Why Jurassic 5's Live Show is Still Worth Your Time
The classic rap sextet has aged gracefully
I first saw Jurassic 5 some twenty years ago after sneaking into an URB Magazine party that took place during the MAGIC clothing expo in Las Vegas. They shared the bill with Dilated Peoples and a few other Cali-based acts, but at that time I knew little about this six-man team with a typo in its name. Their performance floored me, as Chali 2na, Akil, Marc 7 and Zaakir lined up on stage and rapped in unison, emulating the styles of early, pioneering hip-hop groups like the Treacherous 3 or the Cold Crush Brothers. Yet they did this without sounding dated. Meanwhile, their forward thinking disc-jockeys Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark were pushing the boundaries of the live DJ performance, by inventing new instruments out of rubber bands and scratching on a Fisher Price See-N-Say. Put it all together and this amusing schtick played into the ironic idea of the then twenty-something rappers being both ahead of their time and severely behind it simultaneously.
Celebrating the recent release of the deluxe “Wood Box” edition of their 2000 debut album Quality Control, the group once known as the Unity Committee has reformed after a six-year hiatus to tour once again. Yet the difference this time around is that they are now the ages of the rappers they were emulating in their twenties. The “Jurassic” description has taken on new meaning, as these men are all getting a bit long in the tooth. Some of them are fathers and possibly even grandfathers. It would actually be forgivable — and maybe even taken as a compliment — for a clueless new fan to assume they released their first record in the 70s or 80s.
But Jurassic 5 is one of the few hip-hop acts that aging actually works in their favor, as it plays right into the theme of the band. Now having performed hundreds of shows together, the group’s act is more pristine than ever, complete with new surprises and material.
I attended the Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas performance on July 16th, 2015. I walked in to hear the opening DJ (or iTunes playlist) pumping Nas’ “Made U Look.” The smell of weed was in the air and I saw a white kid in the crowd wearing a backpack as a fashion statement in post-9/11 America. This must be the place.
The room quickly filled with faces I hadn’t seen in many years, along with the occasional off-duty Vegas cocktail waitress rocking a backwards ballcap from her respective employer. Jurassic 5 took the stage sharply at 10PM, with an airtight set that found them picking up right where they left off some years ago. An incredibly well-rehearsed performance, the four emcees rapped simutaneously, running through a series of classic cuts that many of us have long forgotten the titles to, but can still sing along with. At one point lining up to do a doo-wop number and dance in a line like the Jackson 5, the entire performance had a charm similar to watching the Harlem Globetrotters effortlessly do their thing.
Surely one of the most talked about moments of the evening was Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark’s DJ battle, which — as usual — found them utilizing new and geeky ways to use traditional DJ equipment. Cut Chemist brandished a keytar-like concoction of a wearable turntable, then upped the ante with a ridiculous “CDJ-tar.” Nu-Mark raised the bar with some kind of inexplicable vinyl bodysuit, which responded sonically when he scratched the different sized discs attached to his person. The apex of this moment was when the giant turntable prop sitting on stage behind them was revealed to be usable. Hooked into a Rane mixer, when Nu-Mark wiggled the giant “record,” it responded in turn. My guess as to how this musical magic trick was pulled off can only be that there was a CDJ-2000 playing under the 36" vinyl.
Having aged gracefully, there was no room for amateurish “Yo DJ, hold up man. Wind that shit back, son. Start that shit again,” moments that are so prevalent at unrehearsed, unprofessional hip-hop shows. Instead, the reunited Jurassic 5 have lived up to their long-standing mantra of “Quality Control.” They also finally fit the mold of what they once sought out to be: old school rappers.
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