Take That! Tuesdays
Coaches Tavern
DJ Metrognome and Others
http://www.coachestavern.com/

Let me begin by saying that Tuesday nights at Coaches Tavern have been the most strangely awesome DJ residency for five years now.

Out of all the residencies that Metrognome has held, this was the one that I never expected to last. There’s no real dance floor, almost no formal promotion, and it’s a Hip-Hop night in a sports bar.

But here we are half a decade later and “Take That! Tuesdays” are still going strong.
This particular night was a pretty good example of why this jam has to be experienced at least once.

MetroGnome began the night with a recipe that keeps the regulars coming back: 1 part tasty breakbeats, 2 parts underground Hip-Hop joints, a dash of vintage soul, and a side of succulent slow jams.

Chicago DJ, RTC took over for him without sacrificing the funky tone that was in the air. His set was across the board but it focused on Hip-Hop. Somehow Red Hot Chili Peppers and Thievery Corporation made their way into his mix, but they impressively worked like a charm.

Around 11, the spot got dense with people. DJ Chase got on deck. He’s been one of my favorite funk/breaks DJs for a super long time. This was the first time I had heard him spin a straight-forward Hip-Hop set. It was more Boom-Bap (a sub-genre of NY Hip-Hop) than breaks so the crowd went goofy.

Here’s where I’m going to stop to explain an amusing phenomenon that only occurs around hardcore Hip-Hop heads and MCs: the concept of “Rap Hands”. It’s a way of gesturing to emphasize the lyrics you are reciting. Look up the “Hip-Hop Hooray” video if you’re not sure what I’m talking about. Sidenote: I made up the term so don’t look for it on urbandictionary.com.

“Rap Hands” are significant because they mainly grow in a soil that’s rich with underground, golden era, Hip-Hop classics. Seeing three or more cats throwing them up in the same location means that the DJ knows his stuff. This night was so full of “Rap Hands” that it looked like a debate in the House of Commons done in sign-language. That was a heavy seal of approval from the masses.

Back to reality. DJ Limelight hopped on after Chase finished his set. Limelight has amazing track selection, but he often spins only the first third of a song. I believe this is actually a tradition of sorts among Hip-Hop DJs. But, evidently, it didn’t matter because my peers and I proceeded to dance on the floor, regardless. This was instigated by local B-boy legend Ronin(aka Twosy) and the rest of us followed suit because the songs were just too nice to ignore.

Breakers, Poppers, and other styles of street dance are, actually, fairly common at “Take That! Tuesdays”. As I mentioned before, there’s no actual dance floor; so for us to form a circle means blocking off foot-traffic. The crowd was full of people who either knew us or thought it was funny. They would patiently wait for someone to finish their “run” before scooting by.

The rotation came full circle when MetroGnome came back on around midnight. He started his second set by doing something cool that virtually no other DJs in Nap do on a regular basis. What he likes to do is start with an original Funk/Soul/Jazz song, set it on a repeating loop, and then bring in the song that made that sample famous. In this case, the original was “I Just Can’t See Myself Without You” by Creative Source and the song that sampled it was “What We Do” by Freeway, Hov, and Beans.

I’ve heard of Topspeed doing a whole set with this technique but MetroGnome is the main cat I see doing it on a consistent basis. It’s basically like a lesson in music history without being preachy. Plus, it makes you way more excited when you hear the part of the original that you recognize and know he’s about to bring in one of your favorites. Powerful stuff.

The DJs continued rotating over the next three hours but hopefully, I’ve already made my point. If I’m not in bed on a Tuesday night, I probably came out here to hear funky songs, dance, and be around friendly faces.