Memorial Day weekend has quickly become a rite for Twin Cities hip-hop heads. In its second year, Soundset, held Sunday, May 24, moved to Canterbury Park due to a Twins game at the Dome. Though over 10,000 attended, few know Soundset actually began as a Wednesday night dance party at First Avenue hosted by Rhymesayers around 1998, according to club manager Nate Kranz. It had a brief run, and became a sellout event.

I never went to last year’s Soundset (though I worked at the after party), but given my heavy exposure to Minneapolis hip-hop, I knew what to expect. My intentions were simple: I needed to see DOOM (or MF Doom, or whatever other alias you want to use to reach the same conclusion). I have seen everyone else, or at least easily could, and don’t need to attend every show (even though sometimes I feel that I do end up at every one).

I wanted to see the Pharcyde, too, but it wasn’t the event that seeing DOOM in the Midwest would be. Not that seeing DOOM in the Midwest is awesome, since nothing in the Midwest is ever too awesome, but if he’s going to make the trouble to play a show here, I am gonna be there. It’s like when Mos Def played Take Back Labor Day. ‘Nuff said.

Bizarre Ride

My first adventure having to do with Soundset showcases one of the reasons why I dislike Rhymesayers shows: the often times idiotic fanbase. A friend and I caught one of the shuttle buses to Canterbury from the Mall of America. Of course the crowd was saturated with loud, offensive white boys, but none as worse as the ones that sat right by us.

The two were already heavily intoxicated, and were singing really offensive songs degrading women. One of the songs had to do with stacking women like bricks and having his way with all of them, with the other tune ending with a similar punch line.

I turned to the guy and said, “Just to warn you, don’t be surprised if I punch you by the time we get to Soundset.”

The guy sort of apologized, saying he had been drinking too much. Other guys situated around the singing, belligerent drunks seemed amused and smiled. Singing dude’s buddy musta gotten egged on by what I said because he made some derogatory retort (I forget his exact words). And so the two went on with their belittling, politically incorrect manner until we reached Soundset. When we reached the end of the trip, I hurried to get off the bus, told my friend I was telling security about the boys, and did just that. I don’t think those two got into the festival, I’m happy to report.

Rap Ambush

While it wasn’t my idea of the typical hip-hop festival, it was what I have come to expect from the Rhymesayers crew. There was still so much going on I wanted to see at once. That is how I knew it was still more a hip-hop festival than anything else. There were b-boys under the only tent on site. As a result, that tent became densely populated throughout the day, as the concertgoers’ sole refuge from the heat. Re-entry was not permitted, so there were limited ways to avoid the heat.

Walking around the tables seemed to be a somewhat palatable alternative. The tables weren’t very interesting, though. Most of the tables were merch for the performers, which seems sort of obvious. But I expected to have some socially conscious tables.

Sure, Soundset was greener this year (which seemed to consist of security guards sometime standing near trash and recycling receptacles, which kind of seemed to bully consumers into making the right choice), but where were the organizers?

Activism has always been a common fifth element of hip-hop, but there was none present at Soundset. I expected, at the very least, for Substance to have a table at the event. I think I saw a member of Substance running the Strange Famous table (which sort of made sense, since Sage Francis played at the Substance show in March).

McNally Smith probably had the best (and perhaps only) free stuff table, with rhyme books, pens, magnets, tickets to Prof and Rahzwell, CD samplers, and information on their new accredited degree in hip-hop studies. Dessa and Toki Wright are teaching courses. Pretty tight, yo. Wish I wanted another degree. I took four of the rhyme books, 2 pens, 3 magnets, two tickets, one sampler, thanked the people for having such an awesome table, and was on my way.

A skate park lay close to the entrance. I had little interest in the park, because I found it irrelevant to what I came to see, hip-hop.

I missed the graffiti walls. I’m mad about that one. Totally overlooked it.

The Slow and Low Car Show was, though also irrelevant, better. I’m not a fan of admiring pimped out rides at a hip-hop show, but it was interesting to walk through the lot to take a peek. Some cars had to be too low to be legal in Minnesota. A bright orange and green truck with a matching built-in system caught my eye, along with a pair of chrome kid’s bikes.

After circling the premises to check out everything going on all at once, my friend and I handed out issues of Mill City Scene to fellow concertgoers bumming around in the summer heat.

Deep Fried Frenz

I’m writing about the performances strictly as a fan, not as a critic or reporter. I went to the show as a fan, and barely reported. Which was nice, but not by choice. A friend, whose name is unimportant, accompanied me to the festival, and made it difficult for me to do my job.

