Last Night: Scarub at Nectar

Scarub rhyming. If you've never seen or heard this dude before, now's the time. The second song is a nice example of his crowd manipulation skills. He had the whole crowd doing the "lean left, lean right" bit last night, too.

Who: Scarub
Where: Nectar
When: Thursday, November 6

Like his crew the Living Legends, Scarub's performance last night proved that if you're good enough as an emcee, you don't need a DJ. When he came onstage, my companion wondered aloud what he was doing up there without a DJ, "since he's one of the Living Legends." But he quickly proved that he, like the Living Legends, is, first and foremost, about the words. The beats (which came from his laptop) were perfectly respectable party music for the most part, with the right ratio of thumping bass to rhythmic hook, but Scarub sensed-- correctly-- that his words weren't reaching most of the crowd, most of whom were focused more on shaking it than hearing the music. Scarub went along with it for a while. And you know how emcees at hip hop shows always tell you to put up your hands, and the crowd sort of listlessly complies for like ten seconds before putting 'em back down again? Well, they need to take some lessons from Scarub, who had a hold over the crowd like a snake charmer and his cobra.

And as I swayed left and right to Scarub's instructions along with everyone else, it occurred to me: we're all being manipulated. A good emcee is, essentially, one who is good at engaging and subsequently manipulating crowds to do his or her bidding. But that's not what Scarub wanted. He wanted us to listen. Which is why he cut off the beat to a song he wanted us to hear, to some mild groans of disappointment. When you really listen to the guy, though, you can actually comprehend how unbelievably skilled he is, not just at spitting fast, but as a writer. Like the rest of the Living Legends, the rhymes are all. And Scarub can spit fast and slow, weaving his way through verbal obstacle courses that would trip up a whole lot of respectable emcees in ten seconds flat. It was downright mesmerizing.

That's also probably why the crowd responded to Braille and The Wright Family's sets with a sort of lukewarm goodwill; they were saving it up for Scarub. But The Wright Family had a couple of good DJs and a lady vocalist (they're from Salem, Oregon and just put out an album, which I bought) and Braille, whose recorded music I never dug on before, was a whole lot better in person. I'd heard of the guy years ago, listened to his tracks, and wasn't super-impressed. Last night, I reconsidered. The dude is actually a pretty good emcee, even if the religious aspect to his music isn't something I can relate to. I'm pretty sure he freaked out the crowd with an anecdote about diapers and Mickey Mouse, but uh, I thought it was funny (he's married with an almost-two year old at home).

Next time Scarub comes back, I fully expect a whole lot more people to show up. Scarub is one of the most talented emcees I've seen live in a good, long while, and he really gets a chance to show it by himself; Living Legends members' individual talents often get swallowed up in the ten-man enormity of their numbers. And if you're at the show and start feeling a little bit like you're under mind control, just lean back and relax. That's a normal sensation. Don't be alarmed if you find yourself leaning left, then leaning right, without thinking about it. It's just Scarub's powers at work. It'll pass.