Pitchfork

Photos by Jason Bergman; Above: Company Flow

El-P and Company Flow [Music Hall of Williamsburg; 11 p.m.]
















It's been nearly 15 years since El-P, born Jaime Meline, dropped his first vinyl as part of influential alternative hip-hop group Company Flow. Between his label efforts and his rapping, El-P has had plenty of time to assemble one of the most fanatical and diverse cult followings at CMJ-- everyone from the typical Williamsburg denizens to thick-necked ex-jocks. "I live where you live, Brooklyn," El-Producto declared in his set closing the showcase for Def Jux, the label he runs and co-founded.

El-P's main set played up the craziness he repeatedly claimed in interviews for new album I'll Sleep When You're Dead. "I'm losing my goddamn mind, period," he said at another point. He came onstage to Gary Jules' abysmal Tears for Fears cover, "Mad World", so apparently, yeah. The performance itself was as animated as it was vaguely anachronistic. El-P screamed himself fucking hoarse, peppering injunctions to say "yeah" or "put your hands in the air" between lyrics darkened by political fury, arrangements combining old-school sampling and a bit of rock aggression. "Is that all you got for me?" he said at one point, when the applause from the back fell clearly short of the equally batshit devotion up front.

At one point El-P welcomed "the newest member of Def Jux": No, not Danny!, who ably emceed the event, but underground rap icon Del tha Funkee Homosapien. Del's agile flow was a highlight capping an evening of likeably enthusiastic rappers such as Junk Science and Hanger 18. "Please listen to my album, even if you're white as talcum," Del spit on classic "Catch a Bad One", from 1993's No Need for Alarm.

The biggest guest appearance, however, came in the encore. As hinted at in a previous report, El-P took the stage with Bigg Jus, reuniting two-thirds of Company Flow for the first time since early this century. The reason for the reunion? "We love hip-hop music," El-P said from the stage. The reformed duo played old joints like "Population Control", "Vital Nerve", and "Steps to Perfection". Years after the words were written, here was El-P, again: "I don't try to be different/ I am." During one interlude, he observed, "It probably will be about a decade before we do that song again."

BONUS PHOTOS, WOOT!

Yak Ballz [Music Hall of Williamsburg; 10:10 p.m.]





 
Hangar 18 [Music Hall of Williamsburg; 10:30 p.m.]





 
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien [Music Hall of Williamsburg]