Bass thumps, floors shake, a crowd roars and students at the S.U.B. wonder what on earth is going on beneath them. The answer: Spaceman and Luck-One have arrived at Puget Sound. Last Saturday, ASUPS Northwestern Sounds booked the rappers for a free student show at Club Rendezvous next to the Cellar.
Starting at around 9 p.m., the show didn’t end until around midnight. Since there haven’t been many hip-hop shows on campus lately, most of the crowd stayed until the very end, savoring every bit of the performance. For any fans of the genre, Spaceman and Luck-One are great examples of the best that Northwestern hip-hop has to offer.
A Seattle native, Spaceman captivated Club Rendezvous’ audience with inspiring enthusiasm and an innate sense of fun. Already having starred in commercials and performed at some of the region’s biggest music festivals, such as Reverbfest, Bumbershoot and the Capitol Hill Block Party, it’s clear that Spaceman’s charisma has earned him a place at the top. He’s also shared the stage with Redman & Method Man, 88 Keys, Devin the Dude Pac Div, One B-Lo and more.
To start the show, Spaceman pumped up his audience members by running through them wearing a ski mask and demanding people to get their hands up. Throughout the show, Spaceman played a lot of songs from his mixtape, Greetings Earthlings—most notably, “L’s Up” and “Fly Dena Mof*ka.”
For his last song, Spaceman had everyone get into a circle as he got into the middle of it and danced with his audience. It was a great moment—singing along with Spaceman during the chorus and dancing in synchronicity, all of us mere inches apart. Out of courtesy to fans and new listeners alike, Spaceman offers free downloads of Greetings Earthlings at spaceman.bandcamp.com.
Before Spaceman came onstage, I approached the stairs leading down to the Cellar and vaguely recognized a man sitting on a nearby parking curb. It was no other than Luck-One. I introduced myself immediately and for the next twenty minutes, we discussed the music business, future life plans and much more.
Originally from Portland, Luck-One, or Hanif Collins, has been rapping since his teenage years, and lately, he’s been learning how to play guitar. After having served time for robbery and gun charges, Luck-One has been rapping out of Seattle with Spaceman and other rappers in the area.
Luck-One said that he developed an advantage over other rappers by reading books on the music business while in prison, teaching himself tips of the trade that he never would have guessed otherwise.
We talked about the “sampling” trend in modern hip-hop, where rappers will rhyme over someone else’s beats. Luck-One explained that although he’s sampled songs once or twice, the practice is largely overdone these days. He said, “I’m all about the beats, man. I love making my own beats, so sometimes it’s boring for me to use someone else’s.”
It shows too—Luck-One’s inherent talent for mixing is evidenced by many of his songs, which are consistently clean and catchy.
As for the future, Luck-One doesn’t plan to rap for much longer, mostly because it demands so much time and effort. Once he makes enough money, he said pensively, “I’m ready for a journey. I want to start somewhere in the Middle East and keep going east from there—just to see where life takes me.”
As Luck-One took the Club Rendezvous stage, his words about abandoning his career as a rapper echoed in my head. For a young rapper who spent five years of his life in prison, the man has come a remarkably long way. His not-for-profit 2009 EP, Beautiful Music, earned a lot of critical appraisal and money, all of which he dedicated to relief in Haiti. He has also shared the stage with rap stars such as Talib Kweli, The Game, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mike Jones, dead prez, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, Zion I and Naughty By Nature.
As I watched Luck-One perform, I realized how unique his talent was among most rappers I’ve heard. His music combines catchy, danceable beats with eloquent, self-searching lyrics. Anthems like “I Believe” and “Sounds of My City” immediately energized the crowd. Near the end of the show, Luck-One took a poll of different styles of hip-hop that the crowd wanted to hear, including “Soulja Boy” among others, and performed his next song accordingly. This innovative choice as a performer fit his personality perfectly—a rapper who is always open to change and deeply concerned with the impact he leaves on his audience.
Luck-One recently came out with his full-length LP, True Theory, but free downloads of his other music are available at www.djbooth.net/index/mixtapes/entry/luck-one-true-theory-outtakes/.
Even with the plethora of campus events that took place last Saturday, those who chose to attend Spaceman and Luck-One’s concert certainly enjoyed the free admission for a night of quality Northwestern hip-hop.
Those who didn’t make it missed out on the boisterous personality of Spaceman and the insightful charm of Luck-One.
If you didn’t make it this time around, I would suggest making an effort to see some of the best rappers of the Northwest.