Hip-hop and The Knitting Factory had a good relationship the last few years. With former head of talent Peter Agoston heading up the charge, The Knit became a hub for local talent getting busy in The Old Office, graduating to the Tap Bar and finally, making some headway on the Main Stage as an opener for acts like Kanye West, Busta Rhymes and on it’s last hip-hop show ever, Rakim.
A few emcees became fixtures at Knitting these last few years, ushering in a resurgence of underground, New York hip-hop. Sav Killz, Homeboy Sandman, Hasan Salaam and others hustled their shows and built their buzz, sharing stage time with the likes of indie stalwarts Royce Da 5’9, AZ and The Cunninlynguists, among scores of others. Myself, I got to share the stage with the latter group, as well as Pack FM, Jeru The Damaja and Das EFX. They were incredible experiences and ones that have been burned into the back of my own eyes for future replay.
Which brings us to this first installment of our audio/video/picture/words series from that final hip-hop show at The Knitting Factory. The below stream consists of Black Thought’s entire set, with some occasional backspins by his Roots co-founder, ?uestlove. Props to Jamnow.com for the incredibly clean audio. If you were unaware, their technology allows you to both stream live shows and collaborate with other musicians in real-time across the web. They host a number of shows each month at their location in New Jersey and you can check them out anytime here.
For a more comprehensive and intimate (pause) on the event, get over to Adam Bernard’s spot here, and for the rest of these pictures on Flickr, get your right-click on here. Illadelph.
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