Description
For your consideration is the incredibly rare Concert Ticket from the infamous tour that included LL Cool J, Slick Rick, De La Soul, Eazy-E, and the original lineup of N.W.A. This rare Hip Hop Collectible has been authenticated and encapsulated by PSA DNA Authentication Services. Encapsulation slabbing protects this beautiful piece of memorabilia. This show was held at the Oakland Coliseum, on July 29th, 1989. This is one of the last shows with the original lineup including Ice Cube before he left for his solo career. Beautiful un-torn unused condition Ticket.
Here’s an old write up for the show.
LL Cool J/N.W.A./Too $hort/Slick Rick/De La Soul – Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA, 1989. Speaking of tearing the place up, this show was the epitome of what promoters feared rap gigs would turn into. It was another big multi-headliner festival, held at the Warriors’ arena in Oakland. Unfortunately, Bill Graham Promotions decided to put seating on the floor. As in unsecured folding chairs. This was during the height of the late 80s gang scene, so needless to say an N.W.A. show was bound to attract gangs in full regalia. There were a bunch of groups of 20+ gangbangers, all dressed exactly the same in Oakland A’s or Raiders gear, roaming the floor looking for fights—and finding them! Throughout Slick Rick’s and De La’s sets, I sat up in the mid-court bleachers and watched as gigantic melees erupted all over the floor. It wasn’t long before the folding chairs were being pulled up and used as weapons, smashing prone victims on the ground or just flying through the air into crowds. Bloodied survivors staggered up the aisles. It was quite a scene.
After Slick Rick took off, hometown hero Too $hort stepped to the mic and said that everyone better quit fighting, or the promoters wouldn’t let “Short Dog turn it out,” in his words. Instantly, all the fighting stopped. I’ve never seen anything like it. Too $hort was so beloved and respected by the Oakland gangsters that they actually stopped brawling and waited for his set. Once he hit the stage, they rapped along with every song, and then the moment his set was over, all the fighting erupted again. N.W.A. hit the stage in the midst of near-complete chaos on the floor. Ice Cube stopped the show a couple times to try and get people to stop fighting, but to no avail. Finally, N.W.A. just cut it short and stormed off the stage, with Ice Cube yelling at the crowd, “Ya’ll are fuckin’ up right now.” Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go over all that well and the fighting picked up steam. It seemed that everyone was there to see N.W.A. and Too $hort, though, because the crowd started thinning and the fights eventually died down.
