sneaker-pimps-chicago-august-2009

Let’s start with…

The Bad: Sneaker conventions are weird. I don’t understand the appeal of hanging out at a club during the night with a bunch of other dudes to converse and pick out shoes. I swear, I almost snuffed some frost-fondling, soft serve sucker for rolling up on me and asking me what size shoes I wear. Dimly-lit clubs where a group of men are paired off and talking fashion with nary a female in sight? Sounds like a place that should be playing techno versions of Ne-Yo songs. Good thing that wasn’t playing. This leads us to…

The Good: Instead of the aforementioned, we got treated to a few live acts including one of Chicago’s favorite sons, Mikkey Halsted and a couple of guys from Virginia who go by the name of Clipse.

The Clipse @ Sneakerpimps Chicago from The Smoking Section on Vimeo.

The Clipse tore the house down performing damn near every track from Hell Hath No Fury and some greats from their debut album. The star of the show, though, was a Caucasian little lady in the front row that looked like someone’s Home Ec teacher but she knew every Clipse word uttered over a track.

Mikkey had a dope show and previewed a few tracks from the album, including this track, “Karma” which was produced by the almighty No. I.D. Shouts to Drew for the footage.

I ran into Mikkey after his set and he’s a really cool guy. He’s genuinely excited about his album, a big of a fan of Gotty™ (||) and all the support he’s shown throughout Mik’s career.

Halsted then introduced me to Ab Liva, who I must say looks like he could crush my skull with the flesh between his pinky and ring finger. But he’s a down to earth and really nice guy who got me through the tightwads working security at Metro so I could chop it up with the Clipse for a second.

Surprise: Malice and Pusha both respect our fresh and are fans of TSS and Malice was really excited to hear we were posting his video blogs. He thanked me for that while I was standing there trying to keep it together. Fam, Lord Willin’ defined my junior year of high school and Hell Hath No Fury supplied a few college anthems. And there I was talking about the next Clipse album. It was definitely one of those surreal moments this gig has been providing in spades lately.

The Final Verdict: Shoe festivals/shows/sausage fests are not my thing. Ever. But the Clipse made it worth the awkwardness as their show is one you have to catch live. Til’ The Casket Drops is coming, folks. Be ready.

Previously Posted — Sneaker Pimps 09′: The Imagination Experience