P.O.S. / Dessa / Astronautalis

above: Dessa

Saturday March 6, 2010
DC9
Washington, DC

I don’t see enough hip-hop shows. Not because I don’t love the genre. I just don’t go to many. To be honest, I was nervous about tonight’s show, as I’ve never photographed one. I wasn’t sure what challenges I’d face, trying to find shots based around individuals and their microphones. The stages feel so empty without an arsenal of equipment. But sometimes you don’t need all of that.

This is Astronautalis. One man, a laptop, and a microphone. He speaks and rhymes with a growl that matches Tom Waits. I’m not sure how someone can keep that up for a half hour or more. Even going as far as freestyling for 5 minutes around topics the crowd shouted out. Truly impressive, if you appreciate that sort of thing.

Tonight’s show was a sell out. Which, in tiny DC9 terms, means about 200 people. But it was a hot, sweaty, close crowd. The cata-corner stage was washed with several cans of yellow, blue, and of course, red. It took a few minutes of trial and error and chimping to find the sweet spot. But once found, the subjects and shots were mostly easy catches. Lots of poses and nice close ups.

Meet Dessa. She makes up 1/9 of Doomtree – a hip-hop collective out of Minneapolis. She recently dropped her long overdue and highly anticipated solo record, A Badly Broken Code and set out on this tour to support it. Not only do I not see many hip-hop shows, but the amount of female artists I get to see numbers in the single digits. Her presence on stage and the attitude she gives off while performing is powerful and hypnotic. And she loves to curl her lip a la Billy Idol.

I really enjoy the attention Dessa gives to both rhyming and melody. Many of her songs often have her giving equal time to rapping and full on singing. She has a wonderful voice and incredible flow.

P.O.S. makes up another 1/9 of Doomtree. He’s seen lots of recent success thanks to last year’s hit album Never Better. His set was double, even triple, the pace of Dessa’s. And the small space inside DC9 was hot and muggy by the end of his first song. The enthusiastic crowd swayed and jumped with his beats, spending almost as much time in the air as they did standing.

The hardest part about tonight’s set was combating the over use of red wash on the stage. Lot of post-production work was required to restore details in the shots above and below. But I am thankful for the extremely short set breaks. There was no equipment to dismantle and load out. Just a quick microphone change and a couple minutes of waiting were all that were required between each set. A welcome change I can only dream for at the rock shows.

Click here to view more shots from tonight’s show!

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