Shaggy 2 Dope F*ck The F*ck Off Tour Fresh Or Stale?

[The Freshness]
So let's see now, I have been "down" since late 1997. My friend Wah Kee played the now infamous "Neden Game" song off of the 4th Joker's Card, The Great Milenko. At first I was a might skeptical, but I was hooked. After hearing that CD I went and got everything I could get my hands on. My first tour was the House of Horrors tour (I think that was the name) in early '98. It is at that show that I purchased the hoodie that now acts as my jacket. I have been to many shows since, including Woodstock '99, Hallowicked 2000 and the first two Gatherings. Many other shows as well.

This show was at my favorite venue The Palladium in Worcester, MA. Doors opened at seven so The Stale One, Josh and myself got there about 7:15 or so. No biggie, Will Call baby. No need to stand in the line. Although I used to be one of those people out there by like ten AM. Anyways, first things first, have to hit up the merch booth. Now me, I am a master at getting to the front of the line, someone not paying attention, moving too slow. Zip I am in like sin. I think I spent the least amount of money I have ever spent at a show, as I only bought the tour shirt. Of course I had to loan The Staleness some money until after the show so he could pick up a fresh Soccer Jersey.

So, first to take the stage were the newly signed Axe Murder Boys. Not a bad set, they were on stage for maybe 20 minutes. The only CD I had heard by them was their Underdogz CD that I downloaded from Juggalonews.com. Their new CD comes out 4/18, so I will be sure to grab that up.

Next up, the Subnoize Souljas. I do not really have anything to say about these guys. They are artists on Suburban Noize Records (The Kottonmouth Kings label). Have no real opinon either way. I do like the song Hooligan though.

Making his way to the stage next was the dead man himself Blaze Ya Dead Homie. For some reason The R.O.C. was his hype man. I remember back at the first Gathering when Blaze took the stage for the first time, I was not really a fan. Since I have grown to like him alot. His latest CD Colton Grundy is really good, he is also re-releasing his first E.P. with some bonus stuff. The R.O.C.'s CD is supposedly coming out sometime this month, but who knows?

Finally Shaggy gets on stage. his set looks great as they lower a backdrop of his facepaint and uncover the two giant hands with middle fingers raised. My only real complaint about his set is the DJ, no need for the scratching on some of the songs. Just alot of noise. He performed most of his solo CD as well as a few "classics" including; Get Off Me Dogg, Hocus Pocus, Southwest Strangala to name a few.

[The Staleness]

Edited for more Staleness!

I have not been “down” for nearly as long as The Freshness. I got in late in the game, when ICP was headlining a WBCN show at a club in Boston, while on their Bizaar Bizarre Tour. I had always wanted to see them and check it out, and once I did I was hooked. I didn’t really get going until I met The Freshness and obtained from him basically the entire Psychopathic Records catalog. Since then I’ve been to virtually every Psychopathic show that’s come through Boston/Worchester, most of the recent Hartford shows, seen Twiztid out in Hollywood, driven out to Detroit for Hallowicked, and been to the last two Gatherings.

I usually don’t go nuts on the merch. I’m fairly picky when it comes to new shirts, every once in a while there will be a design that grabs me. Like one of the new solo Shaggy shirts they have on HatchetGear.com that’s red with Shags way down on the bottom of the shirt and his arms come up to the middle of the shirt and his hands are flipping you off. Fresh shirt, I figured they’d have it for sale at the show and I’d pick it up. Nope. Course not, why would you sell a solo Shaggy shirt like that on Shaggy’s solo tour? On the other hand, they had a very fresh soccer jersey on the site (I hate soccer with a passion, but soccer jerseys are damn comfy!) and I had wanted to order one, but having had previous experience ordering from that site and having listed sized vary greately (e.g. I am 6’3” and a “medium” basketball jersey hangs almost to my knees) I hesitated not being able to see the jersey in person first. I thought No way will they have that for sale at the show. So I didn’t bring much money in. And what do they have there? My friggin jersey! Luckily The Freshness was packing some dough and spotted me enough to get it. Plus I tagged along as he swiftly cut through the human logjam in front of the merch booth. Would it kill them to have a couple other people working that booth before the show? Geez.

I still haven’t formed a concrete verdict on AMB. I’m not a big fan of the American Idol-style entrance they made into Psychopathic Records. I did not snap up their CD as I usually do with any new Psychopathic release. On the other hand, I do think they had a pretty good set at the show, not bad at all.

Subnoize Souljas…. Eh… not terrible, nothing special. Should have gone on first.

Blaze I have always liked, probably because he was already going strong when I got into the game. I am a big big fan of his first album, and his solid cover of “Dead Body Man” and he had two of the few listenable songs on Psychopathics from Outer Space 2. I have grown into a fan of The R.O.C. since seeing him a lot on recent tours, “I’m Here” and “Sinner” are both fantastic songs, and if he would ever release his damn full length album, that’d be pretty fresh. I recommend picking up the EP he has for sale.

Shags’ set was pretty fresh with the giant middle fingers. The Freshness and I were both wary at the beginning as set crew dragged out some buckets, seeing if they were filled with 2-liters of Faygo to douse the crowd with. Luckily they were just water bottles, and we got to stay dry for a show. The DJ did seem pretty unnecessary, he was only useful on the one track from F.T.F.O. that features scratching. Good set list, 2 out of the 3 songs I especially liked off his solo CD (hey, two out of three ain’t bad) and a good mix of older stuff like “Stomp”.

[The Verdict]

[The Freshness] Overall I would say the show was the "ever rare" Soopa Fresh, the only complaints I have is that The R.O.C. should have done his own set, and the Subnoize Souljas should not have been there. Since they were there though they should have opened, not AMB, as they are not Psychopathic. You should definitly hit up the tour if it is coming your way, just click the pic to find a show near you.

Well it is now the 24th of April and I drafted this on the 8th so if the Staleness would like to add his two-cents, he can edit it later, or post in the comments.

[The Staleness]

While I won’t go as high as The Freshness with his verdict, it certainly was a very Fresh show. Subnoize Souljas definitely should have opened, why would you have the non-Psychopathic artist not open? I was also hoping that The R.O.C. would break off and do some of his own songs during Blaze’s set, but no dice. And as much I can appreciate the Faygo-tossing during an ICP show, it was nice to have a break from that and not get drenched this time.