The history of hip hop music is frought with episodes of the struggle to validate the artform. EYE don't know how many times EYE've heard nonsense like "Rap isn't music". Even other musicians are often so close-minded as to question a hip hop artist's right to call his own product "music". This opinion is readily encouraged by record labels who "black"list creative artists in favour of low-quality "jiggy" celebrities, but then that's another story.

Instead of the usual tirade targeted at the true "hatas" who are intent on destroying our artform, it's time Rec finally sent out a commendation. Early in the summer of '99, EYE was chilling with my boys on the East Coast over a phat plate of Dakka (respect to KG and the crew). Someone passed me a hip hop magazine opened to an ad for The Roots Come Alive, the first live hip hop album to be released in a long-ass time. Seeing that ad made a number of thoughts run through my mind. Those ideas have been solidified through my insistent rocking of the album.

The Roots' release of a full album of live music solidifies the stature of all hip hop artists as true musicians. Few can argue with the validity of hip hop music when a group can play hip hop on the same instruments that the Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys played rock, and Bob Marley and the Wailers played reggae. The crew from Illadelph prove that hip hop doesn't just happen on drum machines and SP1200's. It can't be categorized as "talking over a beat". An emcee uses his voice as an instrument. A DJ uses turntables. The results are no less viable simply because the instruments aren't socially accepted. The Roots prove this on their live album.

But this album is also a reminder that it is necessary for hip hop artists to take their music to the people. EYE don't know what the hip hop concert scene is like outside of Toronto, but here it is meagre at best. Very few shows come through the city, and those that do are poorly advertised and about 50 percent likely to come off. If the show does actually happen, fans still have to deal with shady promoters and soundmen.

Barring those problems specific to Toronto, too many hip hop artists don't put enough energy into their show. EYE remember ten years ago going to the Concert Hall to see Public Enemy during the Fear of a Black Planet tour. The place was jam packed with brothas, and the show was live! The atmosphere was positive, and the crowd was responsive. Chuck D and Flavor both interacted with the audience throughout the show. The show ran for hours, and you could tell that Chuck, Flavor, Terminator, and the S1W's were giving it their all. Ten years later, EYE made sure EYE was at the Opera House to see P.E. wreck it again on the There's A Posion Going On Tour (props to them for rolling back up here, even after Flavor wasn't allowed across the border). These two shows alone were enough to substantiate my support of Public Enemy's music and message.

To all music fans, you can't truly appreciate hip hop music until you hear it performed live. Whether it be checking DJ Vadim at Reverb, Roots Manuva at the Phoenix, or six emcees in a cypher on the corner, check out a show, and make a decision based on hip hop at its best. To all artists, real hip hop cannot be properly promoted by big budget commercials on BET and full page spreads in The Source. Only trends are effectively marketed this way. Take your music to the people, give the fans your all, and build a following of true fans. EYE'd like to leave you with this quote from Chuck D's book "Rap, Race, and Reality" - a necessary trip into the mind of a hip hop great. "Don't let another group outhustle us. If you have one verse to go, you take that verse to the last fucking note."