Tramshed, Cardiff,
Sat 30 Apr
Scene-smashing grime posterboy turned YouTube star, who once wrote an article for the Guardian headlined “David Cameron is a donut”, Lethal Bizzle’s 2004 track Pow! (Forward) was probably the genre’s biggest hit, and was so explosive and energetic that club owners instructed DJs not to play it for fear of violence – one DJ booth allegedly bore a sign reading “All Lethal B tracks are banned from this venue (including instrumentals)”.
It’s been described as “a 21st-century anthem with a life of its own”; the NME compared it with the Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen. It’s a classic of the 16-bar grime style; after Lethal Bizzle’s intro, each guest MC has 16 bars to say their piece, in frantic style and with violent imagery – but to a rapturous, excited response in the club. Tim Westwood once complained, “You can’t play a hip-hop tune after Pow! It’s like a volcano erupting,” and it became a notorious soundtrack for the 2011 London riots.
Bizzle has gone on to create an enthusiastic and larger-than-life persona on social media, popularising surreal street lingo (such as “twos twos now” and “dench”) that gets plastered onto t-shirts all over London and beyond. In 2015 the 31-year old Walthamstow MC released Fester Skank, his first single for a few years, with a hip-hop style and hard-to-ignore, laidback groove – this is a good chance to check out his new flex.
(GTDC)
Tickets: £16.50. Info: 01179 259 273 / www.tramshedcardiff.com