What’s good!
Although I missed a lot of shows in 2012, there has been a lot of shows that I was blessed to see.
There’s two shows that I took out of this because they were terrible:
- A$AP Rocky @ Cargo, 2oth March: Seriously, his music wasn’t appealing and it still isn’t. I went to this event thinking his performance will change my mind. I ended up going home half way. There was no space to breathe or move at all. A packed out Cargo event is not the one.
- Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) @ HMV Forum, 26th May “O, you already know about Mos Def’s lacklustre performances lately. But you still went.” This is my brain talking to me, like Ghostface’s brain on “Beat The Clock”. Terrible performance. The flyer says “playing music from his 13 year career in Hip Hop”. Now tell me, how are you gonna do this when you only have 55 minutes to perform? You only dropped 3-4 tracks that is considered “old”. There’s a curfew at 11pm at The Forum, if they exceed that time, there will be trouble. This is what happens when you don’t come to the stage ON TIME. He was supposed to start at 21:15. He came on at 22:05. And was STILL CRAP.
There’s eight shows that I took out for either honorable mentions or they were just BORING:
- Just Blaze DJ Set @ East Village, 24th May.
- Fatlip DJ Set @ East Village, 13th February.
- MED & Black Milk DJ Set @ Cargo, 26th January.
- DOOM, Madlib, Freddie Gibbs @ HMV Forum, 12th October.
- DOM Kennedy @ XOYO, 16th October.
- J Dilla Rebirth of Detroit Tour (Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat & Supa Emcee) @ Jazz Cafe, 8th November. (It was nice chilling out with Guilty Simpson! He even recognised me from 2009).
- Pusha T @ The Garage, 22nd October.
- Jon B @ Jazz Cafe, 18th December.
Aight, hereeeeee we go *Slick Rick voice*
10. Slum Village
@ Jazz Cafe, 22nd July.
3rd time going to see Slum Village at Jazz Cafe. If they come next year I’ll go to that too.
When I saw them the first time, it was just T3 Elzhi. 2nd time and this time, it was Illa J, T3 & Young RJ. Even though this group have been going through changes, it still isn’t stopping me from going to see them live!
When you’re dropping classics from the first 2 Fantastic albums, you can hardly go wrong. Illa J even went to do some tracks from the Yancey Boys album, including Timeless (which is one of my favourite trakcs).
I almost lost my mind when they done Thelonius, which is probably my favourite song ever.
But yeah, SLM VGE. Come again next year!
9. eLZhi
@ Cargo, 15th August.
So let’s see…
I’ve seen Elzhi with Slum Village back in December 2009…
Seen him with Phat Kat back in November 2010…
Saw him in November 2011 when he done his Elmatic tour…
And now for the 4th time, I’m seeing this dude again!
This show was basically a mix of all his previous shows mixed into one: a bit of Slum Village, Elmatic, The Preface, The Leftovers and some various guest verses. The only thing he done new was his Blue Widow track.
Nailed it again.
If I were to go to another Elzhi show next year, I probably would you know. The guy is just so talented!
8. The Pharcyde
@ Koko, 17th July.
These guys are still as crazy as ever! Slimkid & Fatlip have left the Pharcyde, but that didn’t stop Bootie Brown and Imani gracing the stage.
They dropped their usual classics like Pack The Pipe, Ya Mama, Bullsh!t, Passing Be By & Runnin’. It was touching that they ended the show with Yearning For Your Love by The Gap Band (remember the original sample to Life’s A B!tch by Nas & AZ? Yeah that one)
Check out The Boxettes, they are a female quintet that beatbox and sing their tracks. Definitely the best pre-show I’ve seen thus far.
7. D’Angelo w/ Pino Palladino
@ O2 Brixton Academy, 3rd February.
One in a life time. If you’re gonna go and see one of the Soulquarians, you’re in for a good show.
This. This. This was a really good show.
But when Pino played Conant Gardens by Slum Village with the bass guitar >>>>>>>>
(But this still doesn’t make up for that Lauryn Hill concert that I missed!)
6. Masta Ace
@ Jazz Cafe, 28th May.
The DJ set alone and Wordsworth’s freestyles were better than Yasiin Bey the past Saturday. I’m not kidding.
Masta Ace is also one of my favourite rappers ever. And as a performer, he’s underrated too. Y’all have missed out on this, he was really good.
Even if you’re not a fan of his music.
5. Kendrick Lamar
@ Electric Ballroom 26th June.
@ Rough Trade East 9th November.
Electric Ballroom: Remember when J. Cole had his first gig in London last year January? And it was sold out too? Remember how the queue was? It’s like deja vu.
Considering the time that he came on stage, the dude put on a really good show. This gig kinda reminded me of how J. Cole was at his sold out show in January 2011. And Electric Ballroom is like a 1K arena.
