The Top 8 take the stage tonight, and it’s Hip-Hop night. I’m not a big fan of most of these songs, and I’m even less of a fan of most of the artists behind the songs. So that should make for an interesting night for me.

Then again, after last week’s debacle that was Guilty Pleasures week (I’m STILL having nightmares about it), the songs tonight could turn out to be great. I can hope so, anyway.

Also tonight, the judges will pick a Bottom 2 groups and have those two groups do a Sing-Off Song, with the group they feel does the worst going home.

I posted the song spoilers earlier today, so if you are interested in what the groups will sing tonight, feel free to take a look.

Join me after the jump as I live blog the performances.

Wait? What? The Sing-Off is on opposite Game 5 of the MLB World Series, where the wonderful Texas Rangers are playing against those horrible St. Louis Cardinals? Thankfully the teams have won 2 games each, so tonight’s game won’t be the Pennant decider. Otherwise, I might have preferred to watch Game 5 instead of The Sing-Off.

But luckily for you, the few fans actually reading this live blog, I’m dedicated to The Sing-Off. And I’m hoping this week’s Hip-Hop theme goes better than last week’s Guilty Pleasures theme.

As host Nick Lachey says, “The Sing-Off starts now!”

And the Top 8 starts off with a giant group number of “Nothin’ On You” by B.o.B & Bruno Mars. Unlike last week’s disaster of an opening number, this week’s song actually sounds good. Everyone sounds like they are in tune, and lead vocals are good, and the rapping is pretty decent. I’m impressed.

As Nick introduces the Top 8, I hear him say that the group Pentatonix is from Arlington, Texas. That’s my town. How the heck did I miss that all these weeks? Go Pentatonix! Good thing they are already a favorite of mine.

After the introductions, we see a video of the groups working on the Sing-Off Song, Nelly’s “Just a Dream.” The two groups the judges determine to be in the Bottom 2 will have to sing for their life with that song. Nothing like a little added pressure as you prepare for the week.

First up tonight is Dartmouth Aires, a group of 16 guys. They are singing Flo Rida’s “Club Can’t Handle Me.” I can’t stand Flo Rida. Don’t like his personality, his ego, or his attitude. Dartmouth Aires doesn’t normally do hip-hop, which means they don’t have a natural rapper in the group. They tap Henry to rap tonight, but it will only be his second time to rap. The song is a mess. I know hip-hop has an element of chaos to it, but this performance seems like it’s total chaos. Henry comes across as a tame Vanilla Ice in his rapping. Worse, the background vocals are drowning out everyone. This is the problem with a group this large. You have 13 to 15 people singing various back-up parts, and they drown everything else out. I have to admit, though, they have a lot of fun with the performance. And the chaos I noticed at the beginning of the song wasn’t there by the time the song ended. Sara Bareilles says she wrote down “swagger” during the performance. She agrees with me about the song sounding chaotic. Ben Folds says the performance turned into a polka hip-hop in the middle of the song.

A quick look over at the World Series game shows the score is 0-0 in the bottom of the first with two outs.

Up next with “Killing me Softly With His Song” by the Fugees is Afro-Blue. Of all the songs on tonight’s list, this is the one I’m looking most forward to. It’s also the one I’m likely to be the most unforgiving towards. Of course, this could be interesting since Afro-Blue is a jazz group. In the pre-performance video, we hear that while they are drawing from the Fuguees version of the song, they are also incorporating some of the Roberta Black version into it. So in other words, this could be a jazzy hip-hop song. The start of the song is a mess. No one in the group seems to be in sync with the other members of the group. Beats are off, notes are missed, and it seems a word or two is flubbed. It picks up a few bars in the performance, and the harmonies at this point are tremendous. But the whole thing falls apart again towards the end as they try to mash-up the two versions at the same time. Just didn’t work. Ben goes all gansta at the judges table for a moment, before gushing all over the performance. Sara goes gaga as well. Shawn Stockman destroys my hope for any sanity at the table as he gushes over the group as well.

