Leeds Hip Hop Scene » Live Reviews

Masta Ace & Edo @ Fresh Jive – Live Review, 28th November 2009

Analogue — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:37:39 +0000

There are many nights in the life of a scene that are hotly anticipated. Few however raise the pitch of expectation so high as the recent appearance of US Hip-Hop veterans Masta Ace and Edo G at Fresh Jive in Leeds . In the moments before the MC duo stepped on stage, the atmosphere was electric and the crowd’s impatience could be felt keenly throughout the venue.

Currently on tour promoting their new album “Arts & Entertainment”, the two rappers each have a history of more than twenty years recording and performing at live shows. Starting in the late Eighties and cutting across three decades, their verses have made an impact across generations and national borders, albeit without ever achieving the superstar profile and platinum sales of other, better-known artists.
Having already secured an advance interview with Masta Ace for this very publication, your correspondent felt absolutely obliged to be there on the night to see how things went down.

Continue Reading the Article @ TrafficMag

Markus The Sadist – West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, 27th October 2009 (review)

Mr Certified Banger — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:46:54 +0000

Playing to a fairly diverse audience, including those who I suspect don’t frequent the theatre, Jonzi D’s cast of eight wowed the audience at the West Yorkshire Playhouse last night with their performance of his rap opera ‘Markus The Sadist’.

Using minimal props and scenery alongside music, dancing, video and of course rapping and acting, lead man Bashy and the crew document the rise and fall of a skilled, young and conscious MC lured by all the trappings of being a successful Hip Hop artist (click here to read more of the plot).

The exaggerated storyline which includes a UK rapper making it big in the states (albeit with a fake accent) and then later having a forced frontal lobotomy to make him conform to The Company’s desires (selling products and ideas to the masses) delivers a much-needed message to both rap fans and rap denouncers. Skills, friendship, family, respect, morals and responsibility are all explored through a highly comical, extremely clever and rhyming script.

Acting from the whole troupe is on point making for very believable characters and representations. Bashy plays both the “nice boy” Markus and the gangsta Markus The Sadist (a reference to Marquis De Sade) with ease – look out for more of his acting skills. Irish comedian and rapper Rob Broderick brings bags of humour to the proceedings whilst Colleen Joseph injects high octane dance routines.

Composed by the award-winning Soweto Kinch, the music (a most important aspect in a production about Hip Hop) perfectly suits each different scene making ‘Markus The Sadist’ into a genuine product of real rap fans.

If you thought visiting a theatre to see a play about a rapper would be corny, think again. These aren’t actors pretending to be, these are real people doing what they really do – people with real skills. By showing up what is false and immoral in the world of platinum rap Jonzi D has produced a dazzling piece of theatre that will remind you of why you loved Hip Hop in the first place. A must see.

Sway Live – Mint Club, Leeds – 24/9/08

Mr Certified Banger — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:35:22 +0000

I caught Sway performing at the Mint Club, Leeds. After sitting through a couple of hours of mindless R’n'B ‘hits’ (seriously, I can’t even recognise music in that genre as R’n'B now) I managed to get crushed up against the front barrier by a load of screaming girls when Sway hit the stage at around half past midnight.

Sway performed ‘This is my Demo’ the lead track from his first LP of the same name. He dropped the news that he is now signed officially to Akon’s Kon Live label in the US and performed, for the first time, the first verse and chorus of a new track recorded with Akon. The crowd, who are evidently Sway’s target audience for collaborations such as this, went generally wild over the whole Akon/Konvict news. I didn’t like the track but it’ll probably smash in both countries if the adoring female fans are anything to go by.

Sway also performed a new track called ‘Taxi’ which sounded a little more promising but the best track performed from the new LP was ‘Say It Twice’ an entertaining concept that Sway pulls off with much aplomb.

Sway and Junior Dcypha also passed out a few physical copies of his new mixtape ‘The Signature Mixtape’ meant as a promotional tool for the forthcoming ‘The Signature LP’, now to be released on October 6th. You can get a download of this mix by going to http://www.sway.uk.com/ and filling in your details.

RATM @ Leeds Fest

Editor — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:05:44 +0000

Just in case you missed the epic performance from RATM at Leeds Festival last weekend here’s the tracklisting, pics and news.

