The Ecstatic Tour - Mos Def/Jay Electronica Review Pt.1 – The Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA

Upon entering the venue, Jay Electronica’s instant underground classic, Dimethyltryptamine ushered us into the historic church turned venue to the stars. My wife and I were kind of surprised that it wasn’t packed out, but as Jay Electronica’s set progressed, the numbers steadily increased, while beats laced with Jay’s unrelentless cerebral flow of thoughts, dreams, and realities filled the capacity of the space. Effortlessly spitting verses from the Style Wars EP that made him an internet sensation in what seemed a mere matter of months, I’m sure a portion of his content flew over a lot of the audience’s heads, but as he stated “I’m glad you all aren’t jumping around (and wilding out) cuz that tells me that y’all are listening. I appreciate you listening!” Balancing humor and braggadocio, Jay kept the crowd open with jokes and a challenge of battling ANY emcee in the game, “Well except for Mos” he says lol..Another mentionable moment was his prologue to A Prayer For Michael Vick and T.I., where he acknowledged and compared the two’s mistakes versus the vicious cycle of wrongdoings of ”the powers that be”.

At the end of his set, he closed with a very well received prayer for peace and upliftment, a much needed gesture for this generation of hip hop culture. When was the last time you went to a show and was asked to hold hands with a stranger standing/sitting next to you? Well this was in a church, but you get what I mean..

The Mighty Mos Def’s set began a little late, yet right on time. Opening it up with the hypnotic drums, bass and keys of Fela’s Fear Not Of Man (bearing the same beat and title of his track on the Black On Both Sides LP), Mos enthusiastically rocked his translucent orange custom drum set while dropping his opening lyrics to the track. He then cheerfully greeted the crowd, “You could have been anywhere in the world, but you chose to be here with us tonight. Thank you and thank you again.” Remainder of this review here