Lauryn Hill with special guest Blackstar

Lauryn Just Doesn't Have "That Thing" Live
by: bill aicher

The Big Gig, the festival of music, more commonly known as Summerfest, only had one act on the playbill worth paying decent money to see, Lauryn Hill. The opening act(s) were un-announced, so it was an extremely pleasant surprise to find out Blackstar, the underground hip-hop duo of Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Unfortunately, their perfomance wasn't very long, but it showcased their unprecedented talent for lyrcism. They did a lot of material in the short time by not doing full length songs and flowing from one to the next without a break. Much of what they did was new material. The crowd reaction was kind of dissappointing, which only showed that much of it was people there to see the popular, mainstream Lauryn Hill.

Although this doesn't mean L-Boogie doesn't have what it takes, she can freestyle better than most mc's out there. After a long wait, Lauryn and her band finally took the stage. The crowd finally woke up. Her first set consisted primarily of material she did with The Fugees, and it didn't last too long. Their was an intermission which showed off the skills of the two dj's and her percussionist...after this demonstration of skills it was evident why they toured with Lauryn. While the dj's were still workin the angles (the art of turntablism for all you who haven't heard this term), she returned and started a battle of sorts. The dj's would play a common song, and she'd cover some other artists song. Obviously this was filler material, but it kept people entertained and showed everyone she's not just mainstream. But for some it was a lull in the performance.

After that she did more of her current hits. She left the stage and came back on for encore, performing "Killing Me Softly" and "Everything is Everything" to leave the crowd with some energy.