The Hennessy Artistry Concert Series Takes Over Terminal 50 comments

Editor’s note: Q-tip made a surprise appearance and Common and The Roots jumped in with an impromptu performance of Bonita Applebum. Check it out after the jump.

The Hennessy Artistry concert series made its way to New York City last week, stopping at the new and slightly improved Terminal 5 formally known as Exit. It was a bit of a throwback for me because I used to attend Hip Hop Thursdays at Exit in my younger and less sophisticated days. It was a dark time in my existence when I didn’t even know what bottle service was.

Once inside I noticed the massive crowd of people at the bar, no surprise. Open bar sponsored by Hennessy what else could I expect?The crowd was filled with people who had obviously never been to an open bar before because so many people were trashed breaking glasses and stumbling all over the place before the main event even occurred.

Finally sometime around 10pm’ish the festivities commenced. Common hit the stage to the sound of screams and introduced a new talent, Elizabeth the Band. Rarely do these opening acts ever truly capture my attention but this woman was incredible. She was a new age Tina Turner and had a great combination of soul and rock and roll and got the crowd going.

And then there was a ridiculously long break filled in by amazing acrobats swinging from sheets and ropes. Nice, but I mean it was almost 11pm and it was a school night for crying out loud.

Now I have to be honest, I am not the biggest follower of The Roots but they delivered an excellent performance and people sang along slurring their words and moving off beat, that henny will do it to you. But most people including myself really just wanted to see Common. And finally our prayers were answered.

I unfortunately make the mistake of standing close to a few die hard fans and got smacked in the head several times no matter where I stood. The highlight of the evening was the duet where Common rapped Come Closer to the beat of Soul Sister and Bilal came in on the hook. There couldn’t have been a better finale.

I almost felt like staying a while longer until another act ht the stage by the name of Colin Monroe. After 30 seconds, I realized it was time to go. Next time Colin.

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