Post by markwj on Dec 6, 2007 12:18:08 GMT
North Wales Hip Hop Night
The Lounge, Llandudno
30/11/07
I’d been thinking on my extended gig going expeditions of recent weeks, before they descended into a drunken blur, that for all my attempts to maintain a variety through punk, metal., and experimentalism there was one ingredient missing – hip hop. When it comes down to it I’m into heavy beats and bass, and have been listening to Public Enemy for as long as Napalm Death, from the start, old school bwoy. So while I’ve got to see them and current innovators like Dalek there just seems to be so less opportunities to check this stuff out, especially if you apply a “no chart shite” filter. There could be no excuse then for not checking out this evening’s entertainment served up on a plate at just the right time.
Billed as the first North Wales Hip Hop night in Llandudno, all local acts, could they show more than just copycat hero worship? It is also interesting to see if this is in fact North East Wales Hip hop as there are some established welsh acts over to the west, i wonder if the connections are made across the language barrier, an advertised representative from Genod Droog certainly seems to indicate this. Llandudno though, bleugh. On a Friday night too. I hadn’t been to the Lounge before, and couldn’t really see me ever otherwise entering it’s hyper stylised interior without this incentive. My preconceptions on the alien-to-me environment of the smart casual pub-to-club scene were quickly reinforced but at least there was a few there amongst the dressed to impress who were drawn by the music, The turn out, whether including regulars or those on a regular crawl, is good though. It was also good to see John’s PA in action for the second night running, as for all that the verbal flows can exercise your mind I think you need those bass vibes and drum breaks amped up to simultaneously punch you in the guts. Apparently a lot of last minute effort had gone into mastering all the various acts backing tracks, presume there’s a lot of bedroom artistes here who have little opportunity to go live like this.
Once things are under way, it’s a pretty seamless if sometimes chaotic pass the mike through some 10 rappers, varying styles, sets and qualities, too much for me to keep a mental record on so maybe those more knowledgeable can fill in the gaps on who was who, or who was ho. Zebedee kicks off, solid and steady, pretty powerfully aggressive in his delivery as well but as he’s built like a brick shi*thouse no-one’s going to criticise that, especially as everyone is in each others faces in this small upstairs bar. Next guy starts of a bit disjointed, reflecting his more random break beat backing, before firing off lyrics at machine gun tempo. There’s a lot of hyping of the North Wales scene and calls for unity in the face of competition and dissing which I guess are repeated in every scene worldwide but from the heart none the less. Big Si from Abergele next certainly keeps it close to home with tales of thug to family life on the sunshine/sewage coast, you can only rap about what you know after all and it’s interesting to see this expression of culture even if I don’t empathise. His clearer almost spoken style is somewhat disrupted by his wasted mates random and slurred input though, appropriate enough on “let’s get fucked up” maybe., until I think he gets the message to leave him to it. Next there’s quite a swift mix of rappers, ending up in an excellent interplay of lyrical and literal bobbing and weaving between three of them, including one of the organisers plus a guy from the Ukraine.
Again, it’s cool that there is this musical connectivity that brings folks together, makes me think that amongst all the maligned migrant workers/asylum seekers/illegal immigrants (I just saw a leaflet Flintshire council have produced to explain the difference to all the local BNP inclined Daily Mail readers) there’s no doubt a whole range of music fans that would be chuffed to discover the welcoming punk and metal scenes in the area. The energy and combination punch verbal sparring that these three guys put in is one of the highpoints of the evening,. This leads on to the last with the DLO, who are instrumental in driving this developing scene on. Excellent interchanges between Juz and Rapspittin, they also take it to the people, on a wander with the wireless mikes. While I know they have a lot of socio-political content which adds so much value to me to their output the avalanche of words is sometimes lacking clarity, but they do understand how to get some bouncing chorus hooks in there, as well as diverse backing.
