The Essential Festival (Roots Day) Sun 16th July 2000 8.am. London, UK. Usually, on a Sunday I woulda' been in the land of nod. Especially if I had only hit the sack at around 3am the previous night. But, a hip-hop junkie needs to have his fix and this weekend was just beginning. If the UK DMC championships were the perfect roach, then what followed was one of the finest green. So I make the wake-up calls. With grumbling responses from Tim, the best he can do is meet me at the Oval at 10.30am. I didn't have time to travel to Lewisham, so we agreed on that. He arrived at 11.10am, from there I drive to Tooting to pick up AL, and then we're off. In need of petrol and food, welcome to the life of a disorganised young man. I let Tim take the wheel as I need to rest up for awhile. Music of choice?: rarely is there one sole album in my car, just mixtapes, pro and homemade. I can't afford no CD changer like you well-off cats;). The Range bounces from 'Decade of Hits' , 'MidnightMarauders', 'Soundbombing2', 'Ghost Dog', 'Da Shinin', '93 Till Infinity', 'Roots Manuva', 'From Where??', and a few mixtapes (Henri's included!). Should be just enough for a two hour journey. We're on the main motorway about half-hour before the first act is starting. Typical, but it'll be a Long-Long day anyway. One wrong turn from Tim sets us back about half-hour, ahh well, no worries; it'll STILL be a long day anyway......By the time we exit Burger King, the day became even shorter, but at least we got food for the non-flushing toilets later on. After a couple of close calls (I decide to drive on the way back), we get to Stanmer Park, ten minutes of slow driving to the car parks and the sun is shining as the handbrake stops us from killing some sleeping(stoned) hippies just behind us. One quick search and we FINALLY inside this muthasucka! There's peoples everywhere and music from all sides. A total of five arena's (large tents) are spread throughout the hills, with the usual shops and stalls selling everything from burgers to bra's, sunglasses to sarnies. The hip-hop arena (still a tent) is at the top of the hill, which is a pretty dope view overlooking the countryside. Many people are gonna be feeling inspired today, but I'm not talking about the view on this one. One dude is showing off his bag of weed, we thought he was selling at first, but the crazy bitch was just like " Yah' check out dis Stand-Up green!" hahah. Almost at the arena and we pass Fat Cat, or more like we make room for him, and then we in.... By the time we had taken it all in and made it to the Hip-Hop arena, New Flesh For Old was halfway through their set. We had missed The Creators, but N.F.F.O were getting the crowd open. Mixing between songs and freestyles the crowd responded with a loud send off. Time for the Americans. With some rearranging backstage going on, holding up things, the event's host did his job. Kela The Human Beatbox, showed he was comfortable with the crowd and kept them inside with general chat, laughing at peoples backstage and some nice beatboxing. Slum Village was ready and so was the audience. They did about a half-hour set and had a laugh throughout. I got the feeling half the crowd didn't know their material too much, but were into it nonetheless. It was a nice performance, clear vocals and funny MCing. I was trying to take care of some business toward the end so I didn't get loose to it though. Time for some ol'skool to get people body movin'. Turntables were set up and Kid Swift started doing his magic. Some incredible skills were on show, the crowd were responding in due kind. Schooly D emerged and started rocking the crowd back and forth. This was perfect timing, everyone was eager to party and bullshit. After a dope set which was long, but didn't even begin to seem that way, they ducked out to shouts and applause. Problems were occurring though with the next performers. The Scarecrow Crew were meant to be on stage breaking, but I guess they just broke out 'cause they weren't around. No complaints here as Kid Swift stepped back to the decks and started spinning some OLD and just Ol' skool flavours for the increasing appetite. Ranging from Masta Ace, Mobb Deep, Monch, Gangstarr, EPMD, Rakim, etc. He seemed to enjoy this more, smiling throughout and really feeling one with the crowd as they responded to every blessing of beats and basslines. The Scarecrows did show after about ten minutes and with Swift still spinning, the scene was complete. Four breakers and enough headspins to give me a buzz stronger than any green...... Kela took over whilst the technicians did their work. I was hyped for the next act and they didn't disappoint. Souls Of Mischief brought dopeness all the way from Oakland to Brighton. 