There were two tunes that probably left some people in bruises: “Cartoons & Cereal” & “Look Out for Detox”. Left the gig drenched!
I really hope Kendrick blows up. Next time he comes to London, I hope he brings Black Hippy with him.
Rough Trade East: I had already brought the original CD and deluxe of Kendrick Lamar’s album. And the store said that I had to buy a copy of the CD along with the wristband to get to see him. So what I did, I brought the vinyl instead.
This album is the best hip hop album this year, HANDS DOWN. Nothing else is better right now.
He perform Money Trees (my favourite track), Bish Don’t Kill My Vibe, Backseat Freestyle and m.A.A.d city (that beat was completely different though!)
4. Watch The Throne (Jay-z & Kanye West)
The O2, 21st May.
Woooooiiiii.
You know what yeah, I think the set-up alone is why I’m gonna rate this so highly. Once you’ve been to this event, I don’t think you’ll be seeing shows like this for a very long time.
I mean look:
You got Kanye performing his solo work.
You got Jay-Z performing his solo work.
You got Kanye and Jay-Z both performing their Watch The Throne album.
Then you get N****s In Paris in rotation. (I only got 4 times).
I will NEVER forget this!
3. Nas
@ Under The Bridge, Village Underground & XOYO, 1st-3rd October.
Everyone and their cousin knows that Nas is my favourite rapper of all time, so it was a must that I had to be there.
Here’s me thinking that I won’t be seeing him again after this until he announced on Twitter that he’s coming back in March to the O2 Arena.
Of course I’m going!
😀
In order, these are the songs he done, No Introduction, N.Y. State Of Mind, It Ain’t Hard To Tell, Represent, The World Is Yours, The Message, Street Dreams, If I Ruled The World, Daughters, I Can, Nastradamus, Nas Is Like, Hate Me Now, Bye Baby, Loco Motive, Get Down, Stillmatic Intro, Phone Tap, Eye For An Eye, Hip Hop Is Dead, You’re The Man, Live From The BBQ, Got Urself A…, Shoot Em Up, Made You Look, Patience, Stay & One Mic.
*takes deep breathe*
Oh, he exclusively done We Major for the Tuesday show and brought out Wretch 32 for him to do a song.
For the Wednesday show he exclusively done Life’s A B*tch and signed my ticket.
I seriously thought AZ was gonna make an appearance! Oh well…
During the Wednesday show, he acknowledged me a few times when I was spitting his bars. He shook my hand twice. TWICE!
It was like a bromance moment.
PAUSE.
He seemed a bit high though, forgetting his lyrics here and there, but he still held it down.
I wish he dropped Just A Moment & Black Girl Lost, but it’s all gravy.
See you again Nasir!
2. Joey Basa$$ w/ Pro Era (Kurt Knight & CJ Fly) and Dot Rotten
@ XOYO, 14th November.
I’m aware that 2 Chainz also performed this same night. And Semtex was scheduled to be at both of these events.
And he choose this one.
I’m a fan of Dot Rotten now. His 6 songs has convinced me to listen to his music more.
Now for Joey Bada$$ and PRO ERA.
!!!!!111111!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!
What did I just see!
Hyped!!
Freestyles!!
Girls on stage all wanting to give Joey some water and wipe his forehead!
Smoking blunts!!
Stage diving!!!
This event had EVERYTHING!
I’ve got footage so I’ll upload when I have a minute. If I was to have a top 20 countdown of the shows that I’ve been too this year, this show is touching the top 4.
I will see him again if he comes back to London.
(Oh yeah, someone gave him a skateboard with Joey Bada$$’ face on it. It looked SO DOPE)
1. Big K.R.I.T.
Dingwalls, 23rd August.
I’ve never been to a show so amped up since seeing Pharoahe Monch and Method Man.
K.R.I.T. has ROWDY FANS. And everyone lost there goddamn mind!
He performed ALL of my favourite K.R.I.T. tunes: Return of 4eva, Country Sh*t, Just Touched Down, Moon & Stars, R4 Theme Song, Rotation, Sookie Now (I think), 4evaNaDay Theme, Temptation, Boobie Miles, I Got This, What U Mean, Yeah Dats Me and my ultimate favourite: Pull Up.
I mean…. DAMN!
When ‘I Got This’ played, I was with one friend, then I got scrambled int he frenzy and bumped into 2 other friends that I know.
It was THAT crazy!!
He signed my ticket, but he didn’t stay around for photos. He used a gold pen.
It’s a strange mystery as to how Big K.R.I.T.’s music never gets played in clubs. He has so many bangers.
I hope to see you guys next year with my ‘O’s Top 10 #OWASTHERE Music Events of 2013’!
Try and top that.
Love, Peace & Chicken Grease.
OisLike 
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