A quick look over at the World Series game shows St. Louis batting at the top of the second with men on first and second and one out. come on c.J. Wilson. You’re suppose to be one of our best pitchers. Get it together.

The Collective is third up tonight, giving us their version of “Give Me Everything” by Pitbull. They are the third group in a row to say that they don’t sing hip-hop. They also claim that while they are singing a song that is all about loose to non-existent morals, they aren’t like that. One guy claims he is in bed by 10 PM every night. The biggest problem I’ve had with this group in the previous weeks is that one of the two female lead singers is too wooden. She has no personality when she is singing, and it’s driving me crazy. Another white guy rapping makes me long for the days when I use to watch Vanilla Ice sing “Ice Ice Baby.” The longer the song goes, the more the group falls apart. They started in-sync with each other, but they completely lose track of each other by the end of the song. Half the group is trying to speed up while the other half is trying to slow down. The judges more or less applaud The Collective for trying to do something ambitious, but also take them to task for the parts that fell apart.

Ugh. St. Louis is winning 2-0. It’s gonna be a long night.

Vocal Point will mark the half-way point of the groups with their performance of “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy. This performance could be an emotional one for the group, as lead singer Ben returned for the first time last week after having to deal with his father dying. It’s a very laid back performance, yet each member of the group connects with the song and the audience. The harmonies are amazing as are all the solo vocals. Ben has tears in his eyes by the end of the song. Shawn says there were some key issues in the performance. I didn’t hear it, but I may have been focusing too more of the performance and individual vocals instead of the group vocals. Sara and Ben agree about the key issues. Still, I loved it. Great rendition of the song.

OH COME ON, WILSON! Top of the 3rd, St. Louis is winning 2-0, men on first and third, with only one out.

With the first four acts done, its time to find out which group the judges are putting into the Bottom 2. The first two safe groups are Afro-Blue and Dartmouth Aires.

The final group safe from the first part of the show is Vocal Point. And that means The Collective is in the Bottom 2 and will have to sing for their life later on.

To start off the second hour, Urban Method will take on B.o.B.’s “Airplanes.” We find out that “Airplanes” is not their first choice, as they originally picked “California Love.” But the song wasn’t jelling for the group. Instead, they felt “Airplanes” works better as an a capella song. Wait…… what is this? Legitimate rapping? Nice. The song is more rapping than singing, and so far the two haven’t mixed together. But after the main rap, the rapping and singing come together. And Urban Method manages to keep the song together during it. Terrific performance. Shawn feels the two female lead singers needed to be a bit stronger. I felt they did a great job with good harmony.

I’m scared to look back over at the World Series game. But I must. And I’m glad I did. The Texas Rangers have scored a run, cutting St. Louis’ lead to 2-1. Two outs, men on First and Second, with Michael Young batting. Ball 1. Sadly, he grounds out to the Shortstop. But at least they scored a run. GO RANGERS!

My hometown homies, Pentatonix, are up next with “Love Lockdown” by Kanye West. As I stated in the song spoilers thread earlier today, I cannot stand Kanye West. He gave up trying to be a legitimate singer and rapper years ago. Nick says that Kanye is known for being on the cutting edge. And I agree. Kanye is always on the edge of cutting yet another celebrity down. In the pre-performance video, we find out that they are not going to include rapping in the song. Who knew there was a good song behind the ego of the singer? I didn’t. But Pentatonix gives an intense, angry performance with no hint of pretense at all. The harmonies are terrific, the lead singing is amazing, and Shawn Stockman is right to stand up with an ovation whent he song ends. Way to go, guys (and gal)!

Bottom of the Fourth with St. Louis still up 2-1. GO RANGERS!

