On Monday night, The Creative Differences Tour hits campus, featuring west-coast sensations Living Legends, Rhymesayers’ Eyedea & Abilities, and Los Angeles underground staples 2Mex, xololanxino, and Busdriver. It may just be the Ohio hip-hop show of the year.
Headliners Living Legends took shape in the early 90’s, with BFAP and PSC heading the charge. The two were known as the Mystic Journeymen and quickly gained recognition in the Bay Area for their Oakland loft parties. The Grouch joined the crew in 1994 and the fledgling Legends crew began selling 4-track tapes in Berkeley to provide money for food, rent, and tours of Europe and Japan. Eligh, Scarub, and MURS later joined the group after their LA-based Log Cabin Crew folded. Aesop and Bicasso followed soon after, completing the current lineup of the Living Legends.
Each MC is well-respected and highly skilled in his own right, but the coming together of the entire Living Legends crew on Monday night should be an event that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Also on the bill is Minneapolis’ Eyedea & Abilities. Like his Rhymesayers label-mate, Slug (of Atmosphere), Eyedea is a self-aware and curious MC. He’s also won three national MC Battles, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone who has heard him. At a blistering pace and with a nasal voice, he raps about everything from his place on the high school totem pole to his place in the universe. Accompanying him on the ones and twos is DJ Abilities who has an ear for breaks and scratching similar to that of DJ Shadow.
2Mex and xololanxino, along with a guest appearance by MC Busdriver, will be rounding out Monday’s ‘Sco blowout. Busdriver is best known for his involvement with Project Blowed, a Los Angeles-based community group that teaches the ins and outs of independent hip-hop and promotes self-expression through said medium. 2mex and xololanxino (pronounced cholo-lan-cinco) are also well-networked Los Angeles underground heavyweights. The duo has worked with artists such as The Visionaries and Afterlife, and have performed and recorded as OMD (Of Mexican Descent).
Obies can’t say they’ve been completely without quality hip-hop. The past semester saw the likes of Del Tha Funky Homosapien and People Under The Stairs roll into the ‘Sco, along with performances by Atmosphere and Sage Francis in nearby Cleveland.
But with a lineup like Monday’s, it should be a no brainer: come to the ‘Sco on Monday and be ready to get down.
The ‘Sco. Monday, Feb. 24 at 9 p.m. $6 OCID, $12 General Public. Tickets available at Wilder Desk and at the door.