Leeds Hip Hop Scene

As you may have read, we had no tickets. SQUIRREL and me got there with over an hour to kill. It was cold, but we waited on the steps, could have sat in the car, but we waited on steps, and for our reward we got to watch CUT CHEMIST warming up, and that was worth getting cold for believe you me.The whole night was running late and everyone was still sound checking when we got in. The first artist to appear was a DJ going by the name of GKUT. Looking like JACK OSBOURNE he stood at the decks with nobody knowing who he really was, but this guy got respect within a few minutes, dropping fat ass beats and super silky scratching he had the attention of everyone. He also got much respect when he popped the needle on an old NEXTMEN tune called ‘AMONGST THE MADNESS’. Off he went and on came AKALA. With his live drummer and the rest of the music playing through the system, they looked fresh in their colours of blue t-shirts with the UNION JACK in JAMAICAN colours. Stand out tracks on the night came by the way of STAND UP, YEAH YEAH YEAH, SHAKESPEARE and the jumped up BULLSHIT. I have never seen or heard of him until tonight, even though he has been nominated for a MOBO award in the BEST HIP HOP category, but I will never forget the way he ran the house with his on-stage presence, if you ever get to read this review man, you were the mutts nuts. His rapping skills and speed are off the scale, check out his new album IT’S NOT A RUMOUR through his web site www.akalamusic.com

GKUT re-emerged with more of the same to then make way for two men with an AKAI sampler and laptop as their aids. They were very different to say the least, a cross between AUDIO BULLY’S, THE STREETS and a couple of punks. Not my cup of tea and there were a few others watching the time, YES BOSS was their name and getting on peoples nerves seemed to be their game, check the picture but the music’s not recommended. MIKE L enjoyed around ten minutes of stage time and I guess what he produced was his DMC set for the year, solid as ever and shown much love, as ever.

This was the moment I had always wanted to see, and the fact that I got to see it so close up due to the layout of the venue was something else. We all know he’s a legend due to him being a part of the original JURASSIC 5 line up and having his connection with DJ SHADOW, but tonight he was on his own, out to prove that he has what it takes to release an album that will speak to the masses and be able to not only tour with it, but sell out the respected venues.

Entering the stage with a slight white mans swagger, he addressed us and thanked all for coming. He started the set the same way the album starts, with his usual cut ‘n’ paste style intro, then came ‘THE ROBOTS ARE COMING’, check this on the album and turn it up very loud, it kicks fat mans ass. Then came some true scratching CHEMISTRY. He was operating two TECHNICS 1200’ and two CDJ1000’, he’s got every trick in the book and knows the capabilities of all his hardware. Dropping classic cuts from J5, using bits and bats of SHADOW material and hitting us with a good handful of funk 45’s.

A skit was played referring to drums, saying ‘and the beat got more complex’ to which he took a snare, high hat and bass and scratched a simple enough pattern. He played the skit again and again, both times getting faster with the drum pattern, once again he repeated it and all present went mad due to the speed. Then he played it once more and you could see people looking at each other, you could hear people saying ‘WHAT THE’, he went for it super fast and the beat was making complete sense, it was a dream set from the man conducting his audience, that was listening!

This is the moment that will stay with me forever. He took the mic’ and brought it to the front of the stage, he asked three people where they were from, one guy from Leeds, one from Wakefield and a girl from Philadelphia. He then had a small conversation with them, finished and returned to the tables, went to his laptop, twiddled a little bit and then banged on a nice long looping instrumental. He had the mic hooked up to the laptop and that hooked up to the CDJ1000 which will allow mp3 to be played. He then scratched their whole conversation over the beat; it was one of those moments where you are glad you were present. He then said his goodbye for the first time before returning to a rapturous applause and proceeded to play a 15-minute set of J5 hits, playing out with ALPHABET AEROBICS. He took his deserved bow out and I hooked up with the man for a bit of medication.

GO OUT AND BUY ‘THE AUDIENCE IS LISTENING’ BY CUT CHEMIST, VERY HIGHLY RATED

PEAS OUT,
esSDee!!
 
www.whiteeyedtigers.com