One of my favorite days this past summer was the night of the MOBB Deep show at Vics, at which Yin T’sang and yours truly were the opening act.

When I started getting into rapping here in China,  of course Xiao Bizzle had his grand dreams and aspirations of working with some major artists even in just minor ways, and in the last 16 months, I have got the chance to do just that.  This time, while my role was small, I took my chance and when the time came, I was jumpin’ around on stage at Vics like a crazy fool. That night, opening for MOBB Deep was Sbazzo (马克）and Lao Zheng (老郑）otherwise known as Yin T’sang 隐藏,  featuring Xiao Bizzle, and we jumped right into some Chip-Chop hits like Yin T’sang‘s classic  “Zou Qi Lai 走起来” and my favorite song to do live, “Push the Bouncer”.  I did perhaps the best hypemanning of my life that night.  I truthfully didn’t keep up with all the words even though I knew them, simply because I got so pumped that I would break out into “Beijing hip hop!” and “大家走起来 dajia zouqilai! （means everyone get up or stand up) ” and even some “throw ya hands up！ 举手” The crowd was totally into it and we fed off that.

The actual show was crazy, but the before / after the show was memorable too. I remember the 4pm phone call from Sbazzo asking “Are you ready Bizzle?”
Bizzle: “Ready for what?” (I started to believe it was going down…)
Sbazzo: “To rock the mic for MOBB Deep homie, your coming up with us!”

I wasn’t  THAT surprised really, but…it wasn’t actually confirmed until right then. When my name isn’t on the poster, I don’t ever assume I will get any mic time. Nonetheless, I’m always ready when my numbers is called, that’s just a reality of the game when you are an up and coming, (that’s the nice way of putting it) rapper or MC. Usually, I stay on the business side of things with Yin T’sang but for some shows, I can’t resist the urge to help out a little extra.

Havoc and Big Noid were at Vics already when I showed up (Noid, another MOBB Deep member, was here because the other MOBB Deep front man, Prodigy, was in prison. For more info click here) and before we could start the sound check, we all said ‘what’s ups’, did the ceremonial daps and bs’d around in the club. I’ll tell you, being inside a nightclub with all the lights on is a different experience that any Friday night. It doesn’t feel as glamorous, I’ll say that much. Soon, word arrived that some clothing brands had arrived with fresh gear for us to go through…maybe more so intended for MOBB Deep and Yin T’sang than for Xiao Bizzle, but of course, I jumped right in. This is a pretty regular thing at shows these days, and this time, RMBZ Boys and Infinite Fantasy both came through with some fresh gear for everyone to take their pick. I ended up getting an unreleased Infinite Fantasy tee that has the front of Rolls Royce car plus the emblem on the front…super sick.
This was my main chance to talk with MOBB Deep front-man, Havoc, and I found him to be nice but pretty quiet and reserved. He told me he was enjoying China and his first words to describe his time in Beijing was,  he had very quickly “seen some sh*t that I’ve  [Havoc]  never seen before.” They jetted back to the hotel without doing a real sound-check and we all went our separate ways till around show time.

The show went great, after Yin T’sang‘s super live opening set, MOBB Deep came on and I hyped from the DJ booth and video taped as well. The crowd energy was incredible. The bouncers ended up on stage a few times trying to calm things down, which in the end was what singled the end of the show. During “Shook Ones” the crowd got so hyped up that someone grabbed at Havoc, and so after that song the security took control and MOBB ended the set just to keep things orderly. I could fee the energy from the DJ booth, and it was fresh for Beijing. Here are few pictures:

Girlz go wild for Xiao Bizzle

Big Noid

Havoc doing his thing

Zheng and Bizzle

After the show, we partied at Vics for a good while, sippin’ Grey Goose and Hennessy (by Havoc‘s request) but MOBB eventually grabbed some top shelf girls and skeeted out. The rest of the team didn’t mind that much as their “table” at Vics had been and continued to be a resource of free drinks all night for the whole crew to enjoy. That’s another added benefit of these big shows and the Chip-Chop life…the whole family can get free drinks.

Later, when I asked Sbazzo for some reflections about the MOBB Deep show he said:
“You know, they were real cool people. Havoc was way more humble than most International artists that we’ve collab’ed with here in China. He was eager to work with us, just like we were to work with him. And they were into the Chinese experience as well… they went all around, to the Great Wall and Forbidden City, they ate the authentic food with us, and really wanted an authentic experience. That’s not like the “in and out, pick up some *ish and girls and then back to the hotel” that we’ve dealt with some other artists. Of course, we had the usual hip hop activities and it was all cool, MOBB definitely is a big international connection for Yin T’sang.“

Yin T’sang recorded the song “Real” with Havoc of MOBB Deep also featuring Young Kin, and that is set to be on Yin T’sang‘s upcoming, and perhaps final (shhhh) album. More to come on that!

Bizzle!