[phlipcam video + review] Young Jeezy + Freddie Gibbs @ the House of Blues

Guilty pleasures are a pain in my ass. Not necessarily my adoration for said pleasures. They wouldn't be labeled such if I didn't love them. Rather, it's explaining the rationale behind my asinine passions. I probably care too much about American Idol, drench 90 percent of all food I consume in hot sauce, and listen to far too much house and techno to be considered legally sane. Why, you might ask? To which I will respond, fuck if I know.

One guilty pleasure for which I have a definite explanation for -- now Pavlovian thanks to constant prodding -- is my affinity for YOUNG JEEZY, and southern fried ignoramus rap in general. It can best be chalked up to being in high school, owning my first shitty car/expensive sound system, and watching too much MTV Jams during a time when Bun B was hijacking every other video with his lethally dexterous flow and ‘Free Pimp C' shirts. During the summer of 2005, Jeezy released Thug Motivation 101, a CD that just so happened to rattle my trunk the hardest and have the most easily retainable lyrics. That my frail self was driving around in a 1992 Honda Accord, barking along with the Snowman about cooking ounces of crack and loving my non-existent glock? Besides the point.

And the fact that I would even have to defend my love for an artist who basically defined the lower half of our country's musical tastes for much of the last decade is kind of fucked in its own right. But this is Boston, and for some reason it's not rational to support ‘local artist A' and still maintain an appreciation for ‘other regional artist B,' despite bridge gapping efforts by Statik Selektah and the like. That's really a diatribe for another day though.

All of this ranting to explain why I was at the Jeezy concert last night at the House of Blues. What I did while I was at the Jeezy concert last night at the House of Blues? Barked along with the Snowman about cooking ounces of crack and loving my non-existent glock, of course.

Initially drawn to this bill for the prospect of hearing his music crack out of a sound system that would put my JBL 12" subs to shame, it didn't disappoint. Jeezy has been consistently on point throughout his career as far as selecting monster, hypnotic beats to coincide with his monster, hypnotic drawl. And it was impossible to not get a little charged hearing tracks like "I Luv It" and "Lose My Mind" in that setting. Also, he limited the amount of mics on stage to two, allowing him to channel his aggression and avoid the wall of harsh noise that plagues all too many mainstream rap shows (*cough*Dipset at the Wilbur*cough*).

Necessary side note: At one point during "Put On", a group of distinguished gentlemen made it rain with about 200 singles from the front row balcony and I probably laughed harder than I ever have at a concert in my life. Like nearly pissed my pants. Also, it was somewhat surreal, seeing as we were in Boston, at the House of Blues.

FREDDIE GIBBS opened the show. Having recently signed to Jeezy's CTE label, the slotting was inevitable for the Indiana-bred rapper. Initially, I wasn't quite sure the signing was the right move for Gibbs. His versatility has allowed him to work with talents that extend well beyond the trap rap pigeonhole that linking with Jeezy will surely corner him into. But last night proved otherwise, as that versatility is precisely why the signing was the right move. He sounds like an absolute beast while laying down his double time flow over crawling beats like that of "National Anthem", "Stripes", and "Rob Me A Nigga", something that working with Jeezy will only afford him more of an opportunity to do. Unfortunately, those three above songs were the only three of his obscenely curt 15-minute set. He kept informing us how high he was, so let's hope that his give-a-fuck-less attitude was a result of the herb and not him getting an inflated ego from inking with the Snowman.