By Chris J. GodwinAs a modern-day Renaissance man of hip-hop, Madlib spends a lot of his time in the studio, considering himself to be more of an introvert. But having put out countless albums under an array of pseudonyms, the California-based DJ/producer/MC shows no signs of slowing down, making it hardly a surprise that when he emerges it results in a sold-out event. And such was the case with his his show at Toronto's Great Hall.
The Toronto local mymanhenri opened the show as the crowd steadily poured in. J Rocc, one of the founders of the Beat Junkies, was on second, and by the time he hit the stage, the Great Hall was packed. J Rocc was phenomenal, doling out an amazing set and delivering unreleased tracks from Flying Lotus while spinning lots of material from the late J Dilla. With 20-plus years of DJing under his belt, J Rocc displayed some seriously impressive skills.
Madlib hit the stage to cap off the night, completely living up to his critically acclaimed name. He played a lot of deep cuts, spinning records only the eccentric DJ himself would know about. The highlight of Madlib's set was when he delivered "Come on Feet" from the first album he released as Quasimoto. As an added bonus, J Rocc came out on stage toward the end of Madlib's set to join him on some tracks, with the two legendary DJs just having fun with it and laying down some killer beats.
Overall, the show was a huge success, with both the crowd and DJs looking as if they had a great time.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2012-01-20 14:50:54J Rocc was being a bitch. Let Madlib do his thing.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2012-01-20 15:41:45J Rocc was really good. Madlib was mediocre. Interesting enough track selection, shitty technically. Legendary DJ? Nope. Legendary producer? Absolutely.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2012-01-20 19:24:29I can't agree more. Madlib was mediocre at best. Last night he demonstrated that he is a fantastic producer but far from an entertainer. His set was no better then listening to someone incoherently racing through ones iTunes library while nonchalantly ignoring the crowd that came to see them. Henri put on the best show of the night.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2012-01-20 19:32:51Disappointing overall. J Rocc almost played the most annoying samples of his homies talking about nothing more than actual music last night.
Madlib seemed to still think it was his sound-check as he ignored the crowd while as he seemingly tried to figure out his mix, playing a low energy selection of many obscure beats. He has a massive library and he barely pulled from it.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2012-01-20 21:54:56j rocc killed it although lotta dilla madlib not so much i gotta agree it was not a high energy set and cuts might have been too deep lol
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2012-01-22 18:20:58Agree with most here, Madlib is a terrible Dj but it seemed like some people didn't mind.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2012-02-02 00:33:23show was straight garbage
"the show was a huge success"
are u kidding me?
Posted by Derek B On 2012-02-22 16:10:30Sound was garbage. Madlib is not a DJ and people were basically leaving after awhile. J Rocc was the only highlight and unfortunately because the sound was so bad it was hard to enjoy... Not really a show, more like Madlib nerding out on whatever records he found recently.
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