Best of the
Rest
One critic's
picks for the Voodoo Music Festival
By Cristina Diettinger
Mindless
Self Indulgence
2:45 p.m. Friday
Fuse Stage
Led by mohawked vocalist
Johnny Urine, New York City punk band Mindless Self Indulgence
takes listeners for a ride that defies the logical order of
meter, melody and message. With song titles such as 'Bring the
Pain,' 'Bitches' and 'I Hate Jimmy Page,' the two-girl, two-guy
quartet blows the pants off its adoring fans with grindcore-style
noise shots and moments of utter chaos.
 |
| Ludacris
raps about Chicken & Beer at 4 p.m. Friday at
the Rollingstone.com Stage. |
Ludacris
4 p.m. Friday
Rollingstone.com Stage
Afro-ed Atlanta rapper
Ludacris takes the cake for the dirtiest joints in the Dirty
South. Songs like 'Area Codes' (he's got a ho in every one)
and 'What's Your Fantasy?' (Whips? Chains? Chocolate sauce?
You got it) get sex-obsessed teens and more out on the dance
floor. And be it about bitches, cash or cars, there's nothing
subtle about his braggadocio ? Luda is gonna tell it like he
sees it. His latest album, Chicken & Beer, goes to
show that he might still have a touch of Southern-fried humility
left in him.
50 Cent
5:30 p.m. Friday
Rollingstone.com Stage
Unless you live in
a cave-sized pothole, you can sing along with at least a few
of 50 Cent's many radio singles and cameo raps. Unlike many
rappers of his magnitude, 50 Cent is actually a talented live
rapper despite his mumbly speech patterns. He follows in his
mentor Eminem's footsteps and puts energy into his live show,
which comes complete with gratuitous trash-talking and eye-popping
pectorals.
Blackalicious
1:30 p.m. Saturday
Rollingstone.com Stage
Spring-boarding from
the same verdant Davis, Calif., scene as now-famous organic-style
hip-hop players DJ Shadow and rapper Lyrics Born, Blackalicious
is one of a network of West Coast crews that shun misogyny and
materialism in favor of social consciousness and creative skill.
Centering around rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel,
the group includes satellite members such as bombshell vocalist
Joyo Velarde. Blackalicious' 2002 major-label debut, Blazing
Arrow, never got the acclaim it deserved. Ranging from introspective
psychology raps to deep funk dance grooves, the album features
a wave of heavy-hitting guests from Gil Scott-Heron to Zach
de la Rocha.
Mos Def
3 p.m. Saturday
Rollingstone.com Stage
Brooklyn MC Mos Def
shook up the whole hip-hop game in the late '90s with Black
Star, the instant classic 1998 album with rap partner Talib
Kweli. On it, the two claimed to be ruling hip-hop, and many
critics agreed, citing Mos as the lyrically talented torch bearer
for the neo-Native Tongues movement. Since his 1999 solo effort,
Black on Both Sides, the rapper has been quiet in terms
of hip-hop output, but he's been busy acting, appearing in Spike
Lee's Bamboozled and this year's The Italian Job,
and pushing black rock with his super-group side project Black
Jack Johnson.
 |
Punk-rock
icon Iggy Pop reunites with his band, the Stooges, at
8 p.m. Saturday at the Fuse Stage. |
Iggy
& the Stooges
8:15 p.m. Saturday
Fuse Stage
It's hard to overestimate
Iggy Pop's impact on the history of rock 'n' roll, and he hasn't
lost much vitality since his explosion on the scene in the '60s.
Rock critics everywhere howled with glee when they heard that
the Stooges were reuniting this year to show all the new 'the'
bands how it's done. The Stooges played their first gig in 30
years at Southern California's Coachella Festival this past
April, where Iggy tore up the stage and informed the elated
crowd that he wanted to f?k something up. Don't be silly and
miss this.
World Leader
Pretend
11 a.m. Sunday
Fuse Stage
If borrowing its
name from a solipsistic R.E.M. song isn't proof enough that
local band World Leader Pretend plans to turn rock on its head,
then its live show should be. Since its formation two years
ago, the band has been a regular feature on small club calendars,
but few of us realized the musical fervor of its members until
they released their debut, Fit for Faded, earlier this
year. Barely in their 20s, these kids have the youth, beauty
and urgency to blow up with self-effacing post-rock.
RJD2
3 p.m. Sunday
Playstation 2 Tent
Representing New
York's fertile Definitive Jux label (headed up by rapper El-P),
RJD2 is one of a progressive set of cutting edge hip-hop DJs
who channel a wide range of sounds and textures into their mixes.
Less well-known than pop DJs like DJ Shadow, RJD2 is becoming
a festival fixture, spinning his raw sets in hip-hop tents everywhere.
Cypress
Hill
3:15 p.m. Sunday
Fuse Stage
Cypress Hill seemed
to come out of nowhere (actually, it was Los Angeles) in the
early '90s, shocking suburban parents by singing the praises
of pot and guns with raw raps and deep-funk beats. Though the
group lost some ground after the gangsta heyday, there is still
no other rapper on earth who sounds quite like B Real, who remains
an icon of stoner-rap.
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