The last week or so in the big smoke (London) has been another frantic melting pot of events and music activities, very exhausting but ooohhhh so rewarding.
Sunday Sept 13th was the return of Rocnation RnB starlette Melanie Fiona at the O2 Academy in Angel, after a five year hiatus from her UK fans.
Supporting act Tammy J was predominantly a keyboard acoustic set and accompanied by dancers, she won the crowd over with her powerful and controlled vocal skills. Whist the gospel like vocals of female singing sensation BlackGrape absolutley had peops goin wild.
Looking stunning in a black flouncy dress set off with high heeled ankle boots and completed with a wide brimmed style fedora hat, the partisan audience was interestingly 70% female.
The band were an accomplished 3 piece outfit and the show was an exhibition into tight musicianship executed with impeccable vocals.
Ironically on the same evening, across the river in south London at a venue in Brixton called POW, we had a rare appearance from Brooklyn, NYC 90s boom bap crew Smif N Wessun.
The duo of Tek & Steele have been releasing music for two decades and the Hip Hop community in general were recently stunned at the death of their sometimes rap collaborator Sean Price (Boot Camp Click)
The atmosphere was electric and in contrast to Melanie Fiona’s gig, the testosterone levels were high in the building.
Running through underground rap classics like Bucktown, Soundbwoy Burial, Wreckonnize all to exuberant screams and shouts for reloads. Click image to see video !
Tuesday Sept 15th, was the Amnesty International gig at XOYO, it featured an eclectic line up of reggae enthused Deadly Hunta, nougties UKG mc Flirta D, noughties Hackney rap sensation Klashnekoff and the headline act for the evening being legendary top 3 selected rapper Ghetts. The venue though not full to capacity did pick up and by the time of the headline act, the energy levels in the building went through the roof.
The icing on the cake being when Ghetts brought out fellow mc signed to Island/Universal man like Devlin, and they indeed did put on a memorable performance. Shouts to PropUpMusic for hosting the event, click the photo to see Ghetts performance.
Wednesday Sept 16th, all roads led back to the O2 Academy in Angel for rhyming sensation Little Simz ‘A Curious Tale Of Trials & Persons’ album launch, Simz is a young 21 year old rapper whom I’ve been supporting for the best part of 5 years. I got her to headline my Camden Crawl Festival ‘Lift Off’ event last year.. She’s been performing all over the globe and already supported Schoolboy Q, and has been endorsed by Hip Hop luminars like Kendrick Lamar amongst others. The band were very on point and her audience interaction was exceptional. Much of the excited audience knew word for word songs from her previous mixtapes but the vibe went to another level when she brought of UK rap legend Kano and new rap sensation Stormzy to rap on her ‘Dead Body’ remix
Thursday Sept 16th was the 1st Rated Awards put together by online music platform GRMDaily in conjunction with KA Drinks. Many personnel involved in UK urban music attended this virgin event; it’s a hi bred of The Mobo Awards and The Urban Music Awards (UMA’s), the last decade of UK Black music has increased it fanbase due to technology and the internet, the festivities at The Clapham Grand has live performances from Section Boyz, Ghetts, Little Simz, Giggs etc. The legacy award and performance from Kano were inspirational, a professional hosting job by Manny Norte !
For a FULL list of winners and categories click the RatedAwards image !
Congrats to Posty & Pierre (GRMDaily) for a successful event recognising UK urban talent !
Hip Hop is alive and kicking in the big smoke.
#BigPromo
@thadboogie