After hours of listening to complaints about everything under the sun (from the ticket prices to the food), and finally including the sun (to the fear of dehydration), I came to the conclusion that, in order to get any satisfaction from Soundset, I would have to abandon my buddy. Around the time I was getting ready for the devilish deed, we were watching El-P, and she was like, "Are you going to take pictures or what?" I wanted to punch her. Instead, I decided to leave her with her friend and my ex-boss. There. Enjoy Soundset now.

Drumroll (We’re All Thirsty)

Prior to ditching my friend, I caught bits and pieces of Immortal Technique, Eyedea and Abilities, P.O.S., Sage Francis, EP-P and some I didn’t recognize playing the second stage. While I was checking out Sims on the second stage and trying to hook up with friends after losing Claire, a friend texted me to say DOOM was up in five. I made my way to the front of the stage while Freeway and Jake One finished.

After losing my friend, I ran off to the second stage. Sims was going to play soon. I tried to locate some of the four other people I knew were there, but it was kind of pointless, and DOOM was soon to hit the stage. So I made my way up to the front to watch the show. I caught the end of Freeway and Jake One, because my friend said DOOM would be up next (at 5). I hadn’t noticed the set times.

Then, to my dismay, Brother Ali was up next. What did this mean? Was DOOM not going to play? Was it going to be like what they wrote in Vita.MN, either DOOM doesn’t show up or else an imposter lip-synchs his songs? I texted friends about it. Roe informed me he was gonna be playing before Pharcyde.

This made sense to me, since DOOM was a far bigger deal than seeing Brother Ali (at least in my view), but the schedule stated otherwise. So, I tried to have faith in what Roe had told me, and enjoy the show.

Problem being I’ve seen Brother Ali so many times, and DOOM was the reason I had come to Soundset. Sure, I wanted to see the Pharcyde, too, but DOOM was going to be a special event. He barely performs live, and never makes it to Minneapolis.  

Brother Ali showed off his Minnesota Nice by decking out in a baby blue Mauer jersey and a mean red sunburn.  I was developing the latter, too, I just didn’t know it yet.

After Ali there was the super long wait time (which wasn’t really that long, but it was a hip-hop show and everything had been keeping to schedule prior to this). Then when DOOM hit the stage, they kept stopping during songs, starting over, and DOOM’s hype dude was annoying as hell. I know the hype person’s usually annoying by nature, but dammit.

Then DOOM leaves the stage.

WTF!?!?!??!?!??! What’s going on??? Is he pissed off because the crowd is not at all pleased to be kept in suspense, as the performance was commanding they must do.

Then out comes another DOOM.

WTF?!?!?!?!? The first was a DOOM decoy!! Dude, that’s not cool. You’re messing with my mind, and I dunno what to think anymore. I know celebrities are supposed to do that and whatnot, but this mask thing is really blowing my mind. How am I not supposed to think you’re all a bunch of decoys, and this whole experience is not one for me to covet. DAMN YOU, DOOM, YOU ARE ONE BADASS VILLAIN. You don’t even want your fans liking you.

I couldn’t hate the performance. I like it when performers mess with the audience. I like a performer who keeps me guessing. But if you think Doom’s two-minute songs are annoying, wait ‘til you seem him perform live. It was like a hip-hop clip show.

That said, it was still a disappointment, because I love MF Doom. Apparently Rhymesayers is disappointed too. I heard from a friend of some beef. (MM… Food). That made the week’s Vita.mn cover (a comic book illustration of Soundset, with DOOM looking down upon local emcees speeding around a racetrack, which is really a record DOOM is holding in his hands) a little prophetic. Everyone performs well, except the masked villain. It truly was Rhymesayers vs. DOOM. Whose performance are you gonna remember? DOOM, minus one.

The Pharcyde were next, and did not disappoint. In fact, they exceeded my expectations, even though I really had none, given my obsession with every detail of DOOM’s performance.

Tre Hardson kept the energy level high throughout the set, jumping and playing into the crowd. None of the members kept still and were popping all over the stage. Take that, Doom’s hype dude. Fatlip addressed rumors that the band’s breakup was due to his drug problem by covering “My Perogative,” with the remaining members dancing like New Edition in the backdrop. Amazing. Oh, and then they performed “Passin’ Me By.” Yessir!

I left my spot near the stage after Pharcyde. Sorry, but I’ve seen Atmosphere too many times, and my ride wanted to leave sooner than later. I also wanted to catch the rest of other things, before the entire festival had ended. Problem was, everything had ended before Atmosphere went on.  I didn’t know that, having been at the front of the stage since 5ish. Oops. This truly is Atmosphere’s festival. The world stops when Slug starts to spit. He opened by telling the crowd, “You guys have been really good all day. I appreciate that.”

And they had been. Over all, despite the boys on the bus, DOOM and heat, people were pretty chill at Soundset ’09. Good times.

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