Leeds Hip Hop Scene

Whilst out flyering for Fresh Jive at People Under The Stairs, I ran into one of the lads who runs this night so I thought it’d be good to come down and check it out.

The night started really well… by the time we got down around 11 the venue was pretty full - really good work for what seems to be a new night without any major names attached to it. The music was the standard student-targeted mix of Hip-Hop, Reggae, D&B etc etc but the quality of tunes was excellent, espceially during the accesible-but-selective jungle set. Dead Prez’ crossover favourite “Bigger Than Hip-Hop” also made it’s 2-millionth recent appearance booming through the Fav’s ample soundsystem but I can’t say I ever get tired of hearing it.

Where things sadly fell off a little was when headliners MC Skrein and DJ Moodie hit the stage. They’re both obviously talented, but there were a couple of issues with their set. Firstly, the tune selection veered too far into the commercial around the time that Michael Jackson and ODB’s “Got Your Money” were dropped… I’ve got no problem with either tune in the right place at the right time but the Fav is a venue where one can get away without flexing that kind of style. On the whole I think the crowd lost interest a bit at that point as well.

The other thing I could have done without was the sheer amount of verbals Skrein dropped. To take a prime example, his intro to UK classic “Murda” by Klashnekoff was well executed, but the body of the tune itself is strong enough to go without extra hype. Chanting along with every line obscured K-Lash’s own vocals from coming through and it would be a rare MC who could claim to be on a level with the flow of the original.

Taking all the above into consideration, I still think this is a night with a huge amount of potential and I’ll be watching with interest to see how things develop.

Analogue
www.straighoutleodis.blogspot.com