After they’re done there’s an evolution to some drum and bass dj’s with some of the guys now mc-ing, but I’ve had my fill of orange squash and Llandudno in general, so hit the road. Chwarae teg to their collective efforts
The Lounge, Llandudno
30/11/07
I’d been thinking on my extended gig going expeditions of recent weeks, before they descended into a drunken blur, that for all my attempts to maintain a variety through punk, metal., and experimentalism there was one ingredient missing – hip hop. When it comes down to it I’m into heavy beats and bass, and have been listening to Public Enemy for as long as Napalm Death, from the start, old school bwoy. So while I’ve got to see them and current innovators like Dalek there just seems to be so less opportunities to check this stuff out, especially if you apply a “no chart shite” filter. There could be no excuse then for not checking out this evening’s entertainment served up on a plate at just the right time.
Billed as the first North Wales Hip Hop night in Llandudno, all local acts, could they show more than just copycat hero worship? It is also interesting to see if this is in fact North East Wales Hip hop as there are some established welsh acts over to the west, i wonder if the connections are made across the language barrier, an advertised representative from Genod Droog certainly seems to indicate this. Llandudno though, bleugh. On a Friday night too. I hadn’t been to the Lounge before, and couldn’t really see me ever otherwise entering it’s hyper stylised interior without this incentive. My preconceptions on the alien-to-me environment of the smart casual pub-to-club scene were quickly reinforced but at least there was a few there amongst the dressed to impress who were drawn by the music, The turn out, whether including regulars or those on a regular crawl, is good though. It was also good to see John’s PA in action for the second night running, as for all that the verbal flows can exercise your mind I think you need those bass vibes and drum breaks amped up to simultaneously punch you in the guts. Apparently a lot of last minute effort had gone into mastering all the various acts backing tracks, presume there’s a lot of bedroom artistes here who have little opportunity to go live like this.
Once things are under way, it’s a pretty seamless if sometimes chaotic pass the mike through some 10 rappers, varying styles, sets and qualities, too much for me to keep a mental record on so maybe those more knowledgeable can fill in the gaps on who was who, or who was ho. Zebedee kicks off, solid and steady, pretty powerfully aggressive in his delivery as well but as he’s built like a brick shi*thouse no-one’s going to criticise that, especially as everyone is in each others faces in this small upstairs bar. Next guy starts of a bit disjointed, reflecting his more random break beat backing, before firing off lyrics at machine gun tempo. There’s a lot of hyping of the North Wales scene and calls for unity in the face of competition and dissing which I guess are repeated in every scene worldwide but from the heart none the less. Big Si from Abergele next certainly keeps it close to home with tales of thug to family life on the sunshine/sewage coast, you can only rap about what you know after all and it’s interesting to see this expression of culture even if I don’t empathise. His clearer almost spoken style is somewhat disrupted by his wasted mates random and slurred input though, appropriate enough on “let’s get fucked up” maybe., until I think he gets the message to leave him to it. Next there’s quite a swift mix of rappers, ending up in an excellent interplay of lyrical and literal bobbing and weaving between three of them, including one of the organisers plus a guy from the Ukraine.
Again, it’s cool that there is this musical connectivity that brings folks together, makes me think that amongst all the maligned migrant workers/asylum seekers/illegal immigrants (I just saw a leaflet Flintshire council have produced to explain the difference to all the local BNP inclined Daily Mail readers) there’s no doubt a whole range of music fans that would be chuffed to discover the welcoming punk and metal scenes in the area. The energy and combination punch verbal sparring that these three guys put in is one of the highpoints of the evening,. This leads on to the last with the DLO, who are instrumental in driving this developing scene on. Excellent interchanges between Juz and Rapspittin, they also take it to the people, on a wander with the wireless mikes. While I know they have a lot of socio-political content which adds so much value to me to their output the avalanche of words is sometimes lacking clarity, but they do understand how to get some bouncing chorus hooks in there, as well as diverse backing.
After they’re done there’s an evolution to some drum and bass dj’s with some of the guys now mc-ing, but I’ve had my fill of orange squash and Llandudno in general, so hit the road. Chwarae teg to their collective efforts