i was pretty excited for this surprise mos def show at oakland's new venue the new parish. i mean come on, the mighty mos def doing his legendary album black on both sides in a small new venue? and in oakland?? hells ya!

i have a lot of love for mos. he is one of the all stars of the last golden era of hip-hop. where the roots, common, blackstar, de la, talib, and mos def brought conscious hip-hop to the forefront. it wasn't all about bling, guns or bitches anymore. it was about smart endearing lyrics, great beats and having a great time.

and man did we have some good times. my boy dv was just as excited for this show cause mos was part of what made san francisco great for us. my friends and i would see tons of shows at maritime hall and the fillmore. hip-hop and sf went hand in hand for a long time.

so ya. i was siked for mos def in the east bay where i am now.

but the show had a rough start. the doors got pushed back 2 hours, i was still excited.

the first dj was kinda sucky, i was still excited.

the second dj was pretty good, but i wanted mos. and i was still excited.

who-sane from brooklyn came on to open next. he was pretty good. i enjoyed his flow, but i wanted mos. it was now past 11:30. on sunday. my feet hurt, i was beat. i had work tomorrow. but i was still excited.

then mos def finally came on! YAY!

but he's doing songs from his new album. ok. that's cool. i'm down. but wait... is he? is he lip syncing?!?!?

what.the.fucking.fuck?!?!!?

he is lip syncing! i am mos def not excited!

this is the mighty mos def. and he's lipsyncing. lip syncing his new album. his own album! i stood there stunned for a few mins. all i could think was maybe he's taking this whole 'acting' thing too seriously. has he forgotten how to perform and has to act on stage? has he been too busy reading script to memorize his own lyrics? w.t.f?

he finally did start singing some songs from black on both sides and that was pretty great. but he went back and forth from singing to lip syncing all night. and even stranger, the dj played a couple songs from detroit punk founders, death. and he lip synced and danced to that too. wtf mos?

i still cant quite believe what i saw last night. below are some videos of him actually performing some songs from last night's show. i couldnt bear to film him lip syncing.

i've been disappointed a lot by hip-hop lately and last night was another nail in hip-hop's coffin. it just makes me so sad for the state of hip-hop these days when an all star like mos def can't even bother to perform his songs for his hard core fans. so disrespectful to your fans. and to hip-hop in general. i still love hip-hop and i'll def be seeing more shows but i def wont be seeing mos def anytime soon... well other than in a movie.