Concert Review - The F.O.R.C.E. Tour
Ain’t no party like an old school party, cuz an old school party don’t stop! This was the entire mood of The F.O.R.C.E. concert at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
This concert was a wonderful show to celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop. The mic and the house was rocked, the roof was raised, and the energy, flames!
This show featured some of the most legendary emcees, OGs (Original Gangstas) in Hip Hop History. The Roots, Common, MC Lyte, Ice-T, Bone Thugs N Harmony, T3 (Slum Village) and headliner LL Cool J. Rocking with the rappers were the fellas who are nasty on the ones and twos, DJ Jazzy Jeff and DJ Z-Trip.
This show was everything; my head was aggressively nodding with a stank face the entire time. I love Hip Hop! It’s the culture for me, and it’s everything I love: the art, the dancing, the storytelling. I’m a 90s baby, so I appreciate the music made before me, and when I was growing up, I had an old soul; to me, nothing beats old school. I had a ball and probably was one of the youngest there. Let's get into it, shall we?
These are all the things that I loved.
The dress code. Any true concertgoer knows you have to dress the part. Overalls, Adidas outfits, full tracksuits, giant gold chains, Kangol bucket hats, I even saw some shell-toe shoes for authenticity (I couldn't find mine, but I did rock some Adidas). The fans understood the assignment. The Roots were the band for the entire night, with Black Thought as every individual artist hype man. This band is nothing short of amazing. They hit the stage, set the tone, and got us in the groove. Black Thought delivered some pure poetry; his lyricism has always been top-tier. Behind them on the screen was a big "50" with any Hip Hop artist names you can think of scrolling across.
There is nothing like a pure live performance. I was in awe watching all the emcees perform with nothing but a mic in their hand, and the only thing to support them if they needed to breathe (which they did not) was the assist from Black Thought. Not overbearingly loud, I can’t tell if you're lip-syncing or using a backup track, just them spittin' that hot fire, with the DJs scratching and the band going off! I LOVED to see it.
During the DJ sets is when my stank face was activated the most. DJ Jazzy Jeff and Z-Trip are turntablists in every sense of the word. The scratching, mixing, flipping, rewinding, fading, man, the way they manipulated those sounds was art, and as I mentioned, I love art!
Common performed all his hits, but I loved it most when he performed “Come Close.” During the song, he stopped, sat on a speaker, and picked out a fan to stand next to him as he freestyled to the beat.
“Sweetheart, she said her name is Jayla / I’m rocking in Detroit with all the Detroit playas.” Said Common while mentioning other Detroit puns like checking in with Trick Trick and referencing Coney Island in his rhymes. He gave us a nice little hot 16.
The energy of the band and every individual artist was insane. The rappers were jumping up and down, leg lifting, and dancing while going from one end of the stage to the other without missing one single beat! I thought to myself, wow, everybody is going to need some icy hot later.
LL Cool J came out towards the middle, and at the end, I liked that he split his performance. LL performed about 21 songs that included my personal favorites, “I’m Bad," "Doin’ It," "Luv You Better," "Around the Way Girl," "Head Sprug," "Going Back to Cali," "All I Have," "Mama Said Knock You Out," and "Rock the Bells.”
History lesson time.
As we all know, battle rap is a part of the culture. In the early 2000s, LL deemed himself the greatest rapper ever, and Ice-T was not going for that, so a little rap beef started between them that they ended up squashing. Ice-T joked about it during his set, telling a story about how LL used to be his nemesis. “How the **** did I end up on tour with LL.” He gave us the backstory and proceeded to drop those hits.
MC Lyte was next, and she was a powerhouse, the first female solo rapper who ever did it, with such revered storytelling. As a woman who rhymes from time to time, it felt so good to see her hit that stage. It was giving black girl magic, influence, legacy, and proud.
Listen, by the time the concert was over, I was surprised my head was attached to my neck. I’m the one who needed icy hot the next day, wild! This show will make you remember why you fell in love with hip-hop. It's pure, it's raw, it's fun, and everybody did an amazing job. It was a great production and party. I only wish I could have witnessed some of the other greats that weren’t apart of this show but will be in others. Happy 50th-anniversary Hip Hop!
