If you thought Don Lifted concerts used to be rare, Lawrence Matthews shows are even more so, leaving all who attended last Saturday’s sold out performance at the Green Room feeling lucky. Of course, the two artists are one in the same, Don Lifted being Matthews’ stage name for many years even as he built a name and a reputation in visual art under his given name. Then, back in September of 2022, Don Lifted took his final bow during one last show at the Overton Park Shell. A few minutes later, out came Lawrence Matthews, rapper, spitting tougher rhymes than ever, flanked by Idi x Teco.
That announced a new direction in Matthews’ music, but it also turned out to be a hiatus of sorts. The one sign of action was Matthews’ release, last May, of the single “Green Grove (Our Loss),” the first cut from what is still the unreleased album Between Mortal Reach and Posthumous Grip. And while that track sported some very Don Lifted-esque atmospherics until its harder-hitting beat kicked in, it then featured Matthews’ new voice, full of grim determination yet mixed with a new playfulness that made it even scarier as he sang of “This blood, this soil, infused, this river …”
Last Saturday, after the pre-show playlist of classic soul wound down, that same tune was the first thing audience members heard as Matthews stepped into the center of the chairs in-the-round, mic in hand. In stark contrast to the often elaborate sets and multiple screens of Don Lifted shows, this show was stripped bare, the music’s auteur wearing the utilitarian garb of a mechanic or delivery driver in a single beam of light.
Meanwhile, some of the sounds were downright lush, as other prolonged samples of soul, gospel, and blues (most taken from the Fat Possum-owned Hi Records catalogue) often shaped the intros, sometimes drenched in effects like echoes from the past, before giving way to harder, more militant beats and Matthews’ angrier raps, almost reminiscent of classic KRS-One, delivered solo as he prowled the floor for most of the night (except for a brief, powerful cameo by Idi x Teco).
At one point, that lush soul threated to engulf the night, as Matthews turned one track’s prolonged intro of “(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow” by Tony! Toni! Toné! into a singalong of sorts. Ultimately, it always came back down to hard slamming raps and beats (often co-created on the upcoming album with Unapologetic producer C Major, who was low-key in attendance Saturday night).
“It’s been a year and four months since I performed,” Matthews noted. “All through 2023, I was just tucked away, not really recording music, not really practicing anything.” Indeed, the album he promises to release later this year was essentially finished in 2022. “And while I was away, it just seemed like shit kept getting worse and worse in the world. And in this city, too.” He noted how he began hearing people’s “weight, frustration, and tightness, until it turned into desperation.”
All of that came out in his performance, and even in one moment in which Matthews, like his audience, simply listened and grooved along. That was when Matthews the performer was set aside and the artist implored us to simply listen to a track, “An Acquired Taste,” from his upcoming album. He too became a fan as it played on, featuring a powerful cameo by the singer Uni’Q.
Then it was back to business, as the pounding beats and atmospheric samples ground on, ultimately providing background to one of Matthews’ latest tracks, a meditation on the murder of Breonna Taylor by police officers titled “Breonna’s Curse.” In that final moment, however, the militant, simmering rage of most of the night’s beats and raps faded away somewhat, and Matthews ended the concert with something unexpected: a profound sense of mourning.