All Time Top 100

Monday, December 03, 2007

Lethal Bizzle - Concorde2

I’m looking around Brighton’s Concorde on a miserable Wednesday night and there appears not to be a soul in here below the age of 21. But if this is a snapshot of youth culture in 2007 then it would seem to be in rude health and fair play to Lethal Bizzle, for there can’t be many artists with - as the man himself might say - pulling p-p-power enough to unite this many youthful tribes under one roof. Seriously, they’re all here: Would-be gangstas in the staple cap’n’hoody combo trade handshakes with scary looking lads in cheap sportswear and John Terry crops, whilst dolled up R’n’B birds with massive hoop earrings rub shoulders with feral packs of nu-ravers minesweeping for unattended lagers in lurid day-glo T-Shirts. Truly, it’s a sight to behold.

So how has this happened? Well, there’s no cynical marketing ploy at work here and over the course of two albums, Bizzle (I hope no one minds me calling him ‘Bizzle) has effortlessly straddled Grime, UK Hip Hop, Indie, Grindie (remember that?) and mainstream R’n’B purely by BEING Bizzle: A spirited and gregarious, hulk of a man who’s clearly having the time of his life. Many are calling him the face of UK Hip Hop 2007 and after a summer of profile grabbing festival slots and some classic rock/rap crossover doings by way of recent collaboration with hardcore upstarts “Gallows”, these days you’re just as likely to find him in NME as you are on The Box or Radio 1.

Of course Bizzle knows all this and he’s totally at ease working a diverse crowd. In fact, he happily exploits it, referring to the melee before him throughout as a ‘mosh pit’; words, which let’s face it, you don’t hear at many Hip Hop shows.

Musically there’s not much going on beyond his DJ cutting out the backing tracks to let the crowd holler the words back and Bizzle, assistant MC, DJ and an onstage security goon / towel dispenser / camera phone operator stick rigidly to the classic Hip Hop show format. But no one seems to mind as they roll out all the tried and tested tricks; getting all the ladies to scream or splitting the crowd down the middle for a bit of call and response silliness. And Bizzle was obviously in his element displaying a unique warmth and likeability to his adopted strain of braggadocio.

They manage just over 35 minutes with breakthrough single POW! getting a second outing by way of an ‘encore’. But artists with nine times the repertoire and twelve times the talent have taken the atmosphere in the Concorde from rowdy anticipation to morgue-like sterility in just two numbers. Not so with Bizzle – his show’s just one huge, big hearted, party. And EVERYONE’s invited.

posted by: Jim Brackpool @ 11:16 PM

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