'That's when ya' Lost' was incredible, 'Disses..', too many to mention, and they performed like veterans. Running back and forth buggin' out, promoting their t-shirts, new LP (Triology) later this year, Bigging up Del, Casual, etc, and some amazing freestyles. Incredible set, best so far, no doubt. If they were any peoples that hadn't heard of them before, they woulda' been impressed no end. You were left with the feeling of 'thats how hip-hop should be, Simply Dope'..... It was about 5pm and we kept ourselves out of trouble by checking the other arena's. Caught Lynden David Hall in the Touch Arena and some other experimental music which I didn't recognize in another. Made it back in time for DJ Kool Herc. The Legendary one, alone on stage got on the mic before the decks. Showing love to all, he then proceeded to spin the 'beginning' of hip-hop itself, some James Brown. Everyone was feeling funky, we had a whole tent full of people getting loose to his music, when the man himself would be playing later! Damn, stuff that turkey it must be Christmas already. About an hour of DJing, alongside a female singer and it was good to see some youths sticking around 'till the end..... But it was Rahzel who took the crown from the crowd. As energetic as Flava Flav is, no one entertained the large audience more then the Godfather Of Noyze. I'm guessing the organizers knew this also, as it's no secret about The Roots amazing live performances. And they guessed right that a quarter of the crowd had headed for the comfort of home by the 11pm headlining set from the craziest of public enemies. Rahzel had the 6-7pm slot, and the setting was perfect, peoples were still eager for more. Especially as the Legendary DJ Kool Herc had just finished an old skool performance. With the DJ in place, Rahzel stepped from the covers of backstage. Cue the packed crowd to go 'bananas' ! The human android was in effect, stalking around the stage as he 'powered up', like some early '90s cartoon character. Once his 'password' was entered, he was fully 'charged' and kicked straight into some personal scratching and blending. The crowd were loving every minute, second and milli second. After a couple of songs, which he showed some on point delivery, he battled his DJ. You would have seen this if you had seen him live in the past, but I'm betting it will get you hype everytime anyway. This went back and forth, with the two 'battling' each other, both outdoing the next on each twist. But ofcourse, the DJ conceded as Rahzel went ballistic and bounced from Dancehall to classic hip-hop joints, alongside the amazing human scratching. Everyone was buggin out! The crowd was in his palm and everyone was loving it. As a 'surprise' he brought out MadLion to perform alongside and then finished with 'All I Know', with the crowd screaming the chorus proudly, as if we wrote it ourselves. He showed love to the other acts and the UK and then 'shut down' and was gone. Leaving the huge crowd to turn to each other and offer expressions of, 'Damn!' 'Oh shit!' with smiles everywhere, just what Hip-Hop needs. Anyone who's seen him live, will understand that you can't even begin to describe and give him justice on his live act. But damn, it was nice to see the beatboxing element so strong and alive. Phew..... It would be hard for even Flava Flav to follow what the Godfather Of Noyze had just left, but he might have been able to succeed, but unfortunately, it wasn't his turn yet. After a little break, Dead Prez stepped forth. Most of the crowd had gone to stretch their legs, or just get over what Rahzel had done to them. So D.P were performing to a less then half the arena, and people were not really feeling it. I dunno if the mainly white crowd had made their mind up about them before they performed, but something wasn't right. I was feeling it and a few others, they shined and got their message across, strongly. Even with some crowds giving a less then lukewarm response, you just feel this is part of the Dead Prez' 'continued fight' for the cause. Rather then concentrating on the 'race' issue, it was more 'us vs the police', which people, of course, were loving. They were confident on stage, excellent delivery, which is vital for them, but I don't think people in the Millenium are feeling 'political rap' at a festival. I was wondering what Flava Flav musta' been thinking as he watched from backstage. Do people really wanna think too hard or concentrate on negative issues when they just wanna experience what Rahzel had just done? I don't think so, especially from this crowd at this time. Nonetheless, it was a tight performance and by the end, their 'effort' even had the crowd chanting ''Fuck