Music seen at the White Heart, October 9, 2007
By TODD RICHARD | October 17, 2007
MC Homeless has a lot on his mind, and he was more than willing to share. With a rare midweek performance at the White Heart, Homeless was visiting Portland on tour from North Carolina.
Homeless entered the “stage” area of the White Heart draped in a tattered American flag, singing along to Team America’s “America, Fuck Yeah!” and pacing the front of the room like a caged animal. Politics and societal ills were the topic of discussion that evening, and Homeless was ready to share. Flanked by button-pusher/hypeman Davey, his set seemed to be one long tirade against the Establishment, with the cartoonish Davey readily available to offer a symbolic “Amen.” At moments, Homeless seemed to be a caricature of the indie-insurrectionist hip-hop artist, setting up spoken-word pieces for the crowd and hawking stickers. But, American flag and doubts aside, Homeless is a startlingly able MC. He put forth an impressive display of his verbal agility, skipping just out of meter on his stream-of-consciousness rhymes, but never losing the beat. Outside of a few of Portland’s hip-hop illuminati gathered near the stage, it seemed like the crowd missed most of the detail.
The pinnacle of this set was the “banger” of the bunch, “Champagne Wishes.” Washy, wailing strains of tremolo guitar streamed out, identifying themselves immediately as the anthemic “How Soon Is Now,” by the Smiths. And, as a reminder to the audience, the signature line from the chorus was left intact. “I am human, and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does.” Point taken.
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