The BELIEVE campaign is something that's been going on in Baltimore for I don't know how long, combatting the city's destructive and violent drug trade with, like, a big vague one word message in all-caps white-on-black on banners hung in front of buildings and printed on trashcans and benches. And they do some things that I guess are just supposed to be good for the morale of the people, like teaming up with the local rap station to put on free outdoor concerts in the summer, whatever local rappers and R&B singers have a hit on 92Q at the moment plus some no-names, the "Give The People What They Want Tour", going from neighborhood to neighborhood every couple weeks.

Last Friday they went to the west side of Baltimore, Edmonson & Carey, the big BELIEVEMOBILE flatbed stage plopped down in the middle of the intersection, vendors and stuff up and down the street. The people from the 92Q morning show, Mark Clark and Troy Johnson and that new girl Sonjay from New York who's kinda fine, hosting and filling time between acts, with Richard Burton (Shamrock from The Wire). Lotta boring talent show type stuff, and weird little contests where they tried to pick a winner but ended up giving everyone involved 92Q gift bags. Dancing contests for different age groups, getting grandparents up onstage to step to "Before I Let Go" and "Let's Stay Together", and young folks bopping to club music, people going crazy and singing along to "Dance My Pain Away".



For a few minutes Richard Burton kept mentioning that a special guest had just pulled up around back, and finally it turned out it was Bossman, who came to perform unannounced. He went onstage with Tony Manson from NEK and said a few words and did a couple songs, "Oh" and "Face Down", real quick, in and out. Bossman didn't take off his sunglasses the whole time he was there, and was over on the side of the stage talking on a cell phone after he performed.

Tyree Colion was another surprise performer, and he just got up and did one song, the "Bass Drop" one w/ the Baltimore club type beat with the Cee-Lo sample. For some reason he made a point to mention that it wasn't produced by Rod Lee, which was odd since he has another song out with Rod on it. There were flyers all over the place for his album -- "Tyree Colion - The Problem And The Solution - In Stores Summer 2005 - Approach Records".



Mullyman came out with the whole Major League Unlimited crew wearing shirts with Mullymania.com on the front and the MLU logo on the back (modified NBA logo, the white silhouette with blue on the left and red on the right, except holding a mic instead of a basketball). Sonny Brown was there and spit a couple verses, has a really strong stage presence, more than Mully. They did "Home Of Da Realest" and made a big deal about it being the #1 most requested song on 92Q the day of the show. And he did "Buck On Em" (video here) and a couple other songs I ddidn't know, and he didn't do "Got It" but talked over the beat for a minute. Then they closed with a big singalong of "Oh Baltimore".



I guess things were running behind schedule because Huli Shallone didn't get onstage until a little before 10, and didn't perform for very long, maybe they had to be done by 10 or something. Him and the whole Hit Em Hard Records crew started out with a couple songs over the "ASAP" and "Dem Boyz" beats, reinforcing Huli's whole quasi-southern sound, then did the "This Is My Hood" remix, and closed with "Makin' Moves" and then things got shut down shortly after he left the stage.

next BELIEVE concert:
Lil Mo and many more
July 29th
@ Cold Spring Lane & Reisterstown Road

Labels: 92Q, Bossman, Huli Shallone, Mullyman, Tyree Colion