On February 27th I finally got to see one of my childhood heroes perform, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, otherwise known to the world simply as Nas. He performed to a packed house at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center with Reggae heavyweight and the son of the legendary Bob Marley, Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley.
They stopped by our island Maui while on their world tour to promote their collaborated album, Distant Relatives. The days and weeks leading up to this event was insane. It’s been a long time since I’ve been that amped up and excited to go to a concert. Strapped with a near unbelievable amount of expectation, Nas and Damien Marley didn’t disappoint one bit.
The concert from beginning to end was amazing. When Anabelle and I got to the venue, the lines were short and fast, almost too fast. Because the MACC doesn’t allow cameras on their property, I had to MacGyver mines into my belt in 3 seconds while walking towards the very security guard that was about to frisk me. And like the series, MacGyver-ing prevailed, even if I couldn’t breathe worth a damn for the few following, but oh well. The concert began with Hawaii’s own The Green. They were the perfect opening act; loud, live, energetic, and good. There was a 30 minute or so intermission with people still pouring through the doors. And as the night sky came upon us, the audience rose to their feet, and out came the DJ.Beneath his Yankee fitted, world renowned DJ Green Lantern opened up the set and got the crowd to its breaking point within the first 30 seconds. He came at us with an arsenal of Hip Hop classics; Wu Tang’s “Triumph”, Biggie’s “Juicy”, and Tupac’s “California Love” among many more. Then without warning, the 2 masters of their crafts took the stage. There they were, Nas and Jr. Gong. For me, it was a serious holy shit moment. It was hard to grasp the idea that I was finally watching my favorite emcee of all time perform. They did a great mixture of songs, from Nas’ classics, “Hate Me Now”, “Hip Hop is Dead”, “Got Urself a Gun”, and of course “If I Ruled The World” to Damien Marley with “Welcome to Jamrock” and “Road to Zion” to some songs from Distant Relatives.
On this night, we were all blessed to be in the presence of greatness. Both Nas and Jr. Gong were amazing. It ended up being so chaotic that the entire crowd stood around chanting “hanahou” (“encore” in Hawaiian) for 20 minutes before being kicked out by security. This was a night unlike any other. I’m so grateful and appreciative that Nas and Damien Marley decided Maui was worth performing at. We were shown a ton of love by both performers and I truly believe we, the audience showed that much love back. I hope this will let promoters and artists realize that Maui, though an island, has a huge Hip Hop following. Thank you Nas and thank you Damien Marley for lighting that fuse.
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