I’ve been eager to see Themselves play live since I first heard their track “It’s Them” on the anticon. compilation Music for the Advancement of Hip-Hop. While I've never seen Doesone and Jel perform together as Themselves before, I have seen them perform both solo and with Subtle and cLOUDDEAD -- so I was waiting with much anticipation when Doseone hit the stage to set up a cardboard backdrop of gray, drab office buildings. He already seemed filled with energy.
Finally, Themselves took the stage wearing dapper, slate-gray, three-piece suits that offset the similar, dreary tones of the set. It turned out to be a very entertaining blend of music, lyricism, machine-gun bursts of wordplay, stand-up comedy, music reviewing, and a joke about the “retarded” things that come out of Sarah Palin. Doseone and Jel were like tiny hyperactive children eager to share with us what they had created, and the cardboard cutouts of the DIY set decoration soon gave way to a dance party. To say that this was an energetic show is like calling water wet.
While the bad sound unfortunately made The Dosester’s words semi-unintelligible, I was still highly entertained. The boys played a rollicking set of jamz that passed through the entirety of Themselves’ catalog. From classic tunes to brand new material, every song was played with an enticing degree of earnestness and honesty, and every head in the place was bobbing. One dude danced a herky-jerky robot-like shuffle all night, stomping the floor with each boom of the bass drum. I couldn’t help but share his enthusiasm.
At one point, Dose had an interesting exchange with the crowd:
Doseone: Would you burn my friend, Jeffrey Logan, Jel, with a cigarette?Crowd: No!
Doseone: Then why would you burn him with a CD-R?
The crowd responded with a muted sense of agreement, with some members of the audience obviously questioning their allegiance to an “artist” who seems interested in making money from his or her creations (shocking). Doseone began to soothe the crowd's anguish and win back the cheers by then imploring us to steal everything else we need, but to leave art, especially his, alone and pay for it.
The final impression I was left with was a growing eagerness to dive headfirst into Themselves’ next full-length album. I might even purchase it.
[Photo: Mathew Scott]
