Leeds Hip Hop Scene

Easy guys, thought I’d best write this whilst still inhebriated and on a hiphop-high,”Whagwan LEEEEDDSS!!!”, a rhetorical question met with a suitably enthusiastic cheer brought the Leeds stalwarts Double d Dagger to the Faversham’s stage, and precluded a beautifully grimy set.

However, don’t jump the proverbial gun, for when I arrived, around 11pm, the place was deserted, and as such I was somewhat apprehensive about the night; On the one hand Double D Dagger are the Leeds bastard child of Mobb Deep n Wu-Tang and as such deserve a good audience, on the other, they’re not a very well known group outside of the Leeds/UK-Hiphop circle, so I wasn’t sure what the night would hold - a heavy night full of hiphop heads, or an unexperienced student packed atmosphere of “what the f*** is this?” that I’ve seen too many times at New’Bo nights.

Early on I bumped into Wiz, D:Bo & Co. ™ in a pretty empty faversham, and was worried the turnout was going to be poor despite the talent the night promised (Double D Dagger, Kidkanevil, what more do you want for £4?!). I will make apologies now to Wiz n D:Bo for appearing elusive: after having introduced myslef to Wiz etc my indie-rock orientated flatmates asked “Who were they you were talkin’ to?”, so i explained Wiz n D:BO as being a couple of Leeds based hiphop/dnb producers, a response which warranted stereotypically sarcastic “wigga” responses which I didnt shake for the whole night and which I didnt want to aggrevate more being the only hiphop-head in my flat, so apologies for not being for being more sociable!

Anyways, onto the Double D Dagger: they launched straight into a surprisingly softer tune ; I’ll admit I was expecting something grimier but it did ease a crowd unexperienced to the Dagger sound into the Dagger’s unapologetically grimey style and so was entirely understandable. The crowd lapped it up and soon the Dagger were into full swing, dropping heavy grimey anthem after heavy grimey anthem.

They broke up the grimey yorkshire beats with a short live interlude that initially had me holding my under-developed pecs in shame. In perfect rhyme they were going on about working out everyday, doing forty pushups in the a.m. etc. My flatate is a real sports head, down the gym everyday playing footie every other etc etc, perfect opposite of my “stoned semi-pissed lets spend the day mixing n cutting” attitude. Anyways, as I listened to what they were saying it soon became clear their “eat ten bananas whilst drinking protein shakes” was actually sarcastic and thus made me feel f***ng great about being a lazy bum. (if it wasn’t sarcastic, shoot me, I needed it to be sarcastic!!)

Anyways, they soon brought the heavy blurred grimey beats back, and whilst I don’t know the names of all the tracks Double D Dagger played, but they were all “big phat choons” nonetheless. When they dropped “Left, Right, Left” the crowd noticeably picked up and heads were bopping,always a good sign, and even my mates had ther hands bouncing in the air,

The thing about Hip-Hop gigs, and this is something i took up with Wiz later on in the toilets is that no one ever dances at hiphop gigs. Okay, right in front of me there were some people making out (personal point - Who the fuck makes out at a double d dagger gig, are you wrong in the head?!!!), but when I looked around at alot of hoodie-clad students nodding their heads, pistol-shaped hands in the air, I assumed this to mean “they f*cken loves the double d dagger”, which I have to say may have been an understatement.

Their set was short, grimey and perfectly represented what the Dagger are about. Rap gigs are a funny thing cos no one really shows appreciation until after the set, but what a response they got. When they left the stage there was calls for more but Double D left us begging. My mates loved it and are now asking me when the next hiphop gig is. which really is an acheivement in itself.

I’ll admit, I now feel like ‘the man’ dropping gig dates willy nilly to drag my mates to, and I have to say if Double D Dagger can convert them from Artic Monkeys to Wu-Tang then surely they’re doing something right? Their sound is unique and is understandably attracting attention from the highest quarters of the uks-scene’s hierachy - all emcee’s out there, remember this: Double D Dagger: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid”.

I personally can not wait for their Packaged Food release, soon as it drops they really ought to become a uk-hiphop household name.
This is somewhat rambling, what can I say, deal with it, too much Red Stripe and Oranjeboom..

Peas,

Snaf :)

More Info:

www.myspace.com/doubleddagger