San Francisco – The quality of hip hop music has once again been upheld by the innovative lyrical masters who make up the group Jurassic 5. Last Thursday night, Feb. 22, J5 tore the roof off Maritime Hall in San Francisco with an unsurpassed performance.

Opening acts were put on by fellow underground hip hop artists Planet Asia, DJ Rhettmatic, and the Visionaries. DJ Rhettmatic provided the beats with twists and turns on the turntables as the emcee’s took the stage in a crowd-pleasing fashion.

Planet Asia gave the crowd a taste of some new tracks while the Visionaries thrilled them with time-honored favorites such as “Audible Angels” and “Love.”

Making his humble way onto the stage, J5 emcee Chali 2na got the crowd hyped even before saying a word. When Akil, Zaakir, Marc 7, and DJ’s Cut Chemist and Numark took their places, the stage was set and the eager audience was ready for J5 to bring the house down.

Blending the sounds of underground hip-hop from the past and present, J5 delivered a musical energy from the opening set to the very last. The innovative knowledge possessed by each member was performed as if they were enthusiastic hip-hop professors.

During a lyrical break, DJ’s Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist took the spotlight in a display of beat juggling talent. First, Nu-Mark took a seat at a child-sized drum set and carried a classic beat with fill-ins. Next, Cut Chemist joined in and spun out his skills on the turntables.

Nu-Mark then made his way over to the drum machine and joined Cut Chemist in a jam session. Soon afterward, Cut Chemist surprised the crowd with a portable turntable hanging from his neck. He did some dj tricks while Nu-Mark kept the beat on the drum machine.

When the emcee’s came back, they performed with a strong delivery, despite Zaakir’s sore throat. The crowd was helping him out with his verses, which gave him the ability to maintain the energy throughout each song.

As soon as the instrumental came on for “Quality Control,” which is the name of their first full-length album and single, the crowd gave off a field of energy as they started bobbing their heads and throwing their hands up.

With lyrical verses such as “I plant my dreams in the field and wait to harvest my skills for the starving emcee, hungry, trying to get the meal,” and “Verbally decapitating those against us,” their positive influence stands strong.

The show concluded with Jurassic 5 sharing the stage with other west coast talent in an impromptu freestyle session.

Artists included Key Kool, Lord Zen and Dannu of the Visionaries, Gift of Gab and Lateef of Quannum, and Bus Driver of Project Blowed.

When it comes to true hip-hop and the advancement of its elements, Jurassic 5 is definitely leading the way. Combine ingenuous lyrical statements with different styles of music, and deliver the mixture with vocal harmonization, you have J5, one of the best groups in the music industry.