A$AP Rocky - Live At Rock Im Park - 2013 - Star Live Concerts
As a fan of the artist, I should hate the idea of this bootleg. But the fact that such a good sounding, well-curated live show is reaching retail so easily is kind of awesome to me. Live At Rock Im Park finds A$AP Mob performing live in Germany, and the fidelity is fantastic. Enough so that it would almost justify a legit release, except actual live hip hop albums tend to be few and far between. The setlist is excellent, incorporating tracks from Live.Love.A$AP, Long.Live.A$AP as well as rarities like the early Youtube release "Purple Kisses," or "Hands On The Wheel," which is actually a Schoolboy Q track. But what makes this brief (dozen song) set so awesome is the love that the bootleggers put into making it a full package. They also included another six tracks at the end of random freestyles by A$AP Mob. It's kind of awesome to hear them spitting over Tyler The Creator's "Goblin" for example. Unfortunately, the freestyles don't sound as good, as they're obviously ripped from radio broadcasts and aren't mixed well with the beats far too low. That said, this still feels like a really solid release for fans A$AP fans and is totally worth checking out.
The Roots - Present - 2004 - Image Entertainment
This is a weird one. Not a bootleg. But not really endorsed by the band (they don't even list it on their own discography). Yet, at the same time it got very wide distribution and lists Richard Nichols (their manager) as an executive producer. Coming after their desire to leave Interscope, it's almost a possibility that this was some kind of deal cut with Image begrudgingly. At any rate, it's an interesting idea. A concert that documents "The Roots & Friends." So it's a Roots album, but with lots of other voices. The problem is more the editing. For instance, opener "Break You Off" from Phrenology fades in jarringly. The song doesn't start so much as you're just suddenly in it. And the weird fade-ins and fade-outs are abundant here. It makes for a total fuck up of the live document. Take the Jazzyfatnastees take on Britney's "Toxic." It's really good... but it feels like a fragment rather than a full song. It's earnest, and awesome, but the fact that it doesn't play out in its entirety makes it feel like some kind of half-assed interlude. A let down. But there's some stuff worth hearing here. The Roots with Mobb Deep doing "Shook Ones Pt 2" is just as good as you imagine. (Mad) Skillz rocking "The Nod Factor" is amazingly just as good in 2004 as it was in 1995. And the soulful "Daily Bread" by Martin Luther is kind of a show-stopper. But man, this just feels like a cash-cow where it could have been a very solid follow-up to The Roots Come Alive. It's completely worth hearing if you're a Roots obsessive, but totally worth passing over if you're not.