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 Braintax, Mystro, Harry Love, Task Force and Phi Life Cypher  Sound Smugglaz @ the Rocket, Holloway Sat 20/04/02

Last night was one of those good nights that only come along once in every while and it didn't start off too good. I got there a bit late, 11:30 ish and had wasn't on the guest list, still blagged it and was in without too much hassle at all, the exact opposite of what might happen at Dekefex for example. Unfortunately I had already missed the first act. Something seemed to be up with the sound system and only the speakers at the rear were working. A guy from South London, whose name I didn't get (if anyone knows email the info in) was struggling to get over as no one could really hear. It may have been no bad thing because he didn't sound too hot anyway. We got some drinks and headed up to the other room where there was proper old skool style Drum and Bass playing. Took me back a bit and the proper sized rig was blazing forth with some killer beats and basslines from the Usual Suspects pleasuring the crowd which was boosted with an influx of students from the pubs. Wandering around the place is a decent enough venue, especially the main room. There are also several other rooms leading off the two main rooms with plenty of chill out areas and games rooms etc.

We headed back down to the smaller room anxious to not miss the acts we had come to see. Braintax was up first, and by this time, thankfully the organisers had got the big speakers working, but the sound was pitifully small and it was soon evident that this area was usually just a bar and only set up for DJs to play in the background rather than for full PAs. Lets not get this wrong, the people putting on these gigs must learn that this is unacceptable and they must do better. Anyway, after quietly sipping his rum and coke sat at the back of the stage on his own absorbing the atmosphere, Braintax disappeared behind the graffed up curtain that served as a backdrop, and Harry Love emerged, took up his place behind the decks and got ready, giving the massive old mixer a quizzical look. Dropping Opening titles everyone realised that it was now on and spun round to focus on the stage. After letting the track play and building everyone's anticipation, Brains and Mystro took to the stage and began to hype up the crowd, getting some call and response going. The venue was now full and was rocking from the off. Running through a few unreleased tracks and freestyles The MCs struggled with the sound, visibly straining on occasion to get the volume up. There was a dialogue with the sound man and he was doing he best to push the system anyway. Low Life are one of the few crews that I feel step up to the stage with humour and character and don't bother with negativity, so made the best of a bad situation and put on a professional lively performance. Joe made a joke that Mystro's mic sounded ok and that it was just his that was bad, but Mystro answered back that it was just his puny voice. The crowd weren't letting this effect their enjoyment and were partying on down regardless.

One particularly animated guy next to me knew the words to everything and was rapping along the entire time, accompanying tracks like Biro Funk, Godnose, minus the Task Force verses, Speak Your Mind, Hard Working and Tools which got an especially big cheer from the crowd. Mystro was particularly funny and backed up Braintax to the hilt. Some of the accapella stuff and tracks like the grip were removed from the set on this occasion, but apparently without rehearsal the show was slick and obviously benefited from the trio's vast experience in gigging.

Braintax tracks were interspersed with Mystro tracks like Kiss That Ass Goodnight, and Open Mic to which Mys rapped a totally different flow, he also did Ruff Rhymer and together they dropped Free The Walls to which everyone went bezerk pogoing up and down with their hands in the air. They did more special tracks like the one where the MCs as if we know about what went on in the 80's and if we knew of a band whose name was made of three letters and who came from the West Coast of the US. They said it should be everybody if they got in to the show legally and then they dropped the Straight Outta Compton beat by NWA, but changed up the lyrics to be relevant to them, but using largely the same flows, Braintax rapped about how is Coming Straight Outta Yorkshire and Mystro rapped about how he is Coming Straight Outta London. Everyone loved this and shouted the house down from the time the beat first dropped right to the end. 

Moving swiftly on there wasn't even time to go to the toilet and the bar and get back to the stage before Task Force went on. One toilet was blocked and the floor was awash with liquid. I'm pretty certain it was water, but you are never sure, after that I held it for the rest of the night. So whilst getting drinks Task Force came on stage and being almost on their home manor there must have been a lot of their mates, supporters and fans in the house so everything got a bit rowdy as they are becoming famous for. It is like a sort of Punk attitude that attracts rebelliousness and a questioning of authority. A mosh pit rapidly formed and people were falling or getting pushed over as they danced / fought in front of the stage. Seeing this I knew my drink wouldn't last so I downed it and battled my way to near the front to join in. Things were particularly crazy for Battlecats, Grafdabusup, Wha Blow and some more of their harder tracks, and bit less energetic for the happy track as Chester called it - I Wish, and tracks like Life Without Instructions. Before the next track Chester was asking what is the most pointless animal and I think most people didn't really catch on until he went into Jelly Fish Kiss.