the Queen!'' But you wonder if the people had also heard certain rumours which left that feeling lingering and the cause for the average reception. Don't sleep on those Canadian fellas. Unfortunately, I wasn't sleeping, but eating. I missed the Rascalz set, bar the last song. I was grabbing some grub and trying to find out when Mr. James Brown was gonna strut his chords. Ended up in another tent, smoking out to some DJ Krush. " Which was nice ". Made it back to the hip-hop arena, it had missed me, to see Choclair on stage. His album was only lukewarm with me, I need more substance to really dig or just 'something' about it, but he DID have that on stage no doubt. Great delivery, stage presence and a nice turnout. I repped 'Ottawa' to the fullest of course, heh heh. The crowd gave love back but I'm guessing most cats hadn't heard too much about him. This same performance back in Canada would probably have the crowd going bananas. I wonder if that would be the same for a UK act heading out there, hmmmm. (ooh deep)...... Now you can't have this huge a hip-hop line up without some controversy. Nah, mission impossible baby. Unfortunately it involved DITC. After some time, ShowBiz & AG rolled up. 'Biz cutting their classics joints with 'Andre' showing years of experience behind the mic. The music failed a coupla' times, but AG went accapella, and the crowd was feeling it. O.C and Lord Finesse ripped next back and forth between cuts with the crowd responding to the late Big L's verse' with the 'L' in the air. No Diamond D which I was hoping to see (he owes me a chicken wing) plus, the music kept failing. More accapella and onto the next joint, before the music stalled again. From backstage two cats were arguing, one organiser telling part of the DITC camp that they had "One Minute!" Now I can't lip read, but it was pretty obvious the reply that came firing back. About ten more minutes of joints, they left with Finesse claiming '' They trying to shut us down, it's all good thou! Peace ". The crowd gave love back, but just a shame it couldn't have been smoother...... It was now close to 9pm and the moon had taken over it's shift. A beautiful setting with the arena's high up spread amongst the country hills as smoke flew upwards to greet the full moon. I obliged and the three of us did the familiar worldwide routine, ' puff, puff, give..' (although some cats still don't obey). We could hear some shit going down inside the tent, so rubbing the grass from our legs like Flav in the 'Fight The Power' video, we went inside. UK DJ Tim Westwood was meant to be up next, for an hour. Some of you will know his preferred playlist, but the likes of DMX, etc, would be pretty dope with this sound system and set up. I was looking to get to the centre of the crowd. Westwood DID come on stage but only for a brief minute, shouting '' Are you MuthaFuckas ready for Flava Flaaaavvvv!!! " (I've never been so insulted in my life old boy). Everyone roared with approval and after a bit of teasing, the STILL clock-wearing skinny-man bounced out. He was very humble and thanked everyone before him and the crowd of Brighton. Thanking all for this opportunity to be part of his first ever SOLO performance. He mentioned it about three times, like an excited kid, asking us to check for his LP and single shortly. Introducing his right hand man, some dude I forget, my bad. And his DJ, Machette X, who was pretty dope on the decks. Then bouncing back and forth between old and new songs, he announced they had to finish up. '911..' left us all energy-sapped and then I turned the fellas like 'lets go check for James Brown', forgetting Of course, 'Can't do nuthin for ya' man'. So the encore happened, the crowd trying to bounce higher then Flav, and then, it was truly over, the essential festival was done. Then the max exodus piled out to hopefully see the 'The Godfather'. The hip-hop arena had finished slightly early so most were hoping to catch Brown headlining. But it was Angie Stone still on stage, cool, we hadn't missed him. Talking to some girls, they revealed that he had actually performed at around 9pm, and not a long set. It was around this time that my mate revealed he heard some peoples during the DITC set, saying, " Fuck this shit, I ain't missin' James Brown " . Friggin' A, if I had known this I woulda' left also. But no complaints here, the festival was dope. Plenty of impressive acts, over half which I was seeing for the first time. We jumped in the car and smoked a little 'til the cue of exiting cars were long gone. Revved up the engine and drove the two hours back to the hustle of London, leaving the peaceful, countryside decorated in tons of litter..... - Redeem © ukhh.com 1999 - 2000