Big Boi @ Ogden Theater, January 28th
Words: Jonathan Kosakow
Images: Matthew Speck
Denver doesn’t get much of the good, large scale, live hip-hop. Out in these here mountains, the more likely acts are the bluegrass, the jam and the indie rockers making a quick mid-country stop on their way to one of the distant coastlines. So when the calendar showed a single weekend that would feature Big Boi on Friday and Raekwon on Saturday, the kids jumped. The Ogden Theater was the site of Friday’s main event and outside the venue, on Colfax Avenue, a diverse crowd of mostly white people were milling around – hipsters, hippies and snowboarders – trying to scrounge some extra tickets. But this was a hot item, and not many were to be found.
[All photos by Matthew Speck]
At 9PM sharp, the evening got a jumpstart from the Denver-local group The Foodchain. Surprisingly for an opening act, the octet managed to hold some of the crowd’s attention as they tore through beats and got the audience participating in a bit of old-fashioned call and response. Playing middle-child for the evening were Eligh and Scarub of the Living Legends, whose 45-minute set showcased not only two ultimately humble performers, but also some serious talent. Likely, few in attendance were familiar with Living Legends, but that didn’t seem to matter: just about everyone was enthralled.
A quick break in the entertainment was provided by some white dude in red pants who screamed too loudly into a microphone and threw free, useless swag at the crowd as he all-but-subtly promoted the sponsors of the evening. I am currently enjoying four coozies, two bottle openers, a t-shirt, a golf towel and a pair of pretty solid plastic sunglasses as I write this. At this point, my pockets weighed down by all these amazing Spyder products that I’m sure will last me for years to come, I was ready for the main event. But, I was surprisingly not restless, thanks to the booze provided by Tommyknocker Brewery. With Cutmaster Swiff on the turntables, accompanied by fellow MC Blackowned C Bone, Big Boi gave us some musical gifts to go along with the physical ones bestowed upon us by companies like Icelantic and Optic Nerve.
READ ON for more from Big Boi in Denver…
