Flava-Flaaaaav!
Had you suggested to me as recently as three weeks ago that tonight I would be attending a Public Enemy concert, and shockingly, enjoying it, I would have surely smiled weakly and patted you on the head and sent you on your way. But wonder of wonders that's exactly what happened. Now, if you ask me the question in general terms "Do you like Rap?" My answer would be no. But that's not entirely true. I like what I call "anthem" Rap. Those big, powerful call and response Raps with a recognizable hook and a backbeat that when you first hear the first few measures, the crowd, regardless of race or age, leaps to their feet, arms in the air transported and responding as one. To the empathic, it's like a drug, or sex, as you feel wave after wave of collective ecstasy strike you in the gut and radiate throughout your body. It is tribal, it is communication, it is raw human emotion expressed and experienced through music.
Besides, Public Enemy isn't just any Rap group. They're freakin' Public Enemy. If not one of the originals, certainly one of the first superstars. They have history, and as such the crowd transcended what you would consider a stereotypical Rap crowd. By my estimate they were split 50/50 black and white, probably 70/30 male/female (more men), and I would put the median age of the crowd squarely at 30. These people came for the music. Not to get fucked up. Not to knock around an impromptu mosh pit. Indeed, I was working the main security door and I saw only one intoxicated white man escorted out the whole night. There were no arguments or fist fights.
If there was one obvious star amongst the group, if he wasn't always, it was Flava-Flav. The crowd went wild when he took the stage and from then on it was Public Enemy feat. Flava-Flav. I haven't had the chance to write about how much I'm enjoying the current Surreal Life on VH1. I have found it to be hilarious, sad, shocking and always wildly entertaining. If you've been following the show, an amazing subplot has been the burgeoning romance between Flava-Flav and Brigitte Nielsen. Sensing ratings gold (and rightly so) the powers that be over at VH1 have already signed the pair to a new reality series called "Mad Love". So of course, a camera crew from Mad Love was on hand to document Flava-Flav's performance. By the end of Public Enemy's set Flav was left on stage to introduce his kids, I counted three but there could have been more, and then finally the big payoff as he introduced Red Sonja herself. Fortunately, they seemed to have caught her between liquor fueled bouts of un-consciousness, as out she popped bright-eyed and looking well, awake at least. Flav expressed his true love for the former Mrs. Stallone, some onstage passionate kisses were exchanged, I think Brigitte said a few things, then Flav played her a drum solo, Brigitte gyrated, children grew frightened, and.... scene.
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