On Oct. 23, Cat’s Cradle was the place to be for Triangle hip-hop fans. 9th Wonder and Phonte were performing in addition to The Away Team, Rapsody, HaLo, and Median. The night even featured a surprise performance by King Mez. Not performing, but seen, were Actual Proof and Nicolay, producer from The Foreign Exchange. It was an obvious N.C. family affair.
The first half of the night was DJ’ed by Justus League’s DJ Flash, who scratched over performances by HaLo, Median, and The Away Team. All performed some of their newest material. Sean Boog impressed the crowd with his dexterity and entertained them with his antics.
Rapsody was on stage next, and DJ Flash was replaced with 9th Wonder. Rapsody inundated the crowd with her motto, “culture over everything,” and thanked the crowd for supporting her newest album, Thank H.E.R. Now. Rapsody had a solid performance, rapping to both her composed tracks and off the dome on beats created by 9th Wonder. Jamla R&B singer Heather Victoria came out and helped with the performance.
Following her, and introduced with accompanying Star Wars music, was Phonte. He performed some of the tracks off of 9th Wonder’s The Wonder Years album; “Band Practice Pt. 2” was performed by both him and Median. This was later followed by “The Life of Kings,” with King Mez, toward the end of the show. “The Life Of Kings” was one of the few new tracks from Charity Starts At Home that he performed.
9th Wonder and Phonte are getting older, but have shown they can still put on a hell of a show. It’s nice to see that their music has matured along with them. During the show, Phonte took a moment to talk about their dramatic feud and mentioned how special it was that they were now performing together. Both have new albums out that are worth a listen.