23 Jun 12

Hey, blogspot readers, SouthSide's rockin' a FREE-weekend! In celebration of Wicker Park's Green Fest, the hippest rock venue on 6 Corners lined up 3 spectacular days of free shows all weekend long featuring DJ sets and hot music acts in their effort to continue the spirit and fun of the fest happening next door.

On this particular night, Double Door entertained the fest goers with hot remixes of retro to pop modern classics and hits to keep everyone amidst the summertime momentum until The Retar Crew took over the stage. This 4 piece hip hop / rap crew 's set featured a few special guests joining them tonight on the bill as well as other performances by Knowaries and DJ Adrienne Sanchez. To add to tonight's central club theme, there were dazzling light effects to greet each person entering the venue. However, one thing was quite different for SouthSide - she didn't hang out at her usual spot in the balcony. It was stifling hot up there, blogspot readers, to feel the cool breeze that was blowing on the main floor.

Let's get one thing straight about SouthSide - she's not a fan of any kind of hip hop / rap whether it be Gangsta  or West Coast to whatever she has to endure being blasted from her noisy neighbors' cars. Though enjoying The Retar Crew's performance, she also didn't enjoy it at the same time. Let's touch on what she liked about this local group's Double Door show first before highlighting the bad, blogspot readers. The Retar Crew featured a lively mix of lyrical verse within their hip hop groove and fun beats to the delight of their fans and others to get them dancing to the funky rhythms especially when opening with their Retar theme song - a little ditty poking fun at themselves complete with in sync (sexy) dance moves. Yet, there's one thing you must know about this rap crew - they truly don't take themselves or anything (ie pop culture, life, et al) too seriously. However, there's a message hidden their whimsical lyrics to songs like Dead Celebrities (Too Soon?), Jig n' Fin and Social Media Blues. Prime examples of how Retar takes pop culture turning them in social messages especially Jig n' Fin (about a girl with a nasty you know what down there, so fellas beware) and Social Media Blues (plenty of f-bombs being dropped to which they demonstrate their distaste for everything from Obama [yes, this received the biggest cheer when saying "...fuck Obama..."] to media/entertainment icons). Still there are fun tunes when they're not being "serious" like Awesome (here's when you shouldn't believe the hype about them) or A-A-A Don't Hate (a hardcore hip hop tune than the others performed).

Now, as SouthSide mentioned earlier, she didn't like The Retar Crew's show for a few reasons. First, there was an intermission to which surprised this reviewer but also, in her honest opinion, brought down the excitement of their show to a crashing halt, blogspot readers. She's all for promoting and allowing others to share the stage during your special (free) show. However, she couldn't comprehend what possess Retar to add a pantomime puppet show. Granted the puppet show was okay ...she did enjoy the use of Bing Crosby's The Moon Got In My Eyes for this quick 5 minute performance but it somewhat lost the crowd's excitable high and energy dragging it down to a "let's grab a beer" lull. Besides the performance being a bit confusing as well as beautifully artistic, it honestly didn't fit within Retar's central performance theme of the night and didn't really spark any fun interest from the where SouthSide was observing unless you were close to the stage. The second thing which totally lost SouthSide completely during this show was the addition of a Detroit rap group. Now, the show totally came to a grinding halt, blogspot readers. This trio of hip hop artists (including their own DJ) couldn't get this Retar crowd hyped for their short performance especially at the beginning when they hit the stage. This set was incoherent mesh of lyrical verses (the rhymes bouncing off each MC on the mic were garbled whenever they spoke at the same time instead of timed individually to be understood) and of beats that were very uninteresting (sounding like the stuff this reviewer has to suffer through - the excruciating loud thumping one-note bassline). SouthSide can honestly say some (and she means - some) did enjoy this set but most were impatiently waiting for Retar's return to close out their performance.

If this show was just about The Retar Crew (minus the special guests), SouthSide would recommend checking out this local hip hop/rap crew whenever they perform again. Yet, since this featured special guests, she does have her reservations, blogspot readers. This reviewer does plan on giving them another try at a later date.

For more information, visit The Retar Crew at http://www.theretarcrew.com/.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide