w/ Elite Tha Showstoppa
Thursday, Jan. 27 @ The Max Canada
I’d never seen a show at The Max Canada before and thus didn’t really know what to expect from the popular and expansive watering hole. With a few pool tables pushed to one side and a moratorium on darts, however, that little back corner stage offered a nice, if awkwardly positioned venue for both a smooth, funky R&B outfit from Atlanta, and Athens’s premier MC.
With no need for a last name, NOAH stormed into Athens with honey-smooth vocals and some impressive instrumental chops to match. Joined by a soaring electric guitarist, drummer and conga player, NOAH showed off his jazz background on the keyboards all night, riffing in the high-end one moment only to leap across the ivories and hammer home gorgeous, low-end chords that at times worked almost like a walking bassline. Every song seemed to build to an epic conclusion, whether via NOAH’s vocal gymnastics (comparable to Maroon 5’s Adam Levine) or his guitarist’s skyrocketing, Funkadelic-flavored solos. This is an act that could play the the Variety Playhouse, New Earth Music Hall, or even Aftermath if they were so inclined, and that’s a pretty exciting prospect for both Atlanta and Athens.
With the long-ago departure of ElemenO.P., the recent disbandment of Deaf Judges, and the general dearth of Athenian rap talent to begin with, it seemed almost criminal that this was my first time seeing Elite tha Showstoppa, and as it turns out, it was. Not only have I never seen a local rapper this talented, I would go so far as to say I’ve never seen a local rapper even half this talented. Ripping through his prerecorded beats with the ferocity and fire of P.O.S. and the bouncy, finger-waggin’ flow of Brother Ali, Elite was joined by a vivacious backup singer whose blow-the-walls-down gospel accents shot clear to the rafters. I’ve seen acts play venues four times this size and not convince a single person to dance, but by night’s end, The Max Canada was gettin’ down en masse. The Athens rap scene may be a touch anemic right now, but that doesn’t make Elite’s status as the best of the bunch any less meaningful. His name says it all. He’s in a class by himself.
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