Neema on Stage

When I arrived at 8:00 to witness Unexpected Arrival's record release party on May 21st, Tuesday night, the scene looked more like a high school dance than a hip-hop show. Besides the crowd of 21 and up attendees sipping their drinks at the top floor of the I-Spy, the crowd consisted of mostly younger heads, talking in isolated circles across the dance floor. However, as the night progressed to the sounds of DJ Earthquake spinning cuts, more and more people piled in. By the time Surge Spitable (of Prospect Champions) and Kitty Wu (of CoolOut2GX) took the stage to host, they had a large turnout of virgin show-goers looking expectantly up at them. After a relatively unsuccessful attempt by Surge and Kitty to hype up the crowd, Central Intelligence took the stage.
Although the crowds initial response wasn't the deserved reaction for CI's spitfire flows and energy packed performance, their vibes seemed to trickle down to the unwilling crowd who by the end of the performance were finally giving it up. I think CI's LowKey put it best with his comment, "y'all aren't clapping now, but you'll be giving it up when we're finished."
Next, Sleep, Azreal, and Onry Ozzborne of Oldominion took the mic, gracing the venue with the hurricane of banging beats, spine-tingling lyrics, and sheer power that the town has come to expect from this crew. Unfortunately, the audience of youngsters that looked from the cast of Clueless wasn’t quite ready for this, and the emcees left the stage with minimal acknowledgement.
Wondering what the hell was going on, I was making my way to the back of the I-Spy for some water when I heard the crowd burst into an ecstatic chorus of cheers and shouts. At first I thought some world famous heartthrob had taken the stage. Expecting to see a member of NSync or the Backstreet Boys, I turned around and saw none other than Neema of Unexpected Arrival with the mic in his clutches. It was apparent this crowd knew exactly where their loyalty was. To the chiming of an excited crowd, the group performed a few of their older cuts, and finished off with their finale; the remix of the song "Take Control," which featured the beautiful Sophia on the chorus and Seattle's own playa Byrdie rocking the track. The show wrapped up and the crowd dispersed from what had been an extensively interesting but talent-packed performance, another night of 206 hip hop.

~Clarity
 

Links for UA:

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/281/unexpected_arrival.html

http://www.undercaste.com/