Camp Lo, Sputnik Brown, Bobbito, Rich Medina
Element, 07.23.07

Decisions, decisions, decisions.  That was the name of the game last night, trying to decide between which free show to attend.  Ghostface was at Highline Ballroom for the free Scion Metro show and Camp Lo was at Element for a free show to mark the launch of their new album Black Hollywood.  After weighing the options, I realized I just saw Ghostface a few weeks ago at the Brooklyn Hiphop Festival and have never seen Camp Lo live before. 

Although the club layout appeared to be more suitable for a techno party with the DJ booth on the second level above the dance floor, Bobbito took over and made up for what you couldn’t see from below (I’m not sure why they didn’t just set up the turntables on the stage).  Spinning and scratching everything from Big L to De La Soul, Bobbito showed off the skills that earned him the reputation of one of New York’s most important DJs over the past decade.  His fellow Rock Steady Crew kept the party moving with b-boy’s squaring off on the floor all night.  Following Bobbito, Sputnik Brown made their way to the stage to give the crowd a brief taste of what they have to offer.  Brown, a five man army consisting of four emcees and a DJ did their thing running through a few tracks where each rapper worked off of the other. 

After a short break, the main men of the night worked their way to the stage.  Even though Uptown Saturday Night was released ten years ago, somehow I’ve never seen any footage or photographs of Camp Lo.  I guess after listening to their lyrics for years I had painted a picture in my mind of two guys rocking fros looking like some extras from the set of Superfly.  As the pictures show, I couldn’t have been any more off aside from maybe their hats. 

Willie Dynamite or not, one thing is for sure; Camp Lo can still rip it live.  Sonny Cheeba’s flow sounds just as tight as it ever did and they were able to wow the crowd even with what I thought was a weak club sound system.  Suede held it down as well and lots of respect to both of them for giving the crowd exactly what they wanted.  Rather than push all new material from Black Hollywood they said “grab the album tomorrow to hear the new singles” and went through mostly material from Uptown Saturday Night.  Tracks included ‘Black Connection,’ ‘Krystal Karrington,’ and ‘Rockin It,’ closing out with ‘Luchini’ of course.  The elevated DJ booth took a toll as it was a little strange seeing a show with no DJ on stage but Camp Lo’s energy compensated for the absence.

The club Element itself is a nice little spot with two levels (upstairs being VIP I believe) and a cool layout despite my minor issues with the sound.  Any venue that hosts a free event is always cool with me. 

Camp Lo’s performance rekindled a lot of memories about what I used to love about them, two talented emcees using insanely abstract lyrics over precise beats.  A lot of that was lost on Let’s Do It Again without Ski handling the album’s production.  However, with Ski’s return on Black Hollywood and the energy displayed last night I have no doubt that the new album will give longtime fans that sound and follow up album they have been waiting for.

Bobbito from up above

Sputnik Brown