All members of The Lox on-stage at the Zune BBQ, 08.04.07

Zune Live at the BBQ
Empire-Fulton Ferry Park,  08.04.07

When I had first posted about the Zune BBQ event I thought it was going to be the same lineup as the LA one which was the kickoff event.  LA had Mos Def, Chicago had Common but when it came around to NYC neither were actually on the bill.  On the actual flyer, the only names they had listed were The Clipse, Brand Nubian, Large Pro and MIMS.  Little did I or most of the people in attendance know that this would be an event where many of the names who put New York on the map would roll through.

The first surprise of the day came early on shortly after the BBQ started.  Who better to get a day of music in Brooklyn started than the Crooklyn Dodgers?  Yes, Masta Ace, Buckshot and Special Ed took the stage to perform music that probably hasn’t been heard live in years.

The BBQ also finally gave me the chance to catch Clipse live who I kept missing for various reasons when they were in town.  While this may not have been as personal as seeing them in the Knitting Factory for the CMJs this time last year, they still put on a live show and ran through a lot of their material from both albums.  They were well received by the audience although it seemed like the crowd got more live when they would do tracks off of Hell Hath No Furry.  They closed with a hot version of ‘Mr. Me Too’ which sounded good even with the DJ spinning Pharrell’s verses.

Next up was Large Pro who despite having seen a dozen or so times always puts on a good show.  His set was pretty much the same as what he did at the Brooklyn Hiphop Festival although maybe a little shorter.  No guests or anything out of the blue.  The next unexpected guests probably drew the largest crowd and got the crowd going the most…Yonker’s own The Lox.  Complete with the whole crew of Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek the trio ran through about every single they have including much of the Green Lantern mixtape tracks.  Members got their time to shine as well performing their solo singles as Styles P did an Akon-less ‘Locked Up’ and Jadakiss closed the set with ‘Why?’

Following The Lox was Brand Nubian who still have it years later.  While I heard their entire set, after being trapped at the BBQ for over five hours I was dying to get some food so wasn’t able to see everything going on.  It was still cool though having Grand Puba, Sadat X and Lord Jamar all on one-stage again.

Before I left, LL Cool J made his way to the stage to wow the women of Brooklyn.  I can’t say I was that impressed or really that interested so I grabbed a few pictures of him and then proceeded to leave when it became a massive orgy on stage with him and about 60 girls.  He went on at 9:00 and they had a curfew of 10:00 so I figured that if I left all I could possibly miss was MIMS. 

The Zune BBQ was a really cool time and I was thoroughly impressed with the lineup and guests that they were able to book for the show.  Any free event is always a win-win situation and I was also surprised that the marketing for the Zune mp3 player wasn’t heavy at all.  Aside from a few promo trucks and artists shouting out Zune it was really just a good time to see live music. 

Malice and Pusha T above and below

Large Pro performing
The Lox & friends

LL Cool J
The stage had some great views off the bridge lit up at night