Kweli does Edmonton

Talib Kweli showed Edmonton why he's one of rap's best lyricists last Friday at the Edmonton Events Center.

The 38-year-old Brooklyn native made a rare Edmonton stop on March 20th at the rather large venue in West Edmonton Mall.

Fans of Kweli had rather mixed feelings on the event. Although he finally added this city to his solo tour stop, he was only on stage for less than an hour. The crowd seemed confused when the stage cleared out as soon as it did, and left everyone feeling disgruntled because of how abruptly it ended.

But while on stage, he was quick to give the fans a taste of Brooklyn. Flawlessly performing tracks from albums ranging from Ear Drum to back to his Blackstar and Reflection Eternal days, Kweli gave a full Ed's what they wanted...a little "quality" music.

Many highlights of the night included Kweli's stage antics, as well as a great show put on by the city's Urban Metropolis.

Halfway through the show, Kweli told the security guards to back off and allow all the "b-boys and b-girls" to get on stage and dance with him. Before security could realize what had happened, three young men, with plenty of break dancing talent, were on stage. Edmonton fans are quick to let you know if they are displeased, as seen during any Oilers losing streak, but the fans in the crowd wildly applauded as these amateur dancers put on quite an impromptu show.

And an unusual surprise from Urban Metropolis was a great DJ show put on in between artists. More than your usual Saturday night club mix of the same old and mundane Top 40 music, DJ Kwake took the crowd on a vivd tour of classic hip hop tracks , and had the audience questioning "what ever happened to rap?" Spinning immortal hits from Method Man & Redman, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, The Notorious BIG and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, the in between artist show greatly outshone the sub par opening acts.

Urban Metropolis was also proud to announce that they would be bringing Chicago based rapper Common to our city at an unconfirmed date. That's right, everyone's second favorite rapper from the City of Wind is on his way here.

So even though the show was extremely short, Talib Kweli still rocked the venue to the best of his unique ability. The fans of Edmonton came out and supported a great artist who deserved the praise he recieved while on stage. But as a few members of the crowd complain about the short lived hour, we should remember what he's all about: quality over quantity.