Tracklisting

‘Testify’
‘Bulls On Parade’
‘People Of The Sun’
‘Bombtrack’
‘Know Your Enemy’
‘Bullet In The Head’
‘Renegades Of Funk’
‘Guerilla Radio’
‘Down Rodeo’
‘Calm Like A Bomb’
‘Sleep Now In The Fire’
‘War Within A Breath’
‘Freedom’
‘Killing In The Name’

They had to stop the show halfway through Bombtrack due to a crush near the stage before everyone got back to business amazed at Morello’s guitar work. Sadly there were no orange jumpsuits like there were at Reading the night before, but it was a highlight of the weekend and what everyone paid to see.

Get Cained – 28/02/08 Shipley

Editor — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:55:22 +0000

The top thing that Brutal Artistry does is stay true to the roots. So there was none of this, ‘lets just sell out to students and pissheads’…It was a hip hop night. They wanted a hip hop crowd. And man did they get one. It seems nowadays the common acceptance is that real hip hop doesn’t sell. Many djs are forced to put on R&B or house nights in order to really make some money. But here you have it – hip hop in the rawest, purest most honest form. Envelopes of solid beats and talent gushing into dem dere mikes and outta dem dere speakers. Every person there for the music. Not cos its nice. Hip hop ent niiiiiiiice.

The show kicked off with the ever energetic Spida Lee who didn’t stand still for one second. The guy cocktailed the mike several times before exercising some serious command over the whole spot to shoot his music video. Where every single mother sticker with a pint in hand managed to throw it all over me. (Cheers)

Northern Hostility were far from hostile with some heavy spitting complete with a few grime fuelled explosions of honesty. Northern Hostility practically provide their own continent. And with just four out of the crew of MCs present, they proved their genuine ability as each provided his own style and sass that kept us boppin. All funking over some quality beats a la Mike D on the decks who kept implicit timing and didn’t once let the beats get tiresome.

Ball Zee(UK beatbox champ) and Megamouth gave us the dictionary definition of mike control with some flawless larynx management. Ballzee pulled out his top class two mike act – one to the throat, one to the lips…only a genius could carry that off. And Mega didn’t hold back in laying down some perfectly rolling beats and masterpiece effects. Complete with a lovely lil drum n bass number the two providing one of those performances you just don’t see everywhere, and you just won’t forget.

Jack Flash(End of the weak winner), J Simple and ThaBo had everyone singing along one minute to the moreishly catchy track ‘Intoxicating’ but left us in silent awe after some incredibly enthused acapella. Anyone who doesn’t think spoken word has a place in hip hop really, really needs to catch Flash and Simple in their element.

Electro Dj Ellis from Cyberreign crew provided a more tangy fire on the ones and twos and Mista Ed(Waxworks) threw down some proper classic beats. And,to be honest, looked like he would have had just as good a time if nobody else was there at all…

The universitality of hip hop is evident not just in comparing the West Yorkshire scene to the rest of the world. But in comparing the exciting blend of acts Miki B(Brutal Artistry’s ‘man with the plan’)managed to twine together for what proved to be a truly buck night. Watch this spot people, and if you’re not further than Australia. i’ll see you on the floor next time.

Peace.
Nino

Get Cained & Things

DJ Derek & Flying Lotus – New Bohemia 16th November 2007

Chris — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:57:19 +0000

Damn that Flying Lotus set last night was good, wasn’t it? What do you mean you missed it? I hope you had a decent reason for your non-attendance at one of the busiest New Bohemia nights this year.

New Bo regular Eliphino was on the decks as I arrived dropping some bass heavy hip hop to get the crowd in gear as Testament helped whip the crowd up a little more, tonights line up included one of the most talked about producers in the guise of Flying Lotus and the living legend that is DJ Derek. Flying Lotus burst onto the scene with his debut LP “1983″ on Plug Research in 2006, from a family synonymous with the world of jazz (Alice Coltrane’s great Nephew and the cousin of Ravi Coltrane) he has been likened to the modern great’s such as Dilla and Madlib. His recent Reset EP on Warp is also going down a treat and well worth anyone’s hard earned cash.

