Doubters and haters would have been shut down
By Kenya Vaughn
For the St. Louis American
Anybody wanting to be convinced that the St. Louis rap scene is a marketable machine doesn’t need to see Nelly’s Grammy or Chingy’s multi-platinum plaque. All they had to do was roll into the Missouri Black Expo about 7 p.m. last Saturday night.
Doubters and haters would have been shut down when they saw the stage bum-rushed by teenage girls falling as if from the sky, landing close enough to grab Murphy Lee’s hand, pull on his clothes and scramble for the T-shirts he threw out. It was if they were trying to catch the bouquet at a wedding.
As a matter of fact, the people on the anti-hip-hop campaign would have needed to go sit down before Murphy Lee even made it to his show. A visit to the Gear Up Leadership Summit would have cleared up any confusion about the power and potential of the genre. Seeing how the rappers, including Chingy, could bring out young folks first thing in the morning on a positive vibe to discuss the importance of family would have been enough for the game point. But that’s literally another story.
Back to the concert. Anyone who saw that brother in the imitation Louis Vitton cap (getting down so tough that he probably needed Gatorade after the show) would know that dude’s energy came from the hype of Murphy Lee’s national act status. He was grooving to performers that he probably had never seen before.
Before Murphy Lee sounded off on stage, some serious technical difficulties allowed some other up-and-coming members of his crew and label to showcase their skills. Even though most people – especially old boy in the cap – didn’t know them, they could hear that their tracks had some fire.
Once the sound got right and Murph’s voice came through the speakers, the girls went into fanatic mode, carrying on like they were at a B2K concert. But the constant, strategically orchestrated pauses in the music allowed him to flex his freestyle flow, so he let the folks know he had skills and was much more than a pretty boy.
His set was filled with songs that made him and the St. Lunatics household names. He also worked in the bit parts he had in collaboration songs like “Shake a Tail Feather” with Diddy and fellow Lunatic Nelly. Noticeably missing from his set was “Love Me Baby.” Although it was not as popular commercially has some of the other songs, it is arguably his best.
Murphy Lee was joined on stage by partner in rhyme Potzee, another local rapper who has been getting national attention. He chimed in with Lee and also sang his heavily rotated radio and club hit “Dat Girl.”
In what can be described as a strange move at best, Potzee opted out of performing last year’s laid-back summer jam “Good Evening.” It is Potzee’s biggest hit and, conveniently enough, sang by him and Murphy Lee, of all people. The two of them being on the same stage at the same time and not doing that joint probably left more than a few people scratching their heads. Especially since Murphy Lee was using tracks to do collabo songs with people who weren’t even in the same state.
The crowd didn’t seem to mind, though. They didn’t care that Murphy Lee hasn’t had a new song out in a while either. They got down and sang along like all of them were in radio rotation right now. The just had a good, clean show that everyone seemed to enjoy.
The Murphy Lee-Potzee show, with a quick J-Kwon beat jack, gave an undertone of unity and St. Louis love. And anyone who happened to stop by the rap show and the Eric Benet concert on Sunday will also have to admit that they also brought more of the masses – proving that there is really something to this St. Louis hip-hop scene.
