Video: Kanye West + Clipse, Lykke Li + The Roots at Diesel Party

Okay, so: we were wrong about Jay-Z. Mr. Carter probably needed to rest up for his big All Points West headlining show today, and was a no-show on stage at last night's Diesel Party. That being said, if you didn't go, you missed a few things, chief among them: Lykke Li performing with The Roots, sharing a drum solo with drummer ?uestlove. Oh, and: Kanye West practically detonating Webster Hall when he flew on stage with the Clipse to perform their new joint collaboration "Kinda Like A Big Deal" live for the first time. It was, uh, kinda like a big deal. And we've got video of both, after the jump.

Right down to business: Malice and Pusha T of the Clipse blazed through a set of older and newer material; they came out swinging with classics—their first single, “Grindin"—before tearing through “Mr. Me Too” and “Keys Open Doors” from their critically acclaimed crack-rap classic Hell Hath No Fury. At that point, a velvet rope was put out on the side of the stage, and anybody with a keen eye could plainly see Kanye West giddily bounce his way from the press room to the stage. Maybe, after all the autotune of 808s and Heartbreak, he’s just ready to get back to working on being a solid rapper, which, of course, requires working with solid rappers. Like the Clipse. Now, fair warning: this was recorded on an iPhone—the video’s solid, the audio, meh. So, here‘s the original song if you want to understand what you’re hearing. But you’ll get the general idea.

Oh, and: in case you’re wondering, the place exploded at about 1:04 into the clip, when Mr. West hit the stage. 

It’s probably worth noting that some other bands were there, too: featured BlackBook artist The Noisettes tore through an all-too-short, ridiculously fun set of four or five songs. Hip hop act Theopholis London also unexpectedly killed it, delivering a slightly longer set to to a slightly smaller crowd that’d moved on to get drinks in preparation for red-hot indie darlings Passion Pit, the evening’s biggest disappointment. The “Sleepyhead” singers put forth an effort, but a poor sound mix and trying out some newer material over standbys put some in the crowd down for a nap (see what we did there? Terrible.). They played a set of about six songs, but the vocal mix was too muddled to truly be enjoyable, and the general reaction was—sadly, unexpectedly—blase. Cobra Starship delivered an unexpectedly fun set, but the energy started to ratchet up for Clipse. And wow: they delivered.

But nobody—not even the shock factor of Kanye West bounding on stage with Clipse—could even remotely match the genius that was the hyperbole-inducing Roots. We spoke with ?uestlove before, and asked him how he had the energy to keep doing what The Roots are doing, between touring, their recent festival in Philadelphia, being Jimmy Fallon’s house band, and recording a new record. The full interview’s coming soon, but to paraphrase: ?uestlove thought the better question (or ?uestion) was when he had time to buy groceries.

So it came as a shock when—going on at 1:30—The Roots managed to blow everyone in the room away, again, bar none. This was a crowd that had been standing and draining an open bar for the last six hours. And The Roots managed to turn Webster Hall into a raging house party, replete with old material, covers of “Apache” and “Jungle Boogie,” coordinated dance moves, and nice guest surprise: indie pixie Lykke Li.

Lykke jammed about four songs with them, beginning with “A Little Bit,” tearing through “Dance, Dance, Dance,” running through “I’m Good, I’m Gone,” and for the finale, joining The Roots on their classic Phrenology track, “The Seed (2.0).” It was nothing short of awesome, especially the raging drum solo her and ?uestlove took on at one point. We’ve got the full video of “A Little Bit” below along with clips from the others. We’ve got sideways video of “A Little Bit” along with a clip of the drum solo. Such are the perils of recording magic moments on an iPhone.

Here’s “A Little Bit.” Turn your head 90 degrees and enjoy.

And here’s Lykke Li, ?uestlove, and F. Knuckles going wild on the drums. Watch as Black Thought, Owen Biddle, Kirk Douglas, and the rest of The Roots look on, kind of stunned at what they’re seeing.

We’ll spare you the rest of the tortuously muddled audio/video. Lesson learned: you kind of had to be there. Also, there’s not much of it, because we were saving our battery for that rumored Jay-Z appearance that never materialized. That said, dollars to donuts, for what the crowd paid (nothing) and the show we got (spectacular), it was a pretty decent (and, uh, kinda big) deal.