Robot Monsters 2: Gran Rapids, Mad Rad, & Fresh Espresso
Hip-hop/ rap duo
Columbia City Theater
April 9th, 2009
I get to Columbia City Theater, excited to see some new local hip-hip bands. With dim lighting, hot from the crowded mass of people sitting at tables and standing on the dance floor waiting for the guys to begin to play. Nothing but drums, a mixing table and a mic on stage, the lights turned to almost black and the crowd claps and cheers. Gran rapids were first to perform. No one on stage, the theater begins to fill with a hard solid beat beginning the first song. A voice starts to speak, through the speakers for the first few minutes. Loud poetic words flow from the lips of the Mc. Honest realistic lyrics, Gran Rapids finally appears on stage, Dressed in animal costumes. I should have seen this coming because the poster gave it away but I was already too engaged in their performance.
A gorilla, dinosaur, and panda bear. This rap duo with the drummer are surely crowd the pleasers, getting everyone pumped up and excited. The songs they chose to play were all unique in their own way. A mixture of sounds, from electric, rap, street noises, and vocals. Their beats were easy to listen to, clear sounding lyrics, with crisp beats to back it up. Listening to him speak to you, hard to ignore because of their quality stage presence interacting and feeding off the crowd as they bounce to the beat. They’ve been in the scene for only less than a year, and are quickly making noise with their original sound. Their songs are filled with mixed messages talking about reality, life, girls, money, entertainment, jail, fame, and the crowd. The duo had an electrifying energy on stage, they had the entire club going, bouncing to the beat eating out of their palms as they delivered line after line with the last line surprisingly toping the one before.
Holding onto the mic with such force, consciously aware of all the cords braided across the stage. Leach doesn’t miss a beat, you can tell by watching him that the music is in him physically and mentally, being able to play with the rhythm and speed of the lyrics on stage because of knowing it so well. Not even wanting to imagine how hot it would be in those costumes the two men remove their masks to begin the second song. With sweat dripping off his face, not even taking a second to breathe or take a sip of water, they had already begun their second song. For the next hour my eyes were fixed on the stage, all hundred or so hot and sweaty bodies not playing any factor in how I viewed them, the space, or Gran Rapids, I couldn’t get enough. I pause and look around, realizing I’ve been lost in their words ever since they went on stage.
Listening to the words, allowing them to fill my head with a different kind of voice, a new style of sound and a thrill that you reach when seeing a celebrity perform, I didn’t want them to stop. They are new bands like these that I enjoy supporting, going out and seeing something new. Using Seattle as a guide to get to my next destination, I listen to things I’ve never heard, look at things I would normally just walk by and stop and observe the things around me more so I can experience them for the first time in my own world. Cannot wait to see them again, and hear their noise fill my ears with sound.
