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At a Tuesday night show that at times seemed like an old-fashion sound system battle between West Coast and East Coast and prog-hop and old-school, the critically acclaimed DJ Shadow impressed with an early evening set with Latyrx (a Bay Area rap group on his SoulSides label) and a late-night solo turn. But the Brooklyn, New York, rapper Jeru the Damaja won the most hands in the air, strutting with attitude in a red, yellow, and green cape that he wore bare-chested, a la LL Cool J.
\\Though they obviously intended to rock the house, Latyrx's ragamuffin freestyles couldn't get the crowd going. "I said make some motherfucking noise," one of the rappers said. "What's up New York? Is New York in this motherfucking house?"
\\Unfortunately, it seemed New York was just killing time until Jeru took the stage -- at which point it became clear that most New Yorkers favor attitude over intellectualism. An hour after Latyrx finished, Jeru stepped to the microphone and announced: "I'm not doing my shit until every motherfucker makes some noise. If you don't do what I say, I'm going home because I got paid." (So much for Shadow's argument on "Why Hip Hop Sucks in `96": "It's the money money money ...")
\\As if as a challenge to Shadow, Jeru at one point declared himself "the real hip hop, not the fake hip hop." And if his beats were less inventive than Shadow's, they certainly got a more enthusiastic response from the crowd.
\\Immediately after Jeru left the stage (and a good part of the crowd filed out), Shadow walked silently up to the stage for a final DJ set. This time, head down and all serious, earphone cradled in his shoulder on one side, he blasted mixed-up beats, dropping jungle rhythms into a flurry of scratching that included a name-that-sample selection of U2, Prince, church bells and Zeppelin.
\\Whatever arguments have been made about the viability of DJs performing live, Shadow brought so much immediacy to his set that it reverberated in internal organs. The eerie tones of "Organ Donor" hit an illbient high, and the beat from "Mutual Slump" simply commanded. Despite the crowd reactions, Shadow proved he was the master musician -- and that his instrument is vinyl. Around 1 a.m., Shadow slumped off the stage, looking down at the steps. Those who remained cheered him back. Uncharacteristically, Shadow t