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Mos Def Lip-Synching the Night Away at The New Parish in Oakland?

I mean, WTF.

Mos, I know I dogged you out a bit a minute back. Actually, I’ve dogged you from SF to Philly and back about your acting career and how I feel it detracts from what your music career could have been. Okay, and I still dogged you before the show.

But you know what Mos? I love you Mos. You’re the man.

Really, I want nothing more in my heart of hearts than to go to a rocking Mos Def show and leave inspired by his poetic splendor.

But, tonight, I left before the show was even over. Why? Because it was wack. And brilliant. Then wack.

Listen, I’m just telling you straight up.

Now, I know you probably started this tour out in Japan to get yourself used to being back onstage and all. That’s probably why you’re playing the Independent in SF tonight, too. You’re getting back in your swing of things cause so you’re doing this little clubs. Nice.

So I see you’re playing Oakland’s The New Parish, and even though I’ve talked all kinds of shit about you, I bought 2 tickets cause hearing you do the whole Black on Both Sides album? I wasn’t going to miss that shit. There was a time that I lived on that album, Blackstar, The Roots, and Common. Hell, the first published web article I wrote 10 years ago was on you, Mos Def. It was entitled Sympathetic Strings. If my memory still serves, it was about the ordeal I went through to leave work in Sacramento and make your show in SF. It was at the Maritime Theater. I think The Roots or Common performed with you that night.

So I was ready for some live ass jumping off shit tonight. What happened?

Well, the 6pm open door time got moved to 9pm. Plane issues were sighted as the cause. Fair enough. Shit happens. But you gotta know it’s a Sunday night so you’re already straining people.

So, by the time the time you finally took the stage at 11:40ish, I was like WTF. When you started lip-synching your first song, I was like WTF. When you lip-synched 2 more songs, I thought I was in a bad dream. When you rocked some Black on Both Sides songs, I was like alright. Now it’s about to get live in here. But then you did more lip-synching. I mean seriously Mos? Lip-synching? To expose the crowd to your new songs? At 12:53AM, after an hour of performing, you had lip-synched 7 songs and HAND-SYNCHED 2 Death songs. Shortly after that, I did something that I once believed to be impossible. I walked out of your show.

I’ll never pay to see you perform again Mos. Sorry dude. The last time your singing killed me. This time it was the lip-synching. Mos, it was totally fucking wack. It came across as the most self-indulgent bullshit I’ve ever seen. Seriously. I didn’t pay money to watch you lip-synch. I can have more fun lip-synching to your songs at home by myself. Or better, watch jstchilling, cause this kid is more entertaining to watch lip-synch than you are.

What would you think if you saw Chuck D, Rakim, or Big Daddy Kane lip-synching all their new shit? You think Tariq from The Roots would ever do that? I’ve seen Talib Kweli lose his shit onstage because his DJ wasn’t on-time or working the crowd. You think your buddy would get on stage and lip-synch? Hell to the no.

Stick to rapping. Or quit altogether. But this half-ass shit is wack.

FYI — to the owner of The New Parish that was a jerk to me last night — I’m giving you a pass this time cause I know it’s tough getting a new place rolling tight. But remember, your success is propelled by treating locals right.

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