In what is becoming a regular part of their stage show Chester P took a few minutes to tell the crowd about some politics, which in the past has included topics like the was in Afghanistan, Police brutality or racism, but this occasion was a diatribe and vitriol devoted to breaking down the current drugs laws. He explained that the Police officer who was experimenting with de-criminalising Cannabis in Brixton was dishonoured and removed from his position. They said that the government only wanted to legalise it to tax it and deprive street yutes of their only form of income. He went on to say that as far as he knew it had always been legal around where he comes from and that no one could tell him not to have a smoke and he would smoke wherever he wants. Farma added I think that over 75% of violent crime is caused by alcohol and virtually none by spliff. In my opinion not enough people are addressing serious political issues and are all to happy to just concentrate on partying and looking good. People need to know what decisions those in power are making and how they affect us, so props to Task Force for trying to edutain. The predominantly student crowd were certainly receptive to Chester's ideas.

Chester said that he had one broken toe and one severely bruised one, so he felt he wasn't on top form, but he certainly put on a good show in my eyes. They let DJ Louis Slippaz, or Mr Fish Lips as Farma jokily said, take center stage for a moment as he sweetly cut up a couple of KRS One phrases and moved himself up a couple of notches in my estimation proving that he can reproduce the skills displayed on his excellent £10 Bag mix CD live as well. Everyone was left drained after this performance and we still had Phi Life Cypher to bless us. I then found out that the bar had closed and that the rest of the night would have to go alcohol free, which was bit of a downer.

At about 2:30 in the morning Luton's finest Phi Life Cypher, the MCs of Gorillaz fame, took to the stage to do their thing. Apparently they had been there for hours and had been hanging around getting bored, and perhaps this affected their attitude as maybe their patience had been worn down. They were understandably pissed off by the sound quality, but this seemed to knock them back and put them out of their stride. For a moment there was a bit of attitude and I thought they might even not perform. But they turned it round by just getting on with it, but I think the crowd, as well as being tired, could sense the different vibe from the crew and so Si Philli and Life had to work even harder to get the same level of support that had previously been shown to Brainitax and Task Force. They ran through some of my favourite tracks of theirs like Herbaholics, that crackhead track, Ill Force, Baddestman On The Planet as well as spitting endless freestyles for which I guess they are now famous for. They were backed up on the decks by Nappa, who did a good enough job, but really is much better at producing beats. Nappa kept things but moving along, but didn't display any skills and overall Phi Life seemed to competently perform a series of tracks with stilted pauses, whereas the previous acts had slickly moved from beat to beat and from track to track. Phi Life also had with them an MC whose name I think I caught as Stixman who came out of New Jersey. He got busy and well received by the crowd, probably because he was pretty good.

As with Task Force, Phi Life made a few political points during their show, also choosing to make some points about Cannabis. Whilst Life took a moment out to bung a joint Si Philli told us how it was herbs and natural, unlike dirty drugs like Crack. They also pointed out the ludicrous legal position and that moves were being made now to change the situation. After some more freestyles PLC left the stage to the sound of Life's new solo single produced by Nappa Moviedrome on the new Zebra Traffic label. There may have been an open mic after this, but I went upstairs again to check out the sounds of Nicky Blackmarket and few of the faster sounds I haven't checked for a while. It was now 3:30 and the crowd was thinning. I couldn't help thinking to myself that I'd much prefer this music if the MCs would shut up for while.

It used to be that you would just get a group of moody blokes at these gigs, but everything is changing now and there were all sorts here, including a good ratio of females. I guess I'm getting old, but a lot of these kids seemed real young looking. I don't think I have ever been at a hip hop gig and seen so few beards or people capable of growing them. It could potentially also be the first gig I have been to where the Hip Hop room, although smaller was the main attraction and was substantially fuller during the live performances than the Drum and Bass room going on on the floor above. Props should go to the audience that made it to the show, because they had to stump up a hefty £15 for this gig. Although there was a lot going on and it was open all night, the fact that the drinks were not at student union prices and the bar shut half way through, it seemed a bit pricey. The acts all worked really hard and put on great performances which would put many other acts to shame. Everyone had a blinding time despite the sound system and not because of it.


- QED | profile

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