NEWS
EVENTS
Joey Bada$$ makes it rain at 100 Club
RnB/Hip Hop | Tuesday 15th October 2013 | Shay
What you don't usually expect on a Wednesday evening is to go into a London basement and feel like you stepped into a 90s Brooklyn underground hip hop jam. With the huge queue stretching down Oxford Street, pedestrians were simply perplexed at what the hell could be going on.
It was all for the young American MC, Joey Bada$$, who ultimately proved to be worth all the hype and enthusiasm. DJ Greenmoney got the vibes started with a mixture of 90s joints with some newer tracks as the crowd began to form around the stage and the floor filled with eager hipsters and HipHop purists.
Warming up the stage in this dark hot box of a club was new kid on the block Rejjie Snow, a feisty Irish rapper with a lot to say and a lot to prove. The highlights of his set was his song title "1992" which had all the 20-somethings in the crowd pumping their chest, and his new songs "Black Pancakes" and "Olga" shows his progression into cocky tongue twister - drawing comparisons to Odd Future's Earl Sweatshirt. At the end of his set Snow asked the crowd "Are you all waiting for Joey? I am...", from this point the room reach a fever pitch.
Fashionably late, hip hop style, Joey Bada$$ and DJ Statik Selektah grizzled the stage, it was almost as if the sound quality had improved just for the Brooklyn MC's performance. He brought a high energy and an intense performance, dancing, rapping and interacting with the crowd. His productions boomed though the speakers and the audience remained super engaged and jumping like sweat was not an issue - in fact at one point it was dripping from the ceiling! The loudest crowd reception went to Joey's popular "Amethyst Rockstar" and of course "Survival Tactics" had the guys moshing and the girls taking several steps back. Fellow Pro Era bandit Kirk Knight was equally excited to be there, dropping a couple of solo tracks in between. The best part about the show was that Joey Bada$$ gave others time to shine and enjoy the energy at the 100 Club, but still carried the show on his back like a conductor of an orchestra.
This 19 year old looked like a young member of the Wu Tang Clan, a disciple of M.O.P. With his camo gear and his crystal-studded bandana around his neck, he delivered his bars with conviction and aggression, and it was beautiful. The show ended with a surprise cameo from the UK's very own Maverick Sabre, who gassed up the crowd with Bada$$ with soulful vocals on their collaboration 'My Yout'. By this point the club was too hot, but luckily Joey Bada$$ was cool enough to make you forget.
If you're still not a believer be sure to check out Joey Bada$$'s mixtapes "1999" and the follow up "Summer Knights", no artist can bring the old school with the new school together as successfully as this young MC and that's a promise.
Shay D & Kervan Gordon
