With No Ado, The Nines Take the Stage.
This was the rap band I was in while enrolled at Vassar College and for several different incarnations in New York City post-graduation.
With No Ado was an odd song in our catalogue. It was always played in the middle of a show. It was neither a finisher nor a jumpstarter. It was one of the sweeter songs we played and emblematic of our ongoing quest for unconventional structure. It goes verse bridge verse transition quick chorus epic finish. I'm not even sure you can call that penultimate part a chorus but I do repeat the words in chorusy fashion.
The performance is from our last show at Vassar. We're all amped, invite up two special guests and play through pretty much our whole repertoire up to that point (no MC Had to Flip It nor Mic Hit Me In The Head or now that I think of it, no Mortal Kombat, Jazzy Song or What Do We Rap About - so I guess a lot of songs were missing. Butterman!)
What's crazy is that was 9.5 years ago.
I remember that evening very vividly. We didn't play all the time senior year but I think we recognized the significance of closing out our college tenure in grand form. While I'm definitely a nostalgic and prone to fond memories, I think it's also a symptom of missing both playing with The Nines and freestyling in general.
I would never have guessed it could happen to me but let me be the first to report, you can definitely fall out of practice when it comes to freestyle rapping. Back in the day, I think I developed the skill because of our dearth of rehearsal time. Playing with such ill musicians who didn't need to rehearse left me scrambling for a way to bring text to the performance despite not having time to memorize it. After a while, I got hooked on the epiphany feeling of it.
When you get something right in a freestyle, it's a very in-sync-with-the-universe moment. I think I'll upload some more songs soon. Go Nines.
With No Ado was an odd song in our catalogue. It was always played in the middle of a show. It was neither a finisher nor a jumpstarter. It was one of the sweeter songs we played and emblematic of our ongoing quest for unconventional structure. It goes verse bridge verse transition quick chorus epic finish. I'm not even sure you can call that penultimate part a chorus but I do repeat the words in chorusy fashion.
The performance is from our last show at Vassar. We're all amped, invite up two special guests and play through pretty much our whole repertoire up to that point (no MC Had to Flip It nor Mic Hit Me In The Head or now that I think of it, no Mortal Kombat, Jazzy Song or What Do We Rap About - so I guess a lot of songs were missing. Butterman!)
What's crazy is that was 9.5 years ago.
I remember that evening very vividly. We didn't play all the time senior year but I think we recognized the significance of closing out our college tenure in grand form. While I'm definitely a nostalgic and prone to fond memories, I think it's also a symptom of missing both playing with The Nines and freestyling in general.
I would never have guessed it could happen to me but let me be the first to report, you can definitely fall out of practice when it comes to freestyle rapping. Back in the day, I think I developed the skill because of our dearth of rehearsal time. Playing with such ill musicians who didn't need to rehearse left me scrambling for a way to bring text to the performance despite not having time to memorize it. After a while, I got hooked on the epiphany feeling of it.
When you get something right in a freestyle, it's a very in-sync-with-the-universe moment. I think I'll upload some more songs soon. Go Nines.
posted by Casimir at 8:39 PM
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