Testament introduced Flying Lotus as a legend in the making and based on his set last night his live show was full of energy and enjoyment and he fully lived up to his monica. He started off playing his trademark spacy keyboards over bass-heavy beats using a 16 Pad M-Audio surface control and Ableton Live on his macbook, hailing from LA, Lotus’ sound is heavily influenced by the free jazz-based electronica and hip-hop sound eminating from his local scene.

The tracks he was re-creating live were bouncy and coursing with dark synth lines and if you’re a fan of Ammoncontact, Dabrye & Shape Of Broad Minds you will love this guy’s work. After the serious dublab/dubstep beats were dropped Lotus switched things up with a techno infused set droppping dancefloor classics such as Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and the seriously twisted Aphex Twin’s “Come to Daddy” whilst re-mastering 180bpm drum patterns on his M-Audio pads, before bringing a close to his set.

DJ Derek was then introduced to the stage to drop a reggae/dancehall set of well known party hits, the Bristol-based DJ is an icon for many in the industry, including a host of Jamaican producers and Massive Attack.He has played popular sets at many major festivals, including Glastonbury and The Big Chill. Having seen and met DJ Derek in the past it was quite funny to see alot of the crowds reaction when a 65year old former accountant starts toasting in Jamaican “Patois”, I think it was the first time half of them had ever heard half of those phrases judging to many people’s reactions. All the crowd were skanking and singing along as DJ Derek spun some of the tracks he has begun well renowned for playing over the years and had us all partying into the early hours of Saturday morning followed by a return to the decks from Leeds DJ/Producer Eliphino for a Jungle tinged set to sap the last remaining remnants of energy the crowd had left.

Future European Flying Lotus Gigs:

Nov 17 UK, London – Cargo
Nov 21 Norway, Oslo – Café Mono
Nov 22 UK, Nottingham, Dogma (FREE!)
Nov 23 UK, Glasgow – Numbers @ Sub Club

Yorkshire Terrierz & 9 Lives Clik @ Trash, 30th October 2007

Editor — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:07:18 +0000

Words & Photos: Aidan Severs

I’m sorry to start on a negative but it’s probably best if I get this off my chest to begin with. Whoever promoted this event must have no idea what flyers and posters are, they must have never stumbled across this thing we call the internet; that new fangled contraption. Hands up who knew it was on? Hands up who would have gone if they did know?

I’ve never actually been to any kind of public event that was so under attended. Sure, people drifted in and out all night but by the time 9 Lives hit the stage there was me, my bro, our mate and a handful of others (shouts to Leady for representing his scene).

To be fair the bill was good. The aim of the event was to celebrate ‘the influence of Hip Hop on modern British music and culture’ and was put on as part of Black History Month. I missed the first act, Dave Acari a blues guitarist and arrived to see Roya perform. I’m going to have to be critical about this and since I’ve already slagged off the organisers I might as well say this: Roya can’t sing live. Some of her beats were pretty heavy but overall her performance was uninspiring. Dboy hit the stage accompanied by an electro-acoustic guitar and a good voice; he played a few nice singer/songwriter tracks including a melancholy cover of Britney’s (Hit me Baby) One More Time. A couple of beat boxers (Who were you?) provided some proper entertainment, by that time I was ready for some Hip Hop. Ridim Ryda was next with some dubstep but again, to be honest, he needs to step up his live game.

9 Lives Clik were a breath of fresh air, every time I see them play they get better. These boys are certainly skilled but good raps and beats ain’t all they got; they entertain and engage. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some recorded material from these boys (2 solo albums and 1 mixtape coming soon I am assured) and in a twist on the usual way of things – I hope it’s as good as their live show. If you haven’t seen them live, just go see them, they had me grinning and nodding my head (what more could one wish for?). I believe Chief Wiggum is playing tonight (Friday 2 nd November) so be there. Look out for the trading of rhymes they seem to have concocted on a bus and the time machine, highlights my friends, highlights. One thing you may not get to see again is the boy band ballad mockery they derived from the presence of a stool on the stage.

