Wednesday night marked the premiere of Jim Jones' landmark off-broadway musical, 'Hip-Hop Monologues: Inside the Life & Mind of Jim Jones,' which was essentially a theatrical listening party for Jones' upcoming album, 'Pray IV Reign.'The music was directed by Sa-Ra's OmMas, who lead a live band through cuts from Jones' album as our stubbled hero enacted his various trials and tribulations; namely having too many girlfriends and not enough respect for authority.
The majority of the singing was handled by Skull Gang's Starr, while MTV 'Real World: Syndey' alum Parisa Montozaran played a reporter from E! Harlemworld Stories (seriously), and Dr. Benjamin Chavis killed his role as a sympathetic Judge.
Though the concept of the play seemed ridiculous even by Dip Set standards, the actual production was kind of brilliant. Who else in hip hop would decide to turn a listening party into a musical? Who else could get away with it?
As for the actual album, it sounded pretty good. The only song we really recognized was 'Pop Champagne' which was saved for the last possible moment, when Jones & co (accompanied by Juelz in an awesome hat) were popping champagne. Jimmy came off as surprisingly lyrical (Dame has already compared the album to 'Reasonable Doubt') and we couldn't help but respect the Dip Set Capo for going for it.
Check out some footage of the show:
