bill also featured Brother Ali (another rapper), Mr. Dibbs (a really talented DJ who spins for Atmosphere on tour) and Spawn had been replaced (for now anyway) with Blueprint from Soul Position. This lineup was worth going to see anyway, but i was going to see Erik again and i was also going to meet one of my favorite rappers, Slug. Erik had called me about a week before and asked me what i was doing on Sunday. i said i wasn't really doing anything. He asked me if i wanted to go see the new Eminem movie with he, Carliegh and Slug. This is even more reason to be pumped up.
I get home at around 1:30 in the afternoon to wait for Erik to get to Springfield from Madison. I knew i was early since Erik was supposed to get there at around two, but that's OK, i thought. It will give me time to get the concert pack ready. For those of you who have gone to shows with me, you know that i always have my backpack with me containing a notebook (to record the event), a camera (for the same reason), bottles of water, cookies, a map (in case i get lost) and a book (in case i get bored). I collected the stuff and began reading a book, waiting. Finally at around 4:30 i knew i had to leave. The venue is an hour and a half away and the show starts at six. I printed out directions for Erik and left them on the door in an envelope with his name on and started driving. After a little while on the road, i thought "that's not fair to just drop him like that. I mean, he doesn't know where he is, he's been driving for how many hours and then he finds out he has to drive some more. i should go back and wait for him." so i double back and reach my house about 5:30. Sure enough, the note is gone, meaning Erik has been and gone. FUCK!
I get back on the road and haul off for Champaign. I reach it at exactly seven and walked toward the venue. I found Erik standing outside having a smoke. We talked for a bit and he said there was going to be no movie. I was like "What?" and Erik said "Slug said something about just wanting to stay in his hotel room and he wants Carliegh to stay there with him. I think that means no movie." I was a little miffed but was still excited for the show so i asked Erik where we had to go. He led me inside to a table in the bar area where a girl looked at me and said "Are you Rob?" i said yeah and she jumped up and gave me this huge hug. This was Carliegh, our benefactor this evening. She sat down at the table next to this tall skinny guy with a soul patch on a cell phone. He looked up at me as i sat down and gave me the manly nod and a 'one second' gesture and pointed to the phone. i nodded.
When he finished the phone call i held out my hand and said "Is is Slug or Shawn or Mr. Dailey?" "Shawn," he said "And you're Rob?" i said yeah. Then i pulled one of the cooler lines i have mustered when meeting someone i admire. I handed him my ticket and said "Can you sign this before i start talking to you and you become a real person?" He smiled and said sure. While he was signing i decided to be a dick and said "So, you don't want to see the new Eminem movie?" Please note, i had no idea if the question had even been put to him about me and Erik going to the movie. All i knew for sure was he had invited Carliegh. He looked at me, suprised, and said "Yeah i do. We were talking about all going together. You guys wanna come?" I said sure and asked Carliegh to give me and Erik a call when she knew what time.
Slug finished signing the ticket (pocketing my green sharpie at the same time) and promptly turned his attention back to Carliegh. No big deal i thought, but Erik was fuming. He kept on saying Slug was being a dick and was ignoring everyone and what the fuck. I shrugged. I had gotten the autograph and had gotten an invitation to see a movie starring one of my favorite rappers from one of my favorite rappers so i was happy. We went in to see Brother Ali's set.
I had seen Brother Ali perform about a year ago in Chicago at the Metro. He is a very high energy performer and puts a lot into his rhymes, but when he freestyles, he gets to be like a gunslinger. An amazing thing to watch. We watched his set and put our hands in the air like we just didn't care and all that. Afterwards i approached Brother Ali to ask him about his new album. He looked at me for a second and said "Metro!" I was like, "what?" "You were at the Metro show like a year ago." I said yeah (suprised he would have remembered our five minute conversation then). We talked for a bit about his new album and whether or not he was going to re-release the now out-of-print album Rites of Passage. As we finished our conversation, Atmosphere was about to take the stage.
Blueprint and Slug did some amazing raps (including UNLIMITED by Soul Position and a little known track Blueprint did with Aesop Rock called ALCHEMY) and kept the energy going throughout the show. As the show ended (in true Rhymesayers style with all the MCs freestyling for a bit), the crowd pushed and shoved its way out the doors, sweeping Erik, Carliegh and i with it. Erik ended up at the merch table where he got Mr. Dibbs to sign a CD for him. Erik and i left to get back to Springfield to sleep, Carliegh went to find Slug.
The next day we got a call around one o'clock from Carliegh telling us where to meet them in Champaign. We left and arrived about 2:45 and found Slug and Carliegh sitting by a reseraunt. "Nice car, man." Slug said.
We all piled into the shiny car and got moving. We reached the theatre and Slug and i talked for a little while he had a smoke, mostly about a rapper called Aesop Rock and how i had heard, much to my dismay, that he was done rapping. Our converrsation drifted to Slug's article in URB magazine and then to Eminem. It seemed a logical place to stop, in that we were going in to see Eminem on screen. It turned out that it was not just me, Erik, Carliegh and Slug. The whole Rhymesayers crew was there. I was watching a rap movie with three rappers and three DJs! (this would be like going to see a Sonny Chiba film with your Karate instructor). Through most of the rapping sequences, i just watched the rappers around me for reactions. Mr. Dibbs and Brother Ali seemed to enjoy ripping on most of the DJs in the film.
When the film ended with a huge freestyle battle between Eminem's character and his rival, the lights came up and we all exited the theatre. Slug looks at me and says, "You know, i really want to go freestyle now. I wanna battle." he turned and looked at the rest of the Rhymesayers and said "Guys, I wanna be a rap star!" They all looked at him and i patted him on the shoulder and said, "We all have dreams Shawn."
It was a good experience to hang out with one of my favorite musicians and not have him turn out to be a narcisistic asshole like when i met Robin Zander of Cheap Trick.