The other half of the audience then got on the stage: Yorkshire Terrierz. For a group with over 3000 friends on myspace I was surprised about the turn out (but as you know I blame the promoters). Despite the lack of crowd they did their thing. I’d heard a couple of their tunes before (thanks to itunes, check for their album/mixtape on there) and their set was not a disappointment. Their brand of street level life rap is made fresh and consistent with their use of their Yorkshire accents and dialect. The Terrierz add another ingredient to the bubbling melting pot of Hip Hop in Leeds, it’s only really their accents that would make their music sound out of place in either the UK scene as a whole or the US. With some hard work and accurate marketing they could become integral in the UK scene.

All in all, a good night musically but atmospherically it was lacking that extra something that really lets you enjoy a night of live music.

Prefuse 73 & Fingathing – LUU – Stylus 15/10/07

Wisdomtooth — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:10:12 +0000

First off full props to the guys at Room 237 for putting on this show in the first place, Prefuse 73 is one of my all time producers, with entirely unique brand of glitch-hop, space rock whatever ya wanna label it. Bundle in supports from Fingathing and Beans and you’ve got a show that was a criminal offence to miss. Yes you.

In truth I might have missed the gig myself as I’d totally forgotten about it and agreed to sit in with the Mrs with a film. Last minute the penny dropped and after some grovelling I dragged her along, not an infrequent occurrence “but this is Prefuse 73!” it’s different. Anyway we ran late missing Beans but arriving in time for Fingathing.

For those who don’t know their setup, Fingathing are Peter Parker (doing up the decks/MPC), Sneaky (on double bass) and Chris Drury showcasing his sweet visual stylings (check the website). For me this is one of the best shows on the circuit today all three of these guys have mastered their respective arts and brim with the confidence of such, interacting and reacting well with the crowd. Fully enjoyable and even my other half liked them and she insistently hates live hip hop. Be sure to check out their album Big Red Nebula Band.

After the mass exodus outside it was once again clear why the smoking ban sucks for live performances, Prefuse 73 came out to an almost empty room. This didn’t seem to bother him to much as he started out pretty much straight away, people filtering slowly in from the back. As I expected there was a drummer out on stage, rocking a live kit with triggered samples for more beef. Scott Herren (Prefuse) himself had a keyboard/laptop combo with a guitar hanging from his neck throughout. He also had another guy on keys and effects. For those who know Herren’s music, it seems quite a task to execute live and inspiring as it all was, it did look to be the laptops job to create the more complex, fun and jerky stuff. One of the main highlights came at the end when most people had left (this was a school night btw) and Beans came out impromptu to jam out a couple with Pref and co.

All in all, a most excellent night with a good choice of acts and joyfully good sound and visuals. Keep an eye out for any other Room 237 nights soon.

Wiz

Here are a few links to some vids I took:

Fingathing
Prefuse 73 Vid1
Prefuse 73 Vid 2
Prefuse 73 Vid 3

Task Force & Broken English at LUU 25/9/07

Stig of the Dump & Dr. Syntax @ New Bohemia 19/10/07

Editor — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:55:35 +0000

Words: Aidan Severs

Missing a Beer & Rap night in Leeds would be akin to not attenting my own birthday party, so I went. New Bohemia, a Leeds based club night (acclaimed by the yes men of all that is cool, The Guardian, as ‘Musically Brilliant’), constantly create line-ups of marvellous artists to fill their bills. Twas them that put on the Task Force night I reviewed a couple of weeks back and their latest effort was just excellent.

Stepping into The Faversham felt like arriving to a home away from home. The people were looking fresh (dress wise, not in the sense that they were all nearly drunk) and the music was sounding more than welcoming. We got there just in time to get to the front and to establish our places a few minutes before the night’s headliners hit the stage.

Accompanied by B-Boy stances Stiggy Smalls and Doc Synners made short work of introducing themselves and launched into their first track (‘The Introduction’ by Stig). The whole set was fast paced and included classics from both rappers; ‘Fatty and Speccy’ introduced us properly to the duo, ‘Subcultures’ was performed acapella and ‘Tax utilised his guest spots on Foreign Beggars ‘Glacial’ and Tom Caruana’s ‘Straight Up’ to maximum effect; he rocked the crowd. Stig didn’t dissapoint either, his stage presence isn’t just down to his size but rather the way he combines witticism and lyrcism clearly enough for all to hear him. ‘Rhite Whino’ provided the sing along chorus and double time raps (Syntax also proved he’s nice with his fast raps too in acapella mode) and ‘A dose of Godzilla Slang’ brought the more hardcore beats and rhymes from both rappers.

