Feb 23 - Chingy: ''Bullet In the Brain of Hip-Hop?''

    

 

 

Walking down the stairs, pushing through all of the young women in their tight tops and even tighter pants and their equally sharp boyfriends at the House of Blues in Anaheim last Friday, one could sense that people were there for a good time. Everybody was flossing their new gear, the drinks were flowing lovely, and people were crowding the bar and the pit was waiting impatiently for Warren G and Chingy to come out and get it crunk. The House of Blues was looking polished as well, with a brilliant sound system and state of the art lighting that set the proper mood.

Warren G opened the show, and rocked the crowd the way a veteran with more than ten years of experience should. There was nothing flashy about The G-Child’s set. He rocked some black Adidas pants and a black shirt, and he didn't need to resort to anything gimmicky - he used his words and his beats to get the crowd on their feet. He was getting love from the house throughout all his set with his G-Funk era joints, but the crowd really came alive when he ripped into "I Want It All", and had the entire crowd singing along to the chorus. Then, after a few more joints, he announced that his set had to be cut short and left the stage, leaving everybody riled up because they did not get to hear Regulators, the classic Warren G cut that launched his career. Soon after, a voice trembled from the stage. "Did I forget something?" Warren asked, before returning to the stage as the introductory synth-whistling from "Regulators", off of his 1994 release "Regulate... G Funk Era", began to play. When the crowd heard that sound, every single hand in the house gravitated upwards. He absolutely ki1led it on that track, and left the stage to a deafening roar of appreciation from the crowd.

After a short intermission, the curtains opened up again to the DJ announcing the arrival of Chingy. Read More...

From the moment Chingy and his entourage came to the stage, it was plainly obvious that this would be a very different performance from the previous set. Clothed in name brand gear and dripping ice all over the place, Chingy and his crew came on to a mixed reaction from the crowd. The ladies, who were definitely out in force, showed him much love as they danced along to his songs. The fellas, on the other hand, seemed to be generally unimpressed. Chingy, along with G.I.B. went through a few tracks from his new album Powerballin, like "Fall'n", "We Clubbin'", and "Wurr Da Git It Gurlz At". At this mention of girls, Chingy brought up a couple of ladies on stage to see if they could "Make That a$s Talk", which they did remarkably well. However, their fluid and beautiful dancing did not save them from a resounding dismissal from the audience, and another group of girls was brought on stage to see how well they could do. Of the three girls that got onstage, one definitely stole the spotlight, as the skirt she was wearing was... shall we say “quite scandalous.” She did not have the dancing ski1ls of the two other girls, but the sight of her a$s made her the center of everybody's attention. As my first time witnessing an event like this, I was astounded by it. The sacking of the first group of girls seemed to act like a warning for the second group; they knew they would have to degrade themselves even more for the enjoyment of this group of men or they would face the same banishment suffered by the previous group. Needless to say, I was rather distressed and dismayed by this part of the show.

Following this spectacle, with a short interlude of "26's", in which Chingy showed that he not only had love for scantily clad women but big wheels as well, it seemed somewhat ironic that he went into the song "One Call Away". This was undoubtedly the best song out of his entire set, and even the fellas were nodding their heads to the laidback production and catchy chorus. He finished up with "Right Thurr", but even this, his signature track, didn't arouse much love from the crowd. At the end of the set, a peal of simulated gunshots rang out, signaling the end of the night. The show was definitely on the short side, beginning at around 8:30 and ending two hours later at 10:30. For the price of admission, this seemed rather short, but everyone got to hear the hits they came to hear, so hopefully they left satisfied.

Whether or not this was a good show largely depends on what you came out to see. For the people that came to have a few drinks, get crunk and dance, this was a good night. For the people that came for a long night of music and entertainment, well, hopefully they got their money's worth. For those people whose tastes in hip-hop fall on the side of De La and Zion I, the simulated gunshots ending Chingy's performance rang out like 9mm slugs slamming into the brain of hip-hop there that night; leaving it slumped lifelessly on the stage of the House of Blues. But all hope is not lost: Warren G proved that when he showed us all that real hip-hop still has plenty of breath left.