My Adidas walk through concert doors/And roam all over coliseum floors.

A Tribe Called Quest vs Run the Jewels?  Not your typical rap battle on the stage of “the Shelter” in Detroit, MI or on the web at Rapt.fm.  I am asking which side of the fence do your eyes and ears fall on, in the discussion of live vs. recorded hip-hop.
  
Per The Free Dictionary(.com), "rap is a style of music marked by the rhythmical intoning of rhymed couplets to an insistent beat".  And it is hard to believe with such a popular form of music like rap that the idea of hearing this style of music versus seeing it in person can be worth much of a debate, but for over 20 years, it is unclear if rap has gotten over the idea of pacing back and forth and a DJ blandly standing behind turntables.  

Having seen The Roots literally and figuratively bounce off of the walls at an in-store performance at Tower Records in Washington DC in 1996 to support “lladelph Halflife” to later on checking out the late Guru’s set at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA in 2001 to promote “Baldhead Slick & da Click", unfortunately you never know what to expect musically at a live rap show. 

Even with the success of Jay Z’s “Magna Carter World Tour” and him being on the road with a backing band featuring Timbaland on keyboards, there is the flip side of live hip hop that has the auto-tuned voice of Kanye West pumping out of the speakers at arenas nationwide.  Can we expect all hip-hop to arise from the same family tree as the 1970s pioneering group Stetsasonic? 

The torch was carried by The Fugees with their ability to work in classic break-beats and freestyle verses into their set and the production level bar was raised by Dr. Dre, but I agree with James Haskins (author of ‘One Nation Under One Groove’), that while many listeners are caught up in the storytelling of rap music, the musical backgrounds against which raps are set are significant and need to be taken seriously.  

When there are dozens (or hundreds) of fans in the crowd who can keep lyrics flowing without missing a beat but the artist is unable to do it or the dubbed in rhythm tracks are slightly off, that can clearly be a huge turn-off and lead to simply spinning their records at home.

I heard two extremely similar comments from friends when reviewing the year in music in 2013 when they stated that “it may have been the venue, it may have been the moment, it definitely was the music . . .” and that music is felt in “a moment, a time, a place, a situation”.  

I believe that with today’s hip hop artists if they incorporate aspects of live music into their set, put the preparation into their shows and can keep the crowd engaged they will be reducing their risk of being booed off the stage as if it were ‘Amateur Night at the Apollo’.  

Thanks for reading.