Paid Dues 2011 – Black Hippy, Tabi Bonney, Exile + Fashawn + Blu

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Photo by Brandon “Belvi” Banks

Murs’ Paid Dues Festival at the NOS Event Center in San Bernadino is perfect for grazers—a bite of this, bite of that, but never so much of just one that you get tired of it (if you aren’t into hip-hop, disregard). Instead, you leave satisfied but not stuffed, even a little wanting. So many acts perform simultaneously, you have to draw straws as to which stage gets your attention.

This year felt a little boring, a little overdeveloped; not the kind of hip-hop buffet I prefer. Obviously, the masses don’t agree, as attendance this year was double (11,000) what it was last year.

Fortunately, the inclusion of insane/bizarre/genius Berkeley rapper Lil’ B made things a little messier, though Murs counteracted any possible uproar by also having Black Star and Bun B on the bill.

Highlights from our Saturday:

BLACK HIPPY

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Lamar, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and ScHoolboy Q

TopDawg Entertainment, the label that represents Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul, has been stealthily building an empire in Compton. Jay Rock released his debut single, “All My Life (In the Ghetto),” which featured Lil Wayne, in 2008, and was signed to Warner Bros. Kendrick Lamar dropped his old moniker “K.Dot,” threw his heart on the table, and drew everybody from XXL to Dr. Dre. ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul patiently waited their turns, but the sound of Q’s recently released Setbacks showed he hadn’t been resting. Expect similarly great things from Ab-Soul’s latest project, LongTerm Mentality (sounds like TDE’s mantra), which just dropped.

This group’s energy is like being inside a hive, swarming so rapidly you’re not sure which one stung you. It could be any of the four, actually—as their set Saturday confirmed.

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Jay Rock

TABI BONNEY

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If Washington, D.C., rapper Tabi Bonney’s career as a musician doesn’t pan out, he can always falls back on the master’s degree in biology he earned at Florida A&M University. We love smart rappers, so even though his show got a little swallowed up by being on the largest stage at the festival early on in the day, we still dug the way his chill manifested itself in the kushy ambience of his set. Cali hadn’t seemed to have quite caught on to him yet, but like he says in the dreamily nostalgic “Nuthin But a Hero,” “We goin’ to this place called stardom … can we leave now, before everybody else try to be down?”

EXILE + FASHAWN + BLU

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Fashawn, Exile, and Blu

Exile is lovable in real life, but as savage as they come once he gets behind an MPC. He’s also produced two of the most classic West Coast hip-hop albums of the past few years, Blu’s Below the Heavens and Fashawn’s Boy Meets World. Inside a cage set in the middle of the indoor venues (yes, you read that right; yes, it was weird), Exile DJ’ed while Fash and Blu performed songs from those albums. Maybe it doesn’t sound that spectacular. But Blu, who lately has become better known for mentally wandering offstage and leaving fans yawning during shows, seemed to catch some of Exile’s energy (or Evidence and Alchemist’s, who joined Fashawn onstage incage). He also performed one of the love-sickest hip-hop songs, “No Greater Love,” in full, making a whole lotta people a whole lotta happy.