AAHH Fest 2014: Set-By-Set Review

Last night, Chicago hip-hop legend Common treated his hometown to one hell of a show, and I was lucky enough to bare witness to it all (well most of it). The name: AAHH Fest. The venue: Union Park. Let's just say I got to cross a few things off my musical bucket list last night.

Here's my rundown of possibly the greatest homegrown hip-hop concert in the Windy City's history.

(Sidebar: Much love goes out to DJs Jermaine, Vince Adams, Timbuk2, and Wayne Williams who all spun masterful sets with nothing but grown folks house and hip-hop jams.)
Jay Electronica: Parked a little further than expected, missed his set. I know, I hate me too.

MC Lyte: Arguably the greatest female MC of all time. In a world were Nicki and Iggy's style reigns supreme over actual substance, MC Lyte displayed proud feminism and class as she ran through her classics on stage. Not one nip-slip or booty-pop. Just bars. After she hit us with Lyte As a Rock, Cha, Cha, Cha, Poor Georgie, and Ruff Neck (to name a few), she had Lil' Mama (yeah, remember her?) join her on stage to perform her song Lip Gloss. A great set from a great MC.

De La Soul: Pos, Dave, and Maseo. Maseo was rocking his son's (St. Louis Rams' rookie running back, Tre Mason) jersey as he rocked the ones and twos before he jumped from behind the tables to join his brothers in rhyme in the front of the stage. Dave displayed some classic crowd control, when the trio teased one of my favorite De La jams (Grind Date), only to stop before the beat drop numerous times to make the crowd put their cell phones down and put their hands up, stating ever so eloquently "this is Chicago, we don't need that Hollywood shit!" They say legends never lose it, and De La Soul proved it last night.

Jennifer Hudson: The Oscar-winning songstress belted out a powerful vocal performance. I'm not very familiar with too much of her music, but the heart and soul she put into each song made me wish I was. At times it seemed like she didn't even need a microphone, her voice carried flawlessly through the cool Chicago air. Of course she closed her set by once again killing And I Am Telling You from Dream Girls. J-Hud was in full effect.

Dave Chappelle: This was one of the most anticipated moments of the evening. Dave took over as master of ceremonies at this point and hit us with a quick 10 minute routine where he discussed various topics like preparing to partake in marijuana activities during his upcoming visit to Denver and getting a Twitter account for his penis. Basic coffee table talk. Even with limited time, Dave killed it like only Dave can.

Lupe Fiasco: Lupe had a ton of energy as usually. His set was just ok to me. Not that he didn't do the damn thing on the stage, he did a lot of his newer stuff which I'm still on the fence about. Me being the nostalgia fiend I am, I was hoping for some Daydreamin' or I'm Beamin'. That's just me though. He did do some his classics (Kick Push and Go Go Gadget Flow) just not the ones I wanted to hear. Funniest part of Lupe's set was when the stage manager informed him that he had to stop because he was over his allotted time. Lupe tried to throw the guy under the bus. Retaliation came in the form of a deactivated mic. Lesson of the night: don't mess with the stage hands.

Common: The man who brought everything together finally had his moment to shine, and he did not disappoint. Classics from damn there every album. New shit from his latest album. An a capella rhyme. You name it, Lonnie Rashid Lynn did it. Common is on his third decade of rocking the mic for a living and he is still able to do it on stage with so much youth and energy like was one of XXL's Freshman Class doing his first show..

He gave up the mic for a little bit to allow Chicago hip-hop pioneer, Twista, to bless us with a few of his classics and a couple of his new joints. Common then took control of the stage again to lace us with a few more hits and brought out Vince Staples and Jay Electronica to perform Kingdom off of his latest album, Nobody's Smiling.

Next, he signaled for the DJ (the legendary Twilite Tone) to drop the Jesus Walks beat, and that's when all hell broke loose. Kanye West jumped on stage to finish the job.

He said he was only supposed to perform 3 songs, but 'Ye went through damn there half his discography, extended the show for another 45 minutes. The stage manager cut off Lupe's mic earlier in the night, but like Khloe Kardashian contemplating Solange-type actions, he knew better than to do that to the Yeezy.

Kanye ended the night by bringing Common, Jay Electronica, and Rhymefest out while he performed his verse from Clique, and the night ended with him and Common coming together to perform the College Dropout classic, Get 'Em High.

AAHH Fest was hands down the best show I've ever been to...EVER! The whole night I had to constantly check myself, and act my age because all the classics that were performed on that stage in Union Park made me feel like I was in high school again listening to cassette tapes on my Sony Walkman. I used to read about the Rock The Bells tours or The Roots Picnic in Philly and get jealous because that capacity of hip-hop seemed to always pass over Chicago, but last night with the help of Common and his friends, my hip-hop prayers, and for that, I thank you. You're welcome.