DEADICATION

Criticizing my Criticism

Recently upon returning home from my tour with Awol One, Factor, Ceschi and Cars & Trains of Fake Four Inc, I happened to stumble across a couple of show reviews that broke down my set. I've decided to share them with you because they are completely contrasting points of view and I find it entertaining to see the differences in what people observe when watching the same set.

I'm not against negative criticism, in fact I find it inspiring. It always boggles my mind how a negative comment can effect you so much more than a positive comment, not that positive comments aren't nice, but the comments that stick out and really rattle people are always the negatives (which is really the only reason there are critics to begin with). I can get off of stage, sell a bunch of merchandise get a ton of "you are awesome!" 's high fives and all, but one person says you suck and it has suddenly cracked your ego and left it to bleed out in a sulky "what the fuck is wrong with me?!" manner.

But this is what makes an artist an artist...sensitivity to criticism.

THE BAD

Now the first review I will share with you is the negative one brought to you by MyBackPackIsBiggerThanYours.blogspot.com (already sounds pretentious) which covers my show in San Francisco, CA.

"Abadawn was the opener, with DJ Zone backing him up behind the boards. I hadn't heard any of Abadawn's music previously, but had heard from a friend that he put on a good show and knew of him through his Camobear Records affiliation. Well, I'm not sure if this was just an off-night for Abadawn, but to put it bluntly: I thought he sucked! It seemed like he was trying way too hard to impress the crowd with his rapping and stage antics, and didn't have the skills or originality necessary to make anyone care. To make matters worse, he seemed very indecisive about what tracks he wanted to play, and frequently performed only a minute of a song before deciding to switch into another one. It seems like Abadawn's crazy frat-boy personality is what draws people to his music, but yelling into a microphone and kicking your shoes off on stage shouldn't be the summation of your performance. Bad set."

I actually love this review, it's probably the worst/best review I've gotten. First off, to say "I thought he sucked" is just bad diction for any journalist, be more creative! The next best part is to say I was trying "too hard to impress the crowd with...rapping and stage antics" No shit, that's what rappers do, try to impress people with their rapping. It is also hillarious that he says I "didn't have the skills or originality to make anyone care", when in reality it was the very beginning of the night, I was first up and there was a total of probably 10-12 people in the crowd at the time, also the fact that anyone who has seen my set knows that people tend to want to just watch, it's not exactly music to dance to, maybe mosh to when it's the right crowd.

Now for my favorite part!! "crazy frat-boy personality"...okay, anyone that knows me knows I am far from a "crazy frat-boy" nor do I convey that on-stage in person or at any other time. I just have a feeling dude really didn't "get" my set, and that's okay. I accept that not everybody gets it, what bothers me is that he is an underground hip hop head and out of anybody I would expect him to get it, but whatever. Good luck to you sir, perhaps I should send you a free CD for such a great write up. Maybe you should try making a living as a touring artist and have the guts to spill your face off every night for strangers some of which could give a fuck less what you are actually saying. It's not the easiest gig, but I'm not quitting anytime soon.

THE GOOD

And now, for my own bragging rights let's take a look at a positive review from my Seattle, WA show on the same tour courtesy of ThisIsChris.com

another excellent act that we got to see was Abadawn, a rapper with an extremely young countenance (he looked like he was 15) and a fascinating style. He had two vocalizations: a hip-hop voice that had inflections and flow that reminded me somewhat of Eminem, and a full-on death-metal screech/growl voice. He switched freely between them. Also, his songs were short, which I really appreciated (a couple were only like 45 seconds long, I swear). They were like a little nugget burst of energy, like a hip-hop haiku of rage.

I find the contrasts between these two hillarious, unlike MyBackPackIsBigger; ThisIsChris appreciates the fact that I perform short songs and am not actually indecisive about what to play but like to take a punk approach to performing and only give the crowd small doses of my music. Also, ThisIsChris recognized my high energy and rage, which MyBackPackIsBigger for some reason found as trying too hard. As they say, ya win some ya lose some.

In fact I will take into account everything the negative and positive blog said and keep doing what I do, nobody can stop that.

I guess the real reason I wanted to write this blog was to tell all of you to see the movie "Heckler". A brilliant documentary on hecklers and criticism in the entertainment industry. Anytime I'm faced with a heckler or a negative critic I always think back to various scenes in this movie that remind me I'm on the right path. Thanks to both Blog writers for even caring enough to mention me.