Money Waters, Pikahsso, Cainam, Brown Lion, Playdough & Sivion, Groove Elementz

Standing out in the Dallas rap game is already difficult enough, but for local artist Cainam, a bad break at the Gypsy Tea Room didn't help matters. Sound trouble and a half-empty crowd meant he lost the hype built up by other performers at Saturday's oddly-named Final Friday hip-hop concert...

By Quia Querisma

August 4, 2005

Audio By Carbonatix

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Standing out in the Dallas rap game is already difficult enough, but for local artist Cainam, a bad break at the Gypsy Tea Room didn't help matters. Sound trouble and a half-empty crowd meant he lost the hype built up by other performers at Saturday's oddly-named Final Friday hip-hop concert. The party popped for quite a while before his set, actually; eight-piece Groove Elementz jumped the show off with a Roots-style funk-jazz-rap set, and they were followed by charismatic rap duo Playdough and Sivion. The local twosome activated the crowd with their East Coast-flavored sound and call-and-response crowd hyping. Strangely, Sivion ditched the set halfway through to man the merch booth, but Playdough took advantage of the extra stage space and unleashed a vicious, battle-ready freestyle that got hands waving.

After a lull courtesy of local producer Erotic, Dallas rapper Brown Lion took the stage with collaborator Pumah to bring the venue back to life with "Knock Knock," a blazing single from his Stop Lion mixtape. Between his own rhymes and ad-libs for Brown, Pumah snuck in some impressive singing on "Peace A Mine," but the end of their fine performance saw a mass exodus by half the crowd. Technical problems notwithstanding, Cainam and his crew couldn't get back in gear, and he even faltered when he tried to freestyle about the situation. Things were so bad that a fellow MC grabbed a mike and asked if anyone in the house had cyanide. Fortunately, closers Pikahsso and Money Waters stuck it out. Their respective sets pleased devotees, as the former slayed all MCs with his quirky lyrics while the latter rode the music (courtesy of live band Rubba Rode) with a smooth flow, and they proved that the best rappers can overcome whack crowds.

Quia Querisma

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