Review: clipping. at Eulogy
Near the end of clipping.’s Aug. 17 set at Eulogy, rapper Daveed Diggs said Asheville was clearly the right place to end the California trio’s tour. While it was tempting to take that comment as mere lip service — “I bet you say that to all your fans” — it seemed genuine and had plentiful evidence to back it up.
While one never knows what to expect from Asheville hip-hop show attendees, this night blessedly featured an extremely dialed-in capacity crowd. Concertgoers basically knew all the words to every song and could provide vocal support to Diggs on cue, which noticeably pleased the MC and award-winning actor.
Never was this symbiotic relationship in fuller effect than on “Shooter,” whose set-up/punchline architecture played right into the rich dynamic between creator and appreciator:
Don't move nothin': statue
Shooter 'bout to go nuts: cashew
Need cash off the books: past due
Real cheese for the cooks: rat food
Game as the packed room was for some audience participation, even the most dedicated amateur lyricist was more than happy to let Diggs show off his impressive skill set. Working with a rich sonic bed of sound provided by producers Bill Hutson and Jonathan Snipes, he let loose a spellbinding array of flows and verbal dexterity, bisecting the 22-song set equally between selections from clipping.’s 2025 stunner Dead Channel Sky and older material (plus one extremely fun cover).
Seriously, the guy won a Tony for his Broadway debut, playing Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette in the mentally and physically demanding Hamilton — he can clearly handle complex rhymes, particularly ones he wrote. And he can also make you think he’s about to dash off a verse by a fellow legend of the mic before revealing that, nope, it’s another jaw-dropping Diggs original. Several times during the set, his flow and timbre brought to mind Andre 3000’s instant-rewind bars on “Humble Mumble.” Yet true to Pablo Picasso’s famous quote, this great artist doesn’t just borrow, he steals, and does so in remarkably convincing fashion.
As if all of the above wasn’t enough for a mind-blowing show, clipping. brought out vocalist Counterfeit Madison and bassist David Rothbaum from extremely eclectic and (borderline overly) experimental opening act Cooling Prongs for a little mid-set reinforcement. Following a lovely performance that showcased her singing and piano skills — but unfortunately didn’t drown out rude jabbering in the room — Madison stayed on to augment the headliners’ already appealing sounds and was soon joined by the legendary Rothbaum, who kept to the fringes of the stage.
And as for that cover? Running a victory lap after an encore of “Enlacing,” the trio returned to the stage, an elated Diggs smiled and said, “Fuck it. Tip your bartenders!” and launched into a cover of none other than J-kwon’s “Tipsy.” Gleefully ripping through the mid-aughts club anthem with major assists from the crowd on the chorus, the closing choice proved an excellent, mindless capper on a night full of words that encouraged all who heard them to be mindful — and reinforced the notion that clipping. can do anything.
(Glitchy ass still from a video taken by Edwin Arnaudin)
