Living Legends Perform First Show Since Aesop’s Death—Hiero, Atmosphere Pay Tribute
There was a bittersweet reunion at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado on Friday night time (September 19).
Atmosphere, Living Legends, Hieroglyphics, Immortal Technique, Dilated Peoples and the CunninLynguists descended on the historic venue for what would mark Ant and Slug’s ultimate present of the season. But the sold-out crowd was probably unaware of simply how emotional the live performance could be—a minimum of for some.
Just weeks prior, Living Legends MC Aesop (or Aesop the Black Wolf) died suddenly at age 51. It ripped a gaping gap by the longtime group, leaving The Grouch, Bicaso, Eligh, Sunspot Jonz, Scarub and Luckyiam left to hold on the Living Legends’ legacy with out him.
The Red Rocks efficiency, which marked the Legends’ first since Aesop’s demise, got here solely 4 days after they buried him in his hometown of Fresno, California. Understandably, the present carried a little bit of disappointment as a number of the members struggled to maintain their composure all through the night. But there was additionally a whole lot of gentle—figuratively and actually. Toward the start of the set, Slug joined the Legends to carry out his verse from “Moving at the Speed of Life,” which initially included Aesop.
The viewers was instructed to show their cellphone flashlights on in tribute, making a sea of white lights that stretched all the way in which to the highest of the two.5 miles of seating.
Rocking T-shirts that learn “Legends Never Die” on the again and a photograph of Aesop on the entrance, the Legends crushed their set regardless of the super sorrow they have been feeling with out Aesop beside them. There was a robust sense, nonetheless, that Aesop was there in spirit—and several other of the opposite performers took discover, too.
Hieroglyphics and Atmosphere all took a second to acknowledge Aesop and present like to the remainder of the Legends throughout their units. Hugs got out in abundance backstage as Legends’ longtime associates and fellow crewmates proceed to grapple along with his demise. But music, after all, was the widespread thread tying everybody collectively and proved to be cathartic.
Hiero—comprised of Tajai, Casual, Pep Love, Del the Funky Homosapien, A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, Domino and DJ Toure—delivered a career-spanning setlist that included Souls of Mischief’s “Make Your Mind Up” and “93 Til Infinity” in addition to Del’s platinum-selling Gorillaz collaboration, “Clint Eastwood, and the Deltron 3030 single “Virus.”
Something about seeing the 9 members of Hiero onstage 32 years after Souls of Mischief dropped their prophetic debut, 93 ’til Infinity, and greater than 25 years after Hiero launched third Eye Vision was transcendent, nearly like a spiritual expertise.
Unlike the revolving door of present mainstream rappers getting chewed up and spit out by the music trade, Hiero has stood the take a look at of time—and Tajai has a principle as to how.
“We’re one of the last crews left,” Tajai tells AllHipHop. “We’re all right here. We’re all wholesome. So it’s an amazing expertise, but it surely’s not one thing that’s uncommon. We actually rap. Lots of the rappers on the whole don’t actually do touring and rapping. We actually rap. We nonetheless make music and nonetheless tour. And I believe a whole lot of people live off of their previous hits or they’re simply not doing it in the identical method.
“It’s not just the old rappers It’s a young rappers, too. Fools say I got a tour with like five shows on the back of the shirt, you know? They don’t have the fans out there. But we kept doing it. Think about everybody from our era who even has a little bit of fame now, they stopped for decades. I think when the pendulum swung back around to the ’90s s###, then they started doing it again, whereas we just kept making music. It does have different slants and different eras. But we never stopped.”
While Aesop’s absence was palpable, the camaraderie behind-the-scenes was a stupendous, even tangible factor to witness.
Evidence goofed round along with his younger son, Colorado-based MC Samir of The Reminders took photographs of his two children posing with DJ Babu, Eligh mingled along with his household, associates separated by distance for years reunited and Ant was joined by his spouse, making it a bona fide household affair in a large number of how.
Aesop might have been lacking within the bodily realm, however the Legends ensured he wasn’t forgotten—it was on their shirts, of their music, on the display screen behind them and backstage, an illustration of simply how everlasting their bond is.
Derrick “Aesop” McElroy: October 1, 1974 to August 17, 2025
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