The finale left me breathless with a nosebleed (thanks to the girl who gave me toilet paper for that and sorry to my bro and Wiz for getting my blood on them) and aching muscles the day after. Syntax and Stig casually proved that UK Hip Hop heads pretty much all like Rage Against The Machine by having their DJ throw on ‘Killing in the Name of’.

After the straight up mentalist behaviour of all involved DJ’s Noah and Kid Kanevil managed to calm things down a couple of notches whilst still keeping the place moving. Highlights were Jurassic 5′s ‘Swing Set’ giving the opportunity for some alternative dancing and all the Hip Hop classics that make me dance like a dinosaur.

I’ve got to say thanks to Dr. Syntax and Stig of the Dump for being real down to earth guys who were willing to shake hands with adoring fans (me) and in Stig’s case, to pause for a kodak moment with me (the picture came out rubbish, it was dark). Peace also to Eliphino, a truly nice guy.

If you are ever near Leeds, check New Bohemia’s site to see what they have planned. If you like Hip Hop, Funk, Breaks, Jazz, Soul, Swing and all that goodness chances are you too will feel at home with them.

Aidan

Task Force & Broken English at LUU 25/9/07

Editor — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:02:59 +0000

Last week, Tuesday night, 10.00 pm; yes, I should have been in bed on account of the fact that I am a working man whose day begins at 7.00 am. Alas, I was just queuing up outside the Stylus venue in the bowels of Leeds University’s student union waiting to see some Hip Hop heroes. Here is a brief recount of the happenings down there that night in the form of a top 5 of things that happened:

5. Local Hip Hoppers DR Knox, Chief Wiggum, awesome beat boxers Mega Mouth and Balls Zee and crew Don’t Talk to Strangers repped the city. DTTS were blighted by numerous problems; they had forgotten a backing track and only had the vocal track (they should have lip synched) and then the power on the stage went off leaving them to rhyme freestyle for a hot minute. Sadly the girl they had brought along to sing was drowned out by the beat due to the lack of experienced rap gig sound engineers.

4. Sinical of DMC fame gave us the pleasure of a pleasantly technical DJ set.

3. Broke ‘N’ £nglish played their game where they freestyle about 3 topics suggested by the crowd. One guy who seemed to have paid his entire ticket price to make this happen lunged to the stage and made sure they heard him shouting ‘orange, orange’. Now orange, as we all know, is a word that doesn’t have any proper rhyming words. Yes Eminem did rhyme it with ‘syringes’ but that didn’t really work and it was annoying to boot. Basically B’N’E obviously have encountered this guy’s counterparts before as after ending a line with ‘lozenge’ Strategy totally berated the ‘t**t [who] asked me to rhyme orange’! Backed up by DJ/MC Konny Kon they gave a good, energetic show. Check out their myspace and their radio 1 podcast (that was the first time I heard them).

2. Task Force slightly annoyed the security by announcing ‘the rowdy part of their set’ (after a pretty rowdy first half) and encouraging people to do all sorts of unruly things such as starting a mosh pit, pogo jumping (a la the punks) and stage diving. Heads took them up on their offer and the big ol’ bouncers begun to bounce very angrily. The show was stopped after they dragged one guy outside and Chester P announced that he was getting stomped outside, this notice concluded in half of the gig-goers and half of the artists and their entourages rushing the security out the back. Task Force were accompanied onstage by Inja (and his big grin) and DJ Louis Slipperz and they basically rocked in a truly rock ‘n’ roll style.

1. Fallacy was there (and he shook my hand)! Pretty much all night UK legend Fallacy was stood at the back of the stage admiring the energy of Broke ‘N’ £nglish and Task Force. Task Force passed the mic for a guest verse at the end of their set.

Big up to New Bohemia who know how to throw a party and how to book a good handful of artists. Also a quick nod to Leeds Hip Hop Scene for showcaseing the local side of things. It was a shame I had to go at 2.00 am because DJ Format had just kicked off his set in fine style with ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, maybe next time eh?

Aidan Severs