Going to the Blind Pig on a Saturday evening was the perfect way to numb the combination of a disappointing football game and several days of unwanted cold weather (in case you have never been, the main room in the Blind Pig is one of the warmest rooms in the city of Ann Arbor). Immediately I felt welcome in my black converses and flannel when I saw hordes of others wearing the same.
By the same token, I was not ready for the opening act.
You can check out “The Black Opera” at their web site here:
Describing themselves as “Rap’s first performing arts group,” The Black Opera hit hard and fast. They changed costumes between songs and made references all over the place, from the Black Power movement to the water crisis in Detroit (at least that’s what their chant about water made me think of). In other words, this was the black Blue Man Group.
Since I hadn’t researched the opening act, I was blindsided at the beginning, but by the end everyone in the room was chanting alongside these talented men. They were not just a rap group, but a collection of performance artists that made the entire bar their stage.
Jaded Inc. is a synth-pop/beat wave group composed of Mayer Hawthorne and hip-hop artist/DJ 14KT. Both men are from the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area so it was awesome to see these talented men come back to their roots.
All niceties aside, the bar was bangin’. Jaded Inc. is a hybrid collaboration of two accomplished artists and it showed. Each stationed at the front of the stage with his respective Macbook and synthesizer, they dropped the beats and we were happy to oblige.
From the strange yet sexual “Coconut Sofa” to the hip-hop inspired “The Big Knock,” these DJs covered all their bases and made a concert that was neither too chill nor too loud and obnoxious.
