Photos: Digital Underground @ The Alley

Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley

I’m not quite sure how this happened, but one of the most original, genre-inspiring hip hop groups to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 80’s / early 90’s just performed this past weekend at The Alley in Sparks, NV.

Thanks to 775HipHop.com, the group which a) helped Tupac Shakur get a start in the industry, b) appeared in the Dan Aykroyd-directed 1991 film, Nothing But Trouble, and c) released old school favorites “The Humpty Dance“, “Same Song“, “Doowutchyalike” and “Freaks of the Industry” aka Digital Underground, performed the expected crowd pleasers and then took it back to their roots of jamming out in the vein of 70’s funk hero George Clinton and Parliament during their late-night Saturday performance (technically in the wee hours of Sunday morning) in Victorian Square.

Original Digital Underground members Shock G, Money-B, Pee Wee and DJ Fuze each brought unique elements to the musical entirety of the group while also making way for both individual members of opening act Black Rock City Allstars plus several other local MC’s in attendance, which just happened to include I Shoot Reno Instagram friend Jevelle Wiltz, amongst others to jump into the MC slot in a game of pass the mic.

As per fancy-shmancy camera speak, my oversized fanny pack aka the Kata KT DW-495 stayed attached to my waist, as per explicit instructions by the man at the door who seemed both impressed and curious at the fact that it both had a handle, which I was carrying, and converted to a ‘strap-on’ (for lack of a better term), while the Nikon D7000 + AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens stayed in-hand and in-action while the magic of the evening unfolded.

Aperture and shutter speed stayed constant at f/2.8 and 1/250th of a second, respectively, while ISO followed lighting patterns anywhere between 1600 and 6400.  Minimal lighting adjustments were made in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 and uploaded to IShootReno.com for your viewing pleasure.

 

VIEW THE FULL DIGITAL UNDERGROUND GALLERY HERE

 

Money-B, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Money-B, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Pee Wee, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Pee Wee, Digital Underground @ The Alley
DJ Fuze, Digital Underground @ The Alley
DJ Fuze, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Pee Wee, Money-B, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Pee Wee, Money-B, Digital Underground @ The Alley
DJ Fuze, Digital Underground @ The Alley
DJ Fuze, Digital Underground @ The Alley

 

Camera(s) Used:

Nikon D7000

Lens(es) Used:

AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED


Go On, Treat Yourself to Something Nice!

Do you buy stuff online? Do you buy camera stuff online? If this post or anything else on ishootreno.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and making your next photo gear, music or general purchase through one of our affiliate links:

Every time our readers buy new gear through our affiliate links, it helps us bring to the table more of that which brought you here in the first place — the ‘money’ shots!

The best part?!  It doesn’t cost our readers anything extra to show their support!

If our readers do pick up some new gear, please drop us a line … we always love to hear about your new additions!

Comments, Praise, Feedback?  We’re all ears!

Please let us know what you thought of this post on ishootreno.com!

Super Happy Fun Bonus Pics!

Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Shock G, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Jevelle Wiltz, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Jevelle Wiltz, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Money-B, Digital Underground @ The Alley
Money-B, Digital Underground @ The Alley

Photos: RJD2, Lunice, Who Cares @ Knitting Factory Concert House

RJD2 @ Knitting Factory Concert House
RJD2 donning his robotic takeover gear at Knitting Factory Concert House in Reno, NV

Was this a sold out show?  If not, the energetic crowd packed into the Knitting Factory Concert House this Friday night could’ve fooled me.  In fact the last show I had the pleasure of shooting at The Knit Reno which was this packed was Tech N9ne this past summer.  Nevertheless, there was plenty of room for dancing, provided you’re comfortable with slamming skin against your neighbors, but hey, after a couple of those stiffly-mixed drinks from the darling bartenders, all is well … especially when RJD2 is headlining the evening!

Excitement was in the air when RJD2 took the stage.  Adornments including an all-black jumpsuit with neatly arranged pins, a welding mask and MPC (drum machine / sampler), the later of which attached directly to RJ’s crotch, on a spinning, ball bearing-laced adapter were affixed to the famed hip-hop producer / DJ’s frame while he belted out the most pleasing of dirty, dust-filled beats, samples and drum lines throughout the evening.

In addition to the MPC, I was able to count no less than (3) turntables, a crate of vinyl records (presumably the same used in making Deadringer), several mixers and more buttons, knobs, sliders and faders than most DJ’s would know what to do with … all in use throughout the evening in re-creating (and re-imagining) favorites like The Horror and Good Times Roll (encore).  The crowd (present company included) absolutely loved it.  Ramble John (RJD2) even came out after his encore to shake hands and trade smiles and pleasantries from the adoring front-row fans.  Yep, I was the first to shake hands with the legend known as RJD2 after his Reno 2012 performance … and it was grand.

Opening acts included local favorite Who Cares (Sacramento/Reno) and Lunice (Montreal), which did more than an ample job of warming up the crowd with danceable beats, rhymes and BASS.

As per geeky camera-speak, this was my 2nd show shooting with my newest piece of glass, Nikon’s AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED attached to the now 1-year old Nikon D7000 body which seems to come with me wherever I may go.  Shutter speed and aperture were fixed at 1/250th of a second and f/2.8, respectively, for the evening while ISO jumped between 3200 and 6400, depending on presence of usable light, which is always the greatest asset to any live music photographer.  All shots were taken in the RAW (.NEF) format and processed minimally using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.

Before moving on, I highly encourage readers to click on the individual gallery links below and checking out all of the (fabulous?) shots now posted to IShootReno.com:

 

VIEW THE FULL RJD2 GALLERY HERE

VIEW THE FULL LUNICE GALLERY HERE

VIEW THE FULL WHO CARES GALLERY HERE

 

RJD2 @ Knitting Factory Concert House

RJD2 @ Knitting Factory Concert House

RJD2 @ Knitting Factory Concert House

RJD2 @ Knitting Factory Concert House

RJD2 @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Lunice @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Lunice @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Lunice @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Who Cares @ Knitting Factory Concert House

 

Who Cares @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Who Cares @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Who Cares @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Who Cares @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Who Cares @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Camera(s) Used:

Nikon D7000

Lens(es) Used:

AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED


Go On, Treat Yourself to Something Nice!

Do you buy stuff online? Do you buy camera stuff online? If this post or anything else on ishootreno.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and making your next photo gear, music or general purchase through one of our affiliate links:

Every time our readers buy new gear through our affiliate links, it helps us bring to the table more of that which brought you here in the first place — the ‘money’ shots!

The best part?!  It doesn’t cost our readers anything extra to show their support!

If our readers do pick up some new gear, please drop us a line … we always love to hear about your new additions!

Comments, Praise, Feedback?  We’re all ears!

Please let us know what you thought of this post on ishootreno.com!

Super Happy Fun Bonus Pics!

RJD2 Crowd @ Knitting Factory Concert House

RJD2 Crowd @ Knitting Factory Concert House

RJD2 Crowd @ Knitting Factory Concert House

(Reno Metromix?) Photographer @ Knitting Factory Concert House

(Who Cares) Saxophone @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Live Painting @ Knitting Factory Concert House