Nobody Beats the LIZ

Last night, HOMEBASE, the Wednesday party at bObs of which I am a regular attendee, celebrated their first anniversary of existence with a fabulous show @ SOB’s. The lineup consisted of Nyle, Melo-X, Diz Gibran, The Kickdrums and Colin Munroe, with music by DJ Getlive.

When I got there, I was surprised to see a line out front that stretched down the block. Even though SOB’s shows are usually packed, it’s rare to see a line in front of the venue. But what surprised me even more was that there was a line outside when it had been raining cats and dogs all day; in fact, it was still coming down when we got there. This was a sign that last night’s show was going to be awesome; true fans rock!

As I waited for Jessica Estevez of IHeartDilla.com to arrive (she was my +1), I ran into Donny Goines, Blitz the Ambassador (who both have big shows coming up; post on that later) and Nikki Ntu, as well as Seed Popular of Rule4080.com. A cipher was going on further down the line (in the rain? Wow…where was Wordspit? He’s the cipher KING! Find him and many others on Friday nights in Union Square…but I digress.), and when it got to the front, Nyle popped up and instantly joined it. Such talent!

Ms. Estevez showed up soon after, and we went inside, where DJ Getlive was already going in on the tunes. We ran into Alice in Wonderland, the lady of many hats who put the show together. Together with DJ Getlive, they bring you HOMEBASE Wednesdays every week @ bObs!

After saying hello to the folks in the room, I headed downstairs, where Nyle was preparing to open up the show. Soon after, he was hamming it up with Alice and Deephunk, in his hosting debut.

Nyle set off the show in fine fashion, with a set that included tracks off his latest project, The Capstone EP. He did an great job of engaging and entertaining the audience, backed by a talented guitarist and drummer. I was ecstatic when he performed two of my favorite cuts off the EP, “X-Man” and “F.A.N.G” (F%@k a Nice Guy). In the latter, he started off by saying that he wished he could sing, but couldn’t, so he did what many people who can’t sing do – he used AUTOTUNE. I was sold; now I see why everybody uses that thing. Take that, Hov!

After Nyle’s set, I looked back at the room and it was packed. Success! Next up was Melo-X…he wowed the crowd by making beats on his MPC – live – before each song. He performed tracks off his mixtape, “Mustafa’s Renaisssance.” Dressed in black from head to tow, Melo delivered a great set that showcase some of his multiple talents.

Diz Gibran, who flew all the way from LA to perform, was next. I was really excited to see his set because I thoroughly enjoy his project with Crooks & Castles, entitled “Soon You’ll Understand.” Many thanks to Cion of Brokn.Englsh, who first put me on to Diz and was also in attendance. Diz gave a dope performance with his brand of West Coast hip hop, which suprisingly didn’t sound as such (I remember him saying that on his mixtape…), and I loved how a lot of other MC’s who were in the building knew the lyrics to his songs. That’s love! Diz even treated the crowd to a little dance =)

Following Diz Gibran was The Kickdrums… fog machine in tow, they played music reminiscent of Keys N Crates, where they meshed keys, guitars and boom-bap. It was clear that Alice was a fan, as were many others who crowded the front of the stage and sang along.

As the stage was cleared for the final artist, I walked around SOB’s and learned that a few big heads were in the building: Plain Pat, John Forte (WOW!) and the ever-happy Dame Dash. Last time I saw him, he was partying hard with Jim Jones at the latter’s album release party.

Midnight struck, which meant that it was time to wish P.So of the AOK Collective a happy Birthday!

Last but not least, Colin Munroe, freshly implanted in NYC from Canada, took the stage. He performed songs off his mixtape, “Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero.” This dude is the multi-tasker I wish I could be; he somehow managed to play keys with his band while checking text messages from his phone, the result of him giving out his phone number to the audience and asking them to text him requests. Like, wow. I sent a text asking him to shout out P.So for his birthday, but that wasn’t a song request, so I guess that’s why he didn’t read it. =/

Overall, the Homebase Anniversary show was a great success! Shouts to Alice, DJ Getlive, Deephunk and everyone in attendance. It was beautiful to see everyone come out to support Homebase!

LINKS:

HOMEBASE: homebasenyc.blogspot.com

DJ Getlive: djgetlive.blogspot.com

Deephunk: treesforbreakfast.com

Nyle: myspace.com/nylelee

Melo-X: www.melo-x.tv

Diz Gibran: myspace.com/dizgibran

The Kickdrums: myspace.com/thekickdrums

Colin Munroe: myspace.com/colinmunroe

(UPDATE: Photos are finally up…added links to all the artists who performed)