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Unfortunately, of late the UK Hip Hop scene has become a little stale – Mr Skinner seems to signed everything that moves to his new record label, and as a result, you can’t move for Street’s remixes and features. It’s a pleasant surprise, therefore to see Akala step out on stage tonight with a full band, rock guitarist and all – finally something a little bit different. The two openers, ‘Stand Up’ and ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ get heads nodding throughout the small crowd, with simple guitar licks looped over banging beats. Akala’s flow and style rivals that of all the UK names - acapella rapid-fire deliveries serve to showcase the rapper’s keen sense of timing and vocal ability, whereas class A punch lines show Akala’s lyric writing ability (“you couldn’t get close to me in a phone box” and “I’ve got more lines than Whitney’s nostrils” to name but a few). During quieter tracks, the rapper encourages the crowd to get their lighters in the air – but as smokers are few and far between this evening, he settles for a fistful of back lit mobiles as he raps over acoustic guitar riffs. The buzzing hum that is 'Shakespeare' doesn’t sound as furious live as it does on record, but gets the crowd dancing nonetheless.
Akala welcomes a female singer onto the stage, but unfortunately it’s not the one we were all expecting (no sign of big sister Ms Dynamite tonight) – instead, the band are joined by brilliant vocalist Nira for Akala’s single and set closer ‘The Edge’. But despite being a great vocalist, and having some banging tunes, there is something not quite right with tonight’s performance. The UK Hip Hop scene is often revolves around ghetto lifestyles and stories of gun culture etc. But when Akala sings about drug deals, shootings, and general gangsterisms in songs such as, ‘This is London’, it’s a hard to believe that this is the London in which Akala has grown, and not just someone jumping on a Hip Hop bandwagon of a ghetto upbringing. Looking at Akala’s band of seemingly middle-class session musicians who look less than ‘ghetto’ as they dance around uncomfortably, and choreograph synchronised clap-alongs, it just doesn’t add up. The result is a loss of Hip Hop integrity, which regrettably detracts from the pure talent on display tonight.
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