Live Concert Photography: DJ Enuff, The Soul Rebels Brass Band and Rakim at Brooklyn Bowl 2/27/15

Live Concert Photography: DJ Enuff, The Soul Rebels Brass Band and Rakim

Brooklyn Bowl

February 27, 2015

I first caught the New Orleans brass nonet, The Soul Rebels Brass Band during the opening night ceremonies of the New Music Seminar NY Festival several years ago, and they were not only one of the best bands that performed that night, they were also a personal highlight of the festival that year. And in a short time, the group’s profile has expanded exponentially; in fact, they’ve made frequent packed stops at Brooklyn Bowl – including their most recent 3 date stop that had the band playing with the likes of The Roots’ Black Thought, Pharoahe Monch, Rakim and Roy Hargrove. (Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the third date as I was covering The Screaming Females at The Knitting Factory. Such is the life of a music blogger.)

As I’ve said on Facebook, when I rule the world – and hopefully that will be sooner than later, based on how things are going – I’d make it a law that dope emcees need to be backed by a brass band on at least one tour or one album for the benefit of all. And certainly seeing The Soul Rebels with Pharoahe Monch and Black Thought was memorable but seeing those brothers with the greatest living emcee ever, Rakim was a whole different level. If you’ve been frequenting JOVM, you may have come across some footage of The Soul Rebels and Rakim performing “Don’t Sweat the Technique” but here comes some photos of the proceedings.

And before I forget, Biggie’s DJ, DJ Enuff opened up the show with a mind blowing mix of old school soul, funk, rock and other things. Let’s put it this way, how many DJs do you know, would pull out The Police’s “Voices In My Head” during a set?

Check it out below.

DJ Enuff