Words and photos by Rek

Formed in 2006, Revive Da Live is a company that aims to put Hip-Hop heads onto jazz and vice versa. Last week, they celebrated their third anniversary at Le Poisson Rouge by paying tribute to the legendary Pete Rock, one of the pioneers of Hip-Hop and Jazz fusion. Entitled “Hip-Hop 1953″, the show featured a full live band playing some of Hip-Hop’s most memorable classics, while a lineup of esteemed emcees including Akrobatik, J-Live, Stimulus, Eagle Nebula and Raydar Ellis (who also hosted) rocked the mic.

With mind blowing verses and blistering solos coming from the emcees and musicians alike, you couldn’t tell what musical genre was outdoing who. Revive Da Live did their thing in that aspect. Especially on Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You”. Akrobatik and J-Live showed what emceeing was about while the whole brass ensemble turned the Torn Scott sample out.

At the end of the night, the audience was treated to an hour long DJ set from the legend himself, Pete Rock. He set it off by playing a beat he was working on and let the people know he was still cookin’ up that soul. His DJ set included hits from groups like Brand Nubian to Gangstarr. Revive Da Live and all the performers held NYC down with this one. Don’t sleep.

The next event is a DJ Premier Live Tribute @ Le Poisson rouge on the 29th. For more information, check out revivedalive.com

Performers:
Akrobatik, J-Live, Stimulus, Eagle Nebula and Raydar Ellis

Band:
Daru Jones (drums), Justin Brown (drums), Luques Curtis (bass), Corey Bernhard (keys), Keyon Harrold (trumpet), Corey King (trombone), Lakecia Benjamin (alto sax), James Casey (tenor sax), Mark Kelley (guest bassist)