El-P
Words: Ashley Marie Sansotta
Photos: Ashley Marie Sansotta

Appeared:
June 3, 2007
The Orpheum, Tampa

The Orpheum grew completely black and the crowd silenced.  Finally, after what seemed like an endless amount of opening hip-hop acts, it was time for El-P to take the stage.  The illumination began to flicker in the darkness, as if to tease our eyes with quick glances of the infamous Mr. Dibbs, Wilder Zoby, and other El-P contributors dressed in camo and masks, as they took their places on the stage. 

“Mad World” by Tears for Fears slowly began blaring through the speakers, as the flickering lights grew more and more intense.  The lights and the music climaxed in unity as El-Producto, himself, emerged from the darkness and began spouting out his intense lyrics into his mic.  The crowd went crazy.  All of our senses were heightened – our eyes glued to the hypnotic light projection show, our ears soaking in the intensity of El-P’s heart and soul that he put into his words, and our noses filled with the scent of perspiration coming from our fellow devoted and very much excited fans.

Their decision to perform clad in camo, as if they were wounded soldiers, immediately became apparent when he started speaking about his thoughts on deceptive military recruiters.  He finished his prolific speech by saying, “I might have been born yesterday, but I stayed…” everyone chimed in to help him close the sentence, “UP ALL NIGHT!”  It was the most perfect introduction to the song, “Up All Night” from his new album, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead.

The show ended after an encore and the lights of The Orpheum got brighter, slowly setting us back to reality.