Far East Movement makes moves on campus

In true Hopkins fashion, the Ralph S. O'Connor Rec Center was largely abandoned in favor of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, despite the enticement of cheap Far East Movement tickets.

Nonetheless, a few brave, hardy souls ventured out from the depths of D-level to see what all the fuss was about. Though the hip-hop outfit, a quartet of suspender-sporting, shutter shade-donning Asians hailing from sunny Los Angeles, have floated around around the electro-hip-hop dance scene for some time now (since 2003, to be exact), it wasn't until their single "Like a G6" hit radiowaves that they garned popular attention.

(If they sound familiar, perhaps it is because you watch too much The Fast and the Furious. Specifically, Tokyo Drift, which featured their song "Round Round.")

In any case, The HOP, that ubiquitous campus organization that organizes things on campus, brought the group to Hopkins for kick off the annual Fall Fest celebrations.

For those that actually attended the $16 concert, the show was an energetic means of breaking up the Monday to Friday study haze that descends every mid-term season. The abundance of space (read: lack of people) provided ample room to dance and flail about.

Far East Movement spans that weird place between the dirty-sexy bump-and-grind of colloquially termed "dirty rap" and the zoned out, smoked-up aesthetic the likes of which Asher Roth has made popular.

Furthermore, their live show lacks the carefully calculated rise-and-drop of dub-step; at no point during their performance did that nervy, out-of-body transcendence overtake that audience.

Still, you have to admire the group for putting on a rockin' show and getting the name of the university correct.

"The Johnssssss Hopkins University" was perfectly enunciated and much appreciated by the attending student body, even if the constant reference to the "Blue Jays," (as in, "Lemme see whatchu got, Blue Jays," and "Pump it up, Blue Jays") quickly veered into the territory of socially awkward.

Super Smash Brothers, affectionately known as Super Mash Brothers, opened for Far East Movement. Whoever decided that these two bands should be billed together knew what s/he was doing, as their music styles complemented each other quite well.

A trio of dudes on their laptops, Super Smash Brothers was everything you expect of an opening band - young and innovative, if a little rough around the edges. Still, their enthusiasm was in infectious and had the small crowd moving in no time at all.

If you were looking forward to a concert that you could tell your grand-kids about, the Far East Movement/Super Smash Brothers show was not that concert. While there were moments hinting at brilliance (at one point, one of the dudes from Far East Movement stage dove into the audience and crowd surfed for a chorus), for the most part, the concert was only mediocre.

Part of the problem can be attributed to the venue; the school gymnasium isn't exactly the hoppin' club venue that seems so well suited for this style of music.

More than anything, you want someplace dark, intimate. Think Underground Dance Party circa 2010. The Rec Center's basketball court is a hard place to stage a show.

No one wants to be rubbing up on each other while The HOP delegates look on from the elevated running track. No one.