Extended Players Night The Elbow Rooms Angel Islington, North London - an area known for its Hoxtonite tendencies with an overabundance of popular pubs and cool clubs. There is hip hop to be found here, but not much, and in my humble opinion, not the best. So thankfully, one of the UK’s finest crews, the Extended Players, consisting of Mr Thing, MK, Harry Love and Shortee Blitz have decided to fill a gap in the market. It’s the last Thursday in March, and at the same time it’s the first of their new monthly night at a venue that might seem a little surprising at first. They decided the Elbow Rooms on Chapel Market was the place to host their night of commercial hip hop and club bangers. If you don’t know, the Elbow Rooms are a chain of bars around England that market themselves as not only being a place where you can enjoy a chilled alcoholic drink with your friends but also as somewhere where you can show off your cuemanship skills on their American style pool tables. And while all this may seem like an odd combination, it had the stars out in force – whilst I was chatting to DJ IQ as I waited to enter the club, who should leave to escort his girl home but none other than Martin Fowler of Eastenders fame! Arriving, as I did, at the club just after 10.30 would have ensured a place at the end of a long queue were it not for the fact that I was entitled to a guestlist place, but even then there was a wait as the security guards went through a thorough search procedure involving hand held metal detectors. So anyone going along expecting, or even hoping, for a rowdy night with the possibility of violence ensuing were sure to be disappointed, but it only served to reassure the more mature customer that they were in for a night of fun. Entry into the bar properly, after a quick deposit of my bag in the cloakroom, only went to further reinforce this sense of fun with a quick glance at the crowd. Although to begin with the majority of the crowd there could be construed as the aforementioned Hoxtonites, which can be a problem for those more affected by appearance than most, it was refreshing not to see any posing or attitude. The dance floor here isn’t overly large, but it was encouraging enough to entice a few people at least whilst Mr Thing was close to finishing off one of his sets with Klashnekoff’s ‘Murda’. Apart from the few dancing, most of the pool tables were still in use, the tables and chairs were full of friends having half shouted conversations, and others were standing against the many walls also attempting to chat away. The Elbow Rooms are a fairly sizeable place, and with all these faces around it looked far from empty although there was still space to fill. Mystro hosts the night and as always he was outstanding in keeping the crowd hyped up. At 11.20 Mr Thing handed over control of the decks, and Mystro introduced us all to the inimitable Harry Love, who laid down Gang Starr’s “Discipline” for starters. The proceedings were stepped up a notch when he dropped the unmistakable “Shook Ones Part II”, and Mystro gave the call for a rewind as part of a birthday request, which gave a chance for all the people coming in from the now closed pubs to fill the dance floor. We were treated to some more instantly recognisable classics throughout the rest of the short-ish set, before MK stepped up to take control just before the witching hour of midnight. There was still a fair bit of space to dance, so to challenge all those people still only observing the action, the beat to Still D.R.E. was put on whilst Mystro more than ably rode over the beat with a lovely little freestyle. Harry Love was then up again to further entice those still with backs firmly attached to walls and bums to seats, which he more than managed with a nice little mix of “Sound Of Da Police”, “Gin and Juice” and “Let’s Get Dirty”. By the time Redman had finished barking away, the space in which people could move across the dance floor was closing in rapidly. Although he had been standing by the decks for quite some time, and every now and again approaching them as if he was about to start, it wasn’t until ten minutes past one that Shortee Blitz actually graced us with his exemplary DJing skills, especially in what many might consider his natural environment – the club/party. He started with what could be regarded as the most commercial selection of the night with a few bashment tunes by the likes of Sizzla and Elephant Man followed by possibly the biggest sound around at the mo, hip hop from the Dirty South. There was another chance for all those who missed it before to get down to Shook Ones Part II a bit later, although the level of excitement was at its highest when Shortee was playing Busta Ryhmes’ “Break Yo’ Neck”. It was during this that the famous intro “fake, fake, records, records” and the rumbling bass line of Dead Prez’s seminal “Hip Hop” was mixed into it, with the crowd going suitably wild for a tune that can’t fail to make you bounce. Supposedly, the night was finishing at 2am, but the crowd was still going strong as closing time approached, so Mystro took up the mic again to announce that the night was going to run for an extra hour, which made everyone in there extremely happy. Admittedly, it didn’t quite pan out like this, but Mr Thing finished up the night with a little 15 minute set just after 2.30, so people still got more than they bargained for. Overall, it was an absolutely brilliant night, everyone left with a smile on their face and a bounce in their step despite obvious tiredness. The DJs are masters of their art of keeping people grooving, and are extremely comfortable in each others company, taking over the decks from each other for the length of one song when necessary. The venue itself is nicely chilled without being so laid back that you fall asleep, and the pool tables can only be a bonus, even for those that aren’t interested they are sufficiently tucked away as to be non-intrusive. So if you’re looking for “good fun”, as Mr Thing modestly said of his own night, with a friendly crowd, reasonably priced drinks (for London, of course) and some instantly recognisable and danceable orientated hip hop, then you could do a lot worse than paying a visit to the Extended Players on the last Thursday of every month. And don’t forget, you can also sink those pool balls whilst sinking those shots. NOTE: Since writing this review, the Extended Players night has had to adapt to some change. It will no longer be held in the Elbow Rooms, and a new date and venue have not yet been set for the next time. - Mike © ukhh.com 1999 - 2003