You are now rocking with the legendary

When it comes to hip hop music live bands aren't the first thing that pop into people's heads. One exception is the adored hip hop crew The Roots, my favorite artists in any genre, who for more than ten years have been building a following with their amazing live performances and relentless touring. I first saw them for $15 at the 9:30 Club when I was 14 and I'm going to see them at Constitution Hall next week for $65. My what a long way we've come. I've been to close to thirty of their shows, but I wanted to talk about two that stuck out in particular and were probably the best shows I have ever seen.

A little under a year ago a buddy of mine and me hopped the Chinatown bus to New York City for two sold-out shows in two nights at Radio City Music Hall. The shows were, sadly, a benefit for the mother of the recently deceased J.Dilla who died from complications from lupus. We knew there were going to be special guests, but we only knew of a few who were going to be there: Nas, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli were performing with them, but we also knew there were going to be plenty other surprises.

The first night was the "hip hop" night and the second night was the "eclectic" night. The Roots would play their own music then back all the other artists who were performing. The show opened with Nas rocking the building within the first ten minutes of the show. Nas opening? Damn! What was coming next??!?!?!?! The way he came out was brilliant...The Roots playing the "Apache" beat then going right into "Made you Look". Nas treated the ecstatic crowd to classics such as "It Ain't Hard to Tell" and "The World is Yours" although he did forget one verse of the latter, luckily Roots frontman Black Thought took over for him.

Next up we were treated to classics from The Roots own catalog and performances by Talib Kweli, Common, Skillz, and the legendary Big Daddy Kane. Then something happened. You could tell by people running up to Questlove, the backbone and drummer for the band, towards the end of the show that something was wrong. Instead of bringing out another surprise guest, The Roots covered old hip hop tracks and Rahzel beatboxed. To those who don't know this is usually how they end their shows, so this was quite the shock to the crowd who at this point was expecting Biggie and Pac to rise from the dead to close the show. At the end Dave Chapelle came out and said good night to the crowd, but when he went to go hug Questlove Questlove pushed him. Yep, something went wrong.

The next day we found out via a blog by Questo that Chappelle showed up late and couldn't perform with them, Kanye West was a no show, and Ghostface and Raekwon were supposed to close the show, but they got there after the show had ended. Questo, while not ripping Chappelle or West, basically told Raekwon and Ghost that he would never rely on or work with them again. Damn, what an ending that would have been if certain people had the courtesy to do what they were supposed to do.

Ok, well on to night two... The show opened with some African singer who was pretty good and then J.Davey hit the stage. I had never heard of them before but damn if they weren't good. Erykah Badu came out and killed it and so did Mos Def who was running through the aisles like a madman. One thing I missed (stupid cigarette addiction) was, from what I hear, and amazing cover of Radiohead's "Everything In It's Right Place" by the crew and Bilal. Another pleasant surprise was Slum Village, Dilla's old group, coming out and doing a touching tribute to their friend. But that's not even the best part.

The Roots took a break towards the end and asked a friend to come out and speak to the crowd...Dave Chappelle ladies and gentlemen! He did a riotous fifteen minute stand-up that had the whole place roaring with laughter. The best of the night happened right at the end when The Roots were wrapping things up they brought out another friend... Jay-Z!!! I have never seen a crowd go so ape sh*t in my life. Radio City was shaking so hard I thought it was about to come down.

All in all and amazing experience and just thinking about it makes me look forward to next week's show even more. They won't have all the same superstar guests, but I'll settle for their always solid performance and openers Lupe Fiasco and D.C. legend Chuck Brown.