CMJ-southpaw showcase

The CMJ marathon showcase is by far the greatest musical showcase of up and coming and legendary artists held in New York City. Tuesday, October 21st I went to one of the many showcases that night at the Southpaw venue in Brooklyn. The lineup for the night was Jamine Solano, U-Dog, Wiz Khalifa, Grand Puba with Brand Nubians, and Spank Rock.

For those completely unaware, Jasmine Solano is a popular DJ from NY who not only can scratch but she raps too. Her sound was something that threw me off at first but it quickly grew on me. I immediately took to twitter to let my “followers” know that Jasmine Solano was not only an amazing DJ but a killer rapper too. I got a re-tweet saying thanks for my comment. After three songs, Solano went back to the system to keep the crowd live. Her DJ set was extremely live, a great variety and mix from artists, Ninja Sonik to Jay-Z. I was kind of disappointed about the lack of peoples knowledge of Ninja Sonik, “I said who that, who that?” but it was all good.
Jasmine Solano-Thats Not It


U-Dog from mega hip hop group Wu Tang to the stage next. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wu-Tang, grew up on it, rocked to it all that but U-Dog’s performance lacked that Wu Tang vibe that I was in need of. The crowd was either in love or wanted him off the stage. Their request was granted when U-Dog fell of the stage into the crowd, he laughed it off but we all could still feel that sting of embarrassment on his part. A girl in front of me was clearly at the show to see one person, Wiz Khalifa so she decided to do something more productive until Mr. Khalifa took the stage. The girl then pulled out her homework and worked on some math problems until Wiz Khalifa came out.
U-Dog



Wiz Khalifa, this is where I must remember that I am a writer then fan. I am a huge fan of Wiz so I’ll keep this as professional as possible. WIZ KHALIFA KILLED IT. It was evident that the entire crowd was there to see him and he treated his fans right with an amazing performance. If you weren’t already on the Taylor Gang bandwagon then you definitely hopped on it after seeing Wiz Khalifa live. His set included songs from the Flight School mixtape, Star Power mixtape and How Fly mixtape. It was only right to perform a High Fly song with the other artist on the tape and that is Curren$y, the hot spitta. “Clear the runway lady, I get money from sunday to sunday lady...” What better song to do then Car Service? After Wiz Khalifa killed the stage along with Curren$y, the crowd left with him. Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y were definitely loved that night.
Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y--Car Service


Grand Puba honestly had a tough set to follow but he is a legend so he still rocked it. It was only right that he brought out the other members to Brand Nubians to perform with him. The crowd still rocked with classics and showed them love. Their set was unfortunately cut short due to time constraints but they still rocked it with their limited time.
Grand Puba


SpankRock was the next performer to hit the stage. Due to the lack of publicity for his name on the bill, the crowd was quite small. SpankRock was a special guest but saved for last. His set was amazingly creative, the lights, the DJ and the drums were all perfection. I was completely bummed out when SpankRock ended his set by jumping off stage leaving fans puzzled as to what was going on.
SpankRock



**all videos are from the show that night**