Award Tour Part II Stoke Newington Skate Festival – 15/06/02 Having been back in the country for less than 24 hours I had already hooked up with Lady Cook and just kept on travelling on some straight Fear and Loathing in North London ish. Armed with Morocco’s premier export (And I ain’t talking about those Tommy Cooper hats) and three hours sleep, Kobester S. Thompson is pushing back the barrier known to many as sanity. Having just witnessed England’s footie team giving the Danes a spanking the world in general seemed to be in a pretty good mood and we arrived at Springfield Park just in time to catch the end of Out Da Ville’s set on the main stage. Ya see, although there are nuff folks here to catch the gravity defying feats of the skaters, bladers and BMX'ers the promoters snuck in some homegrown hip-hop in the form of several UK acts and a graf wall. Clever, eh? Anyway, back to the lecture at hand and our hosts Est’elle and Skeme introduced Sin Stars who proceeded to throw some crazy shapes to old favourites from KC and the Sunshine Band through to Gangstarr. Having wowed the audience the stage is then cleared for a band that takes your guide here back a few years. Senser, who were about years before the current batch of brat metal/rappers appeared helped formed the soundtrack to a cider soaked misspent youth and they’re still sounding pretty tight now… Up next was Tommy Evans who was joined by Yungun of Dupa Styles, doing their best to hype up a crowd who had obviously had a few early beers. Running through numbers like "Ophelia" and their verses from "The Four Horsemen" the crowd had warmed to the boys by the time they left the stage making way for Jehst and Asaviour. The High Plains Drifter struck a chord with the audience as the hardcore front row crew rhymed along to "High Plains Anthem" and "1979", even throwing in some freestyle to keep heads on their toes. Unfortunately by this point the weather had started to turn and the ‘summer’ skies started to open. Even the 1210’s were not immune from the elements and one of the slipmats nearly ended up in the next county. The hosts came out again once the YNR boys were done rocking and they got into a couple of their own numbers including Est’elle’s "Just Because" and a cover of Jay-Z’s "U Don’t Know". Big P joined the hosts on stage for an acapella rendition of "Bling,Bling (It’s a London Ting)". After the hosts had rocked a little Task Force took the stage to the strains of the Gza’s "4th Chamber". The crowd instantly decided, as they have been doing throughout Task Force’s current tour that it was rowdy time and localised bouncing started to break out. Pulling hits from "New Mic Order", "MFTC" and their Lowlife material the Brothers McBane show and prove why there are not many out there, on either side of the pond or maybe across the globe who can see these boys lyrically. "Grafdabusup" makes thing a little wild but its "Wah Blow" that gets the biggest cheer with audience, crew and family members being passed the mic to fill in the gaps in the North London slang. There may have been some rudebwoy antics going down onsite (As the large police presence would suggest) but Li’l Links, who could have been no older than three or four years old turned the crowd to mush with his b-boy posturing. Finishing with the customary "Fuck You’s" Task Force left the stage and with their departure so it was customary be out time. By this point I have to admit the power of coherent speech was almost beyond me so that’s ya lot. Oh, and promoters out there British hip-hop is on the brink of something big so if today’s outing is anything to go by its time to start putting cash where cakeholes are. Scared money don’t make none… Shouts go to Lady Cook and housemates for the place to stay, Wildeye, Solo One, Phil, Calina and Nat from Undercover Magazine, Reality? And IXL (Hull Crew), Jack (Wildchild), Romes, Ohno, Medaphoar, P-Trix, Steve, Eammon, Chubby, that noodle bar in Coldharbour Lane and the Guildford crew for travelling up to represent… - Kobi | profile © ukhh.com 1999 - 2002