by: Dan Bougie

    Last Tuesday First Avenue began to buzz immediately after the doors opened at 8p.m.  Hip-hoppers, beat stompers, reggae heads and plain old music fans filled the floor spaces in early anticipation; literally the floor was packed a good hour before anyone took the stage.  The bill listed Nas and Damien – Jr. Gong – Marley, but unlike the average show there was no ‘opener.’  How can there be no opener in a two-band set?  Well it was really a one-band set.  For those of you who aren’t aware, Nas and Damien are releasing a full length album together titled Distant Relatives.  In the spirit of this new cooperative enterprise they split sets into four to six song sections, alternating and sharing tracks along the way, and they even shared the band, whose five or six members never left the stage. 

      Nas was the first to take the stage to the ecstatic crowd and he opened with a vigorous performance of Hip Hop is Dead.  In one of the choruses he took the liberty to bid adieu to his milkshake-shaking girl Kelis; “Hip hop is dead, like my second marriage.”  Though I laughed pretty heartily I think this moment missed most of the crowd.  Nas also performed medleys of some of his more popular work from the late 90’s to the live mixings of his dj.  He was no let down to anyone, bringing all the stony faced intensity we’ve come to expect but also a charming happiness to be there that really made for a vibrant performance. 

      After a few songs Damien skip-stepped onto the stage to great applause and the two played a couple songs together including a remixed version of One Love by old Tuff Gong.  Then Nas disappeared, Damien made his entreaties to the herbal enthusiasts and began playing some tracks from Welcome to Jamrock.  His voice came across much more shrill than the dub bass tone of his albums but he rattled right through the reggae-tone beats toasting his words away to the anxious audience.  A couple of times the band had to restart some songs and Damien tried to smooth things over, but also ended up repeating himself “Let me see dos (h)ands again.” 

      Nas came on for a bit longer then the two performed their notorious duet “Road to Zion,” which got pretty much everyone moving.  After a short break the two came out to introduce a few of they’re newer songs.  It is definitely going to be an intriguing album that comes out this August.  The combination of Queensbridge rap with Damien’s rapid toasting techniques makes for some odd beat transitions that certainly put the backing band through its paces.  Some of it grated a little bit between Nas’ building intensity and the semi-monotonous jam of Damien’s reggae, but we’ve all seen how could the partnership can be with “Road to Zion,” lets hope the album is just as strong!

NAS & DAMIAN “JR GONG” MARLEY DISTANT RELATIVES preview from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Preview of Album by NAS & DAMIAN “JR GONG” MARLEY titled “Distant Relatives”