Delilah is up next with “How To Love” by Lil Wayne. Delilah was a favorite of mine after the first week of competition, but they’ve faltered, badly, since then. I finally gave up on them last week after they butchered “What a Feeling.” They’ve been in the Bottom 2 for a couple of weeks now, and I’m thinking they won’t survive if they find themselves down there again. The girls keep going back and forth on whether to have percussion in the song and appeared to be evenly divided on the matter. They also note that the song is so low energy, they need to find a way to add some to the performance. And they weren’t kidding. The beginning of the song is very low energy, but the vocals are great so far. There is percussion in the song, first coming in about halfway through the song. And the girls also added some energy to it. The song becomes a perfect song for the group, as they get back to what made them a favorite of mine in the first place. No over the top gimmicks. No weird arrangements. Just simple, beautiful singing that showcases their voices, harmonies, and emotions. Welcome back to my favorites list, girls.

Top of the fifth, no outs, men on First and Second. Does anyone want C.J. Wilson, cause I’m done with him. *sigh*

The last group to perform tonight is YellowJackets. They take on Lupe Fiasco’s “The Show Goes On.” All I can do is that they don’t take the artist’s last name seriously in their preparations. In the pre-performance video, the group members talk about the lyrics talking about overcoming struggles and mention how they were working for the children in Kenya before returning to do the show. They say that if they win the $200,000 prize on the show, they will use it to help the kids in Kenya. Hearts of gold, those guys. Voices of gold as well, These guys haven’t sounded this good ever on the show. Hip-Hop agrees with them. Nice. A lot of energy on stage, terrific harmonies, and great lead vocals. Most importantly, great connection to the song and audience. They are having fun up there on stage. They are killing it up there on stage and they know it. What a performance. Ben is babbling on about mind, muscle, and dynamics, and I understand none of it. No clue what he’s on about.

With the second set of four done, the judges will make yet another decision about who will have to Sing-Off for their life. It will either be Urban Method or the YellowJackets, and my vote would be for Urban Method. Not because they were bad, but because the other three groups were heads and tails better tonight.

Phew! The Texas Rangers got out of the Top of the Fifth with no additional damage. Score is still 2-1 in favor of St. Louis. GO RANGERS!

We’re back from the commercials and the second set of four groups are now on stage. The first two groups that are safe this week are Pentatonix and Delilah. Yes!

The final group sure to advance tonight is……… Urban Method.

That means YellowJackets will be fighting for their life. Crap.

First up on the Sing-Off Song, which is Nelly’s “Just a Dream,” is The Collective. The male lead singers keep mumbling into the microphones, making it too hard to understand the words. They also keep speeding up and slowing down. In fact, they slow down so much, there was enough time for an 18-wheeler to drive around the block five times. It’s a short song, and just like that, it’s time for the YellowJackets to give us their version. They give us a high energy performance that seems more level tempo-wise and contains great harmonies. This should be enough to keep them safe, but we’ll have to wait until after another round of commercials to find out.

Top of the Sixth. St. Louis still ahead by one. This is gonna be another nail biter.

We’re back. The judges have decided which group will be going home.

Shawn picks the YellowJackets to go on.
Ben picks The Collective to go on.

That leaves Sara to decide. The group that is safe is the YellowJackets.

And that means The Collective is the ninth group to be eliminated this season. That was the right call.

The Collective sings their swan song, and just like that we are left with a Top 7. Next week’s theme will be Superstars Melodies, with a special performance by Season 2′s winner, Committed. Based on the preview of next week, “Ghostbusters” will be the lead-off song. It sort-of looks like all the groups will have a Halloween theme next week. I certainly hope not.

Oh, and St. Louis is still winning 2-1. Top of the sixth, two outs, with men on Second and Third. Ugh. This is gonna be a long night.

So what did you think of tonight’s The Sing-Off? Were you happy with who the judges sent home? Or do you think the judges need medication and therapy to get over their issues? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

If you watch The X Factor, join me back here tomorrow night at 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT as I live blog the first performance show of the season, where the judges will each eliminate one act from their category. Also, don’t forget the live Idol Radio Show on Wednesday at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as I talk about The Sing-Off, The X Factor, American Idol, and any other entertainment news that needs to be discussed.

And join me next Monday at 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT for more live blogging of The Sing-Off.