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The Dirty Stop Out’s monthly hip-hop night goes from strength to strength, this month headlining with arguably their biggest name yet; the mighty Q-Bert on a rare trip over to these shores, but more about him later. As usual Rawganics pulled in a nice mixed crowd, more than up for a good time with the Dirty Stop Out DJs providing the early sounds as well as an open mike session. Big shout out to my namesake and Intelligent Madness member Oliver Twist; good to see you back with a mike in your hand. The Flaredycats kicked off proceedings proper with a quite subtle but bumping set, as DJs Kong and Wooz well and truly hit the spot and got the friendly crowd off the walls and onto the floor. Following the Flaredy’s solid groundwork, Harry Love confidently took to the decks and dropped some heavy weight tunes, before an animated Jeist bounced onto the stage and proceeded to let fly. I must apologise at this point - I missed the latter half of this heavy set (including Supa T, Ricochet Klashnekoff and Kyza – sorry guys) due to a spot of networking (for a future project) over a Guinness at the bar, but every time I looked over there were a lot of hands in the air. In my defence I did pick up a copy of Klashnekoff’s 12” from a member of his crew on the way out, who was flogging them out of a plastic bag – the only way to buy. Fleapit were a no-show, though to be fair splitting up is an acceptable excuse, so around one o’clock Q-Bert took to the decks. After a ten minute warm up to “test the system”, Q-Bert took the watching crowd on a 45 minute scratching master class – no juggles, no mixing, just one of the most ferocious and technically impressive displays of scratching I’ve ever seen. Concentrating on two decks, although there were three available, the diminutive DJ scratched intricate patterns and rhythms including a very impressive routine without using the fader, just his two hands and the record. Jaw-dropping stuff. Q-Bert also dropped a drum and bass beat to demonstrate some fast scratch techniques, only the second time he’s done this in a set according to his website (www.djqbert.com). After such a display from someone so on top of their game, I dare anyone to tell me that the turntable can’t be used as an instrument. At this point I must give the Definitive Style crew, who provided the visuals, a mention as they did a great job throughout Q-Bert’s set (indeed the whole night) with both close-ups and a great overhead shot of all the action. So all in all another great night; class acts, friendly atmosphere and good Guinness. Not bad for £8 and, with their first birthday bashment next month, it seems the Rawganics good-times machine just keeps on rolling.
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