Kool Keith
Auditorium Shores, Nov. 5Consider the baseball statistic VORP: Value Over Replacement Player. It became relevant Saturday morning when the news that a broken foot would keep god MC Rakim out of the fest hit. Enter Kool Keith, the seemingly borderline schizophrenic Bronx native in town for a FFF Nites performance at Empire Automotive Service. Draped in a blinged-out scarf, Black Elvis strutted out after a 15-minute DJ hype session and thumbed through his robust catalog like he was looking for a hit track on a mixtape. Little besides Dr. Octagonecologyst hits “Blue Flowers” and “Girl Let Me Touch You” – and a seemingly endless freestyle early in the set – lasted longer than 16 bars, Keith’s set instead served as a vehicle for some of the most creative, non sequitur fan shimmies Auditorium Shores saw all weekend. Even Keith’s signature banter was held in check. (Can we get a State of the No Sweatpants Coalition Address?) The logical explanation: Keith did his best impression of the understated Rakim, who even on two good wheels is about as exciting as Al Gore at a karaoke bar.
This article appears in November 11 • 2011.