TVD Live Shots: Public Enemy, Ice-T, Naughty By Nature, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Scorpio at Regency Ballroom, 7/24

Public Enemy

Billed as a “legendary lineup of hip-hop artists spanning the history of the art form,” the “Art of Rap” tour hit San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom with over 4 hours of entertainment for the Bay Area’s fans. Curated by none other than Ice-T, the line-up included headliners Public Enemy with support from Ice-T, Naughty by Nature, and Grandmaster Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash fame.

A last minute shift in venue from the Warfield to the smaller Regency Ballroom proved a wise move. While the room was disappointingly sparse for Melle Mel’s 6:40 pm opening set, the room quickly filled with bodies bringing with them a thick haze of smoke from Northern California’s finest for what would prove to be an intimate evening of hip hop classics.

Ice-T

While each act pulled the best of their catalogs (you can’t really expect Naughty By Nature to get away without playing “O.P.P” or “Hip Hop Hooray” now, can you?), they lived up to the billing by paying tribute to the OGs such as The Digital Underground, LL Cool J, and Kool Moe Dee, as well as the more recent artists such as Eminem.

Even for the casual hip hop fan, there was no denying the good time at hand. Naughty By Nature shared a bit of Hennessy cognac with the front row, and while Ice-T’s set took on an appropriately political bent, he kept the mood light by inviting a crowd member on stage to serve as hype man for a song. But Public Enemy most surely stole show. With a DJ Lord backed by a live band, they cast as intimidating a shadow as ever as they closed the night with a crushing version of 1990’s “Fight the Power,” a song still as relevant as the day it came out.

PUBLIC ENEMY