November 21st 2015 was a night. It was Lil Ripp's first headlining show here in his hometown of Tacoma, WA and at the only real venue - Jazzbones. In the process of doing so he also brought out the livest lineup that we have seen to date in Tacoma. Hosted by the infamous Chris Crayzie and Horizon of Knoe Clothing there was a bloodline of Tacoman in the building. Due to prior event incidents ( gang rawkus of the past) Jazzbones set a pretty strict midnight curfew on performances cutting set times down and forcing acts to start earlier (shout out to LROC who killed his set) and it's those type of restrictions that taint the experience. Who shows up to hip-hop, metal, punk 21+ shows before 10 on a Saturday evening?? It's insane - doors should have been at 9PM not 8PM. But that is a bigger battle we can discuss later and is not Lil Ripp's fault.

Clemm Rishad of the SkyMovement - @Clemmrishad

If there is any fault it is still on Tacoma as an audience. By 9:30 it should have been a packed house and although by the time the evening made it to Ripp's performance it was full - where is the support?? We need to take this further in terms of a community to support the good artists we have - once we can agree to rally behind someone or some group of people the spotlight that is just beyond us will divert its attention onto us opening our pocket of the region up to enterprising opportunities and those who have been here first will benefit first. It's the nature of the beast.

PLAY THE MUSIC; LEARN THE WORDS.

All in all it was a wonderful night. LROC killed the first set and did his recent bangers, Shawn Parker was next and did a few - but skipped on F12. Cally Reed did some of our favorites off Call Me Cally and mentioned to me later in the night that his next one is complete. :30 was a obviously a highlight - it was a first time for some audience members and they didn't shy away from mention that to us on the way out. :30 be the new wave. King Leez was for sure the most polished and professional looking up there and it was during his performance that you could notice things had filled out not only in the bar but the audience standing area as well. He did our favorite 'In My Mode' as his last song. We were thankful. Clemm Rishad didn't give us Celtic's Green which I thought was a for sure but he did briefly turn Jazzbones in Jamaica. That's a solid record and his energy was nice to see on stage. Zaddy Ruffin is thee best hype man that I have ever seen in Tacoma. It nuts to see in person - he's like a back up dancer at the same time but literally never misses a beat with the bars, if Clemm took a breath you heard Zaddy. Ripp did as any serious headliner does and came out with a live band, thats actually a nice addition to his sound. It was our first time seeing Ripp live and his stage presence is solid - he 's sure of himself up there and that's what you need to connect with a crowd.

Jay Barz performing "This Side" - @jaybarz

EVENT: LIL RIPP BRINGS FUNKONTHEAVE

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