Concert Review: Naughty By Nature Rip It Up In Vancouver
Pop Opera was slammed last night for Naughty By Nature’s Vancouver Show. It was so packed that if you weren’t at your desired location way before the concert started, you had to forget about getting there. The show started late. I was thinking Naughty would be on sooner but I guess that can’t happen with two openers. I only caught opener Anami Vice because during the second opener (Heatwave and Lamar Ashe), I was interviewing and eating licorice with Naughty By Nature. Stay tuned for the interview!
Anami Vice was awesome. His rhymes were clear and the crowd loved him. It’s impossible to not sing along to tracks like “Call and Response”. I highly recommend checking him out live, you’ll have a helluva’ good time. My favourite track of his last They Made Me Do It album and of the night was “Take Your Shirt Off”. It’s such a great party track. And after a few drinks, well…you can imagine what people start doing after listening to that track. Nuv from Review 2 A Kill says it best: ”The moral of the story: you can’t get shit off your chest with a shirt in the way.” Check out his new video for “Call and Response” here. I also had a chance to interview Anami before the show so stay tuned for that interview as well!
After I interviewed NBN, I walked up with them so they could hit the stage. No wait, first they stopped at the bar for a bottle of Hennessey and eventually made their way to the stage. Honestly, I don’t know how they even made it up there. I’m a feisty little bugger and I couldn’t weasel my way through the crowd. The again, I didn’t have four bouncers “gently” clearing my path!
Anyways, NBN rocked it. They’re known for their anthems and that’s what they gave us last night. Drinks were a flying, bodies were a grinding, and people were just straight up having the time of their lives listening to a bunch of oldies but goodies. The crowd was awesome: half young, half old, and all there to appreciate some good ol’ hip hop.
It’s amazing how to this day, certain songs, no matter how old, make a crowd lose their shit. You think they’d seen Santa or something. As you can probably imagine, it only took a few certain songs to make the night perfect: “OPP”, “Jamboree”, “Hip Hop Hooray”.
Other honourable mentions: “Craziest”, “Everything’s Gonna To Be Alright”, “Get To Know Me Better”. And when they weren’t playing they’re classic hits, they were sampling other party classics like “Party Up In Here”, “Jump Around”, and a bunch of others.
The concert was great. Normally I can only take so much hip hop at a time without feeling like it’s getting repetitive or that I’m not badass enough. I think NBN did a good job of mixing up their set and I definitely think they’re worth checking out if you want to hear a bunch of classic hip hop anthems.
Set List:
OPP
Uptown Anthem
Dirt All By My Lonely
Guard Ya Grill
Craziest
Run Off/It’s On
Party Up – Jump – Land Down Under
Everything’s Gunna Be Alright
Know Me Better
Jamboree
Feels Good
Holiday
Pac-Riders (Get Around – Hailmary)
Mourn U
California Love – G Thang – Gin & Juice
Seven
Sucker MCs – Rappers Deligh
Feel Me Flow
Hip Hop Hooray
Thanks to the team over at DHM for helping us out. Check out their website and their newest single, “Get to Know Me Better”:
Photos by Jay Haddow, courtesy of Review 2 A Kill. See the full gallery here.
