of "The Illest," a song that samples fellow Brooklyn native Biggie. The song served as the introduction to Ortiz's and fellow members Crooked I and Joe Budden's lyrical ability as both contributed their verses to the performance with Royce Da 5'9" strolling on stage at the end, Patrón bottle to his lips.
Ortiz took the initiative to introduce the other three
members after the supergroup's "Onslaught 2" performance, with Budden getting
high praise from the ladies, and then introducing Ortiz.
Following "Sound Off," with Ortiz's rapid-fire delivery
stealing the performance, the group proceeded with its "Shady 2.0 Cypher"
freestyle, but Crooked I's verse was left out, for the time being, at least. With
anticipation building for Royce's verse, the audience jumped at the opportunity
to shout "Hi, Rihanna," the line made infamous by the Detroit MC at the BET
Awards last year.
The men to women ratio did not go unnoticed when Ortiz made
a sarcastic shout out to "all 15" of the women in attendance.
Crooked I stood away from the spotlight for most of the
night, but stood center stage to deliver his tongue twisting verse
from "Shady 2.0 Cypher" a capella, with the occasional "oh" and "ah" being
heard throughout the crowd.
Jokes and humor go a long way to keeping one's sanity while
on tour, away from your family, even if it comes at the expense of a tour-mate.
Royce took time out to put Ortiz on the spot, sharing an act he
puts on while on the road. Michael McDonald's "I Keep Forgettin'" hit the
speakers and Ortiz sang swaying back in forth in a cheesy, karaoke
fashion as Budden joined in on the joke by dancing to the song.
Slaughterhouse followed up Ortiz's glee skills with their
new single "Hammer Dance" off their upcoming album, welcome to: OUR HOUSE.
The jokes continued as Budden and Ortiz did their best
imitations of Royce's spitfire bars at the end of his second verse of his
Eminem collaboration "Fast Lane," poking fun at the difficulty of understanding
what he said.
As the show wound down, Budden performed his 2003 hit
single, "Pump It Up," followed by Royce's half of "Lighters," met with lighters
held up by audience members, and of course Budden's best imitation of Bruno Mars'
vocals.
Critic's Notebook
The crowd: A
couple of groupies here and there doing their best to shove their way to the front
and one girl grinding on her date to some not-so-grinding hip-hop.
Wish list: Was
really hoping to hear "Move On."
Personal bias: Joell
Ortiz owned the crowd from the beginning.
If you like what you read, please follow Lee Castro on Twitter at @LeeMCastro
