I rolled up to Connecticut on Thursday to visit my homeboy Tomàs in Nooka (aka Norwalk, etymology explained below). It was nice to get out of the city for a couple of days and catch some fresh air and home cookin’ that ain’t my own. We had some burgers and then to make it clear we weren’t going to indulge in this suburbanism thing too much, headed over to Yale for a rap show at Toad’s Place.

The headliner was the GZA of Wu Tang fame, an exciting prospect to be sure. I had not a clue what I was in for with regard to opening acts, so i was surprised to see the first act on was some dudes I’d caught for a few minutes at the Virgin Megastore next door to my building. I think the name of the group is Buck 50. I really dug their set and I kinda wished I’d grabbed a disk at the merch booth because I’m having trouble finding out about them post facto. But I digress. THe next act was Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox, which was totally sweet. He rocked the house. I would have paid the 20 bucks just for him. And then J-Live came out and I was like “HOLY CRAP!” I saw J-Live at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last summer and he rocked then, and then I got treated to a second show and he rocked even more (even though the audience was getting impatient for some Wu Tang). GZA rocked. He did. He came out and kicked a bunch of ass and then kicked more ass just because he could. He actually forgot the lyrics to some verse toward the end and didn’t act embarrassed at all. He just said “fuck that shit” and freestyled for like 10 minutes to prove he could do whatever he wanted. And he freestyled well.

Anywhoo, as we were shuffling out in a daze because of the hip-hop awesomeness we had just borne witness to, I cruised past the merch booth to thank J-Live and Vast Aire for their sets. I grabbed Vast Aire’s new collaboration with DJ Mighty Mi of The High and Mighty called The Best Damn Rap Show. Now this kind of thing has bit me in the ass before (Example: When I saw Fellonious in concert and bought their CD and began my uncomfortable relationship with the wackest album in my collection), but I’ve been bumping this all weekend, and it’s very good. Maybe as good as The Cold Vein (Can Ox’s previous release) and a billion times better than Air Force One (High & Mighty’s previous release). If you’re a fan of musical recordings I recommend you purchase this album of songs.

Etymology lesson! Nooka is what we’re calling Norwalk these days. Here’s where that comes from: Brooklyn, NY is often referred to by people who are pressed for time or just happen to be into the whole brevity thing as “Booka.” Now, Norwalk, Connecticut, clearly having many similarities to Brooklyn including, but not limited to the fact that they are rhythmically similar, two-syllable words, certainly ought to have the same abbreviation.