Published: Monday - March 12, 2007
Words by Jay Casteel
Everlast on stage with La Coka Nostra at Unity (Photo: BallerStatus.com)
Everlast takes an L.A. crowd waaaayy back, as original House Of Pain members, Danny Boy and DJ Lethal, join him for "Jump Around" during Soul Assassins' Unity festival.
Who: La Coka Nostra, Evidence & Defari, Chino XL and Pacific Division Where: The Avalon (Los Angeles) When: March 8, 2006
More than a decade after its original launch, the Soul Assassins' DJ Muggs and Self Scientific's Chace Infinite and DJ Khalil, have restructed Los Angeles' legendary Unity music festival on Thursday (March 8) for its second event in the last five months.
After starting in 1991 by Bigga B, Unity closed up stop after the founder died. Today, his cousin Chace felt it was time to bring it back.
"Hip-hop has changed a lot," Chace Infinite told BallerStatus.com. "We have a lot of dope emcees, but it's always been a traditional problem in L.A. between more traditional West Coast 'gangsta music' and more East Coast influence hip-hop music, so Unity is an outlet for that type of hip-hop on the West Coast -- a different look from the traditional sh-- [fans] are used to. Bigga provided that with Unity, so we just trying to bring it back."
Thursday's show, which took place at a larger venue this time around (The Avalon), definitely brought that feel back to L.A. boasting performances by Chino XL who brought out both Immortal Technique and Crooked I during his nearly half hour set, and up-and-comers Pacific Division. Although Dilated Peoples' Evidence and Defari's hour long plus set boasted a number of special guests, it was the first Los Angeles performance by La Coka Nostra that was most unforgettable that evening.
Everlast and La Coka Nostra getting the crowd off their feet.
"La Coka Nostra is really gonna blow up this year," Chace Infinite told BallerStatus.com before the show, not knowing what to expect from their performance.
Fans gathered into the dark club during the late evening hours, beginning at 9:30 p.m., enjoying classic hip-hop joints thanks to DJ Rhettmatic, anxiously awaiting what was to come.
Asian duo, The Audibles, opened the show, struggling to get a still settling crowd to stand up. Soon after, a energetic Pacific Division brought the energy, getting the crowd semi-excited, before Chino XL rushed the stage shouting out all the other acts on the bill and saying "F--- everybody else," livening a nearly unresponsive crowd up until that point.
Chino ran through numerous selections from his long catalog, spitting freestyles acapella in between, and even performed -- though relunctantly -- his 90s radio friendly single, "Creep."
During the downtime between Chino XL and La Coka Nostra's performances, Immortal Technique treated fans to a well-received politically-laced freestyle acapella.
But it wasn't until nearly 12:30 a.m. that L.A. got their first official helping of supergroup La Coka Nostra's music to come. Greeted by ear popping applause, deep horns spewed from the speakers followed by low bass, as Everlast and company -- donned in black bandanas, hoodies and dark attire -- opened with a track called "Get Outta My Way," setting the tone for the rest of their set.
Keeping the crowd's energy high, the supergroup -- consisting of House Of Pain member Everlast, Non Phixion's Ill Bill, Big Lefty and Slaine -- effortlessly shuffled through several group tracks, as well as solo tracks from individual members' upcoming projects including Ill Bill. When the B-Real and Sick Jacken (of Psycho Real) assisted track called "F--- Tony Montana" began, the crowd went crazy, as the aforementioned guests joined La Coka on stage, getting major love from the Latino heavy crowd.
Closing out their set, La Coka Nostra surprised a crowd when the long horns of House Of Pain's "Jump Around" rang out through the building, Danny Boy ran onstage, and with DJ Lethal on the turntables, the original trio got the whole venue on their feet, jumping up and down, in unison, to the lyrics of the track.
A hard act to follow, Evidence and Defari did their best to match the reaction the audience gave La Coka Nostra, but didn't quite get there. Still, they received love and fans spat back almost every word to songs like Dilated's "Back Again" and "Worst Comes To Worst" with Rakaa Iriscience and DJ Babu by Ev's side. While Defari performed tracks from his latest album Street Music, Ev went track for track, showcasing new material from his solo debut The Weatherman including the first single "Mr. Slow Flow," as well as DJ Khalil produced "All Said And Done."
Evidence is joined by Dilated People's member Rakaa Iriscience on stage at Unity.
Like Ev's new song, when it was "all said and done," Unity showed that the Los Angeles has a living and breathing hip-hop scene, despite how the city is preceived by the rest of the industry. Similar to what Snoop has put his efforts toward in unifying the West Coast, Unity is a nice addition to the entire movement.
Those who missed the event, don't worry, according to event organizer, Chace Infinite, Unity will continue and follow the legacy the founder and his cousin Bigga B left with the original launch.
"We trying to do [Unity] every three months, then culminate with a bigger festival," Chace Infinite explained. "[Bigga B] would be happy if he could see it today. We got a real premise to what we're doing. It's called Unity. We're bring up-and-comers before you see them, as well as people [like Evidence and Defari] together, you wouldn't normally see together."
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