George Clinton, Too $hort & more played Homecoming Week in Queens (pics, setlist)

For their second performance during Homecoming Week, Long Island’s EPMD did the same set of songs they did in Staten Island but included a request from Yo-Yo:  “Rampage,” from their 1991 album Business As Usual (which featured a verse from LL Cool J) and their set ended with “Head Banger.” During their set, Erick Sermon once again joked about his age. Today, he said he was 38, and when people cheered his age, he quipped, “You know damn well I’m not 38 years old.” (For the record, he's 52.) Their DJ, Diamond the Artist, was given a moment to pay tribute to Run DMC's Jam Master Jay, by doing some turntable theatrics to their classic song, “Peter Piper.” EPMD returned to the stage to close with “Please Listen to My Demo” after “Headbanger” and informed the crowd that they rarely perform that song live.

Up next was a set by DJ Hurricane. Rather than playing classic hip hop records, he brought out a host of emcees from Queens to perform their songs. First Sweet Tee began with “It’s My Beat,” who was then followed by Mic Geronimo, then Hurricane’s own group, The Afros. Next up was Neek the Exotic & Large Professor who performed “Faking the Funk” and “Hanging Out” by Main Source. This was followed by Dres of Black Sheep who walked to the venue from home and performed “Flavor of the Month” and “The Choice is Yours (Revisited).” DJ Hurricane’s final guest was Run DMC's DMC who treated the audience with his verses from the group's classic songs.

Next up, once again, politicians.Chuck Schumer told the audience about the National Hip Hop Day Resolution, and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced that NYC would have an official Mobb Deep Day. Right after that they took a moment to celebrate George Clinton's 80th birthday which was in July. They brought out a mothership-shaped cake for George, who started eating it immediately, digging in with his hands. Host Ralph McDaniels asked the crowd to sing Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” to George and when that was over, the final two sets took place.

Oakland, CA’s Too $hort, who flew in from California just for this, performed a solid set and informed a fan who shouted requests at him that he wasn’t going to do his filthier material at this show. Instead, we heard songs such as “Blow the Whistle,” “Freaky Tales,” “The Ghetto,” plus his verse on “Bossy” by Kelis.

George Clinton & The P-Funk All Stars are now in their third generation and is incredible to see that Clinton has still got it going on at 80, though he too frequent breaks to sit down at the back of the stage. The group performed many P-Funk classics such as “One Nation Under a Groove,” “Maggot Brain” (with Michael Hampton on guitar), “Atomic Dog” (with Scottie Clinton bringing out a dog puppet for the song) and “Up For the Down Stroke.” The band performed live versions of songs by other artists as well (including “Jump Around” by House of Pain and “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz with The Ying Yang Twins). Check out the setlist below.

Pics from the whole night are in this post. Check out pics and recaps from the It's Time for Hip Hop in NYC shows in Brooklyn and The Bronx.

photos by Edwina Hay