LIVE: Turquoise Jeep @ The Howard Theater - 8.21.13
One of the most valuable things an artist can have in their arsenal is the ability to give precisely zero fucks and shrug off anything any critic can say towards them continuing steadfastly forwarding their mission. In today’s world of overexposure and commercialization as much as artists seek the limelight and the praise of blogs and writers, they fear and become crippled by any backlash leveled their way. In an age where bands hold baited breathe for when their Pitchfork review will run and what score it gets, seeing a group of five men on stage having a blast and clearly not caring what anyone thinks of them or their brand is a breath of fresh air. Turquoise Jeep don’t care what you have to say about them, they don’t care what boxes you put them in: Da Jeep will ride on no matter what.
The southern hip hop collective has been specializing in over the top gaudy hip hop R&B parody/throwbacks since their overnight YouTube sensation “Smang It” (a mix of smashing and banging), since they initially caught fire and racked up millions of views there have been dozens of videos, a full album, and mountains of branding and shirts with their slogans on them. Removed from the ambiguity that a mere YouTube video can bring to an artist’s intentions or goals, the live show that the group puts on reveals their most endearing quality that will outlive any meme worthy video: they love what they do, and they work as hard as they possibly can at it.
At their performance at the Howard Theater the group’s primary performer’s minus the DJ (who fills in as tour manager and doesn’t do much besides launch the backing track) are composed of four unique personalities including ring leader and main rapper: Flynt Flossy, singer/rapper, Yung Humma, rapper, Whatchyamacallit, singer/sex-magnet Pretty Raheem. Each member features a unique enough personality and enjoys a fairly equal amount of “star” time that they sometimes come off as a bizarro adult version of the boy bands of the late ‘90s. Their synchronized dance moves, albeit outrageous, are impressive when you consider that there was no studio mastermind behind Turquoise Jeep; no big record label executive came up with the idea; \ no Comedy Central concept. Instead it is simply a collection of extremely talented artists mixing their love of over the top comedy with a genuine love of ‘90s sex-you-up type R&B.
The dance moves came quick and the groups YouTube hits like “Lemme Smang It” “Fried Or Fertilized” “Did I Mention I Like To Dance” came one after the other. In some weird reality it felt like witnessing something close to Boyz 2 Men in their heyday. A few seconds into “Fried Or Fertilized” a woman in her mid-thirties absolutely lost her mind, screaming at the top of her lungs like she was seeing the second coming of a funky sexy Christ. Their tight stage presence had the crowd in frenzy, with most women who felt comfortable enough to go up on stage eventually getting their moment in the spotlight to twerk or get twerked on by the funky four. And it was those women in particular who were going absolutely mad for the group, making watching the uncomfortable faces their clingy boyfriends made as Pretty Raheem caressed multiple women’s hair while singing the delicious hook of “Cavities, with all this chocolate in your mouth” a sport in and of itself.
For a few hours the crowd was transported, and it didn’t feel like you were witnessing a YouTube one-hit-wonder trudge through a gimmick-laden set. Instead the crowd was treated to an intimate night with an R&B pop collective working so hard to recreate the long lost R&B chart topping hits of the late eighties and nineties that hardly a soul was laughing. We were enthralled, enchanted and most of all twerking, because for even a brief moment we were experiencing the real thing. We had jumped in the time machine and Turquoise Jeep had pulled us through the other side, inviting us into their own little world that they have worked tirelessly to create.
A world with lots and lots of twerking.
All photos by Joy Asico (joy@chunkyglasses.com / www.asicophoto.com)
