Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Sat 5 Dec
A passionate hip hop artist, writer, poet and outspoken educator, Akala is a man with a real message to his music. Preaching peace in a time of war and love in a time of hate, the last gig of Akala’s Knowledge Is Power 2 tour was at Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach. Looking forward to an evening of We walked in from the rain into a venue that was full of hip hop hungry hipsters, who seemed to be having a longest coat and most impressive cloud of vapour competition.
Walking out of the vapour and smoke machine fog was Akala, asking in his booming voice “Cardiff city, what the fuck is going on?” I took this to be a greeting rather than a dig at the administrative failings of Cardiff City Football Club in recent seasons. With the crowd waving their hands in the air like a fleshy tsunami, Akala began his set. Over the course of the evening, Akala performed a mix of songs, both old and new. He revisited his older tracks like Shakespeare and Carried Away from his 2006 breakthrough album It’s Not A Rumour, and more recent songs like Find No Enemy from Doublethink and the sensational Mr Fire In The Booth from his latest record, his fifth album Knowledge is Power Vol 2. Poetry readings and concept characters like pompous Peterson (an apparent parody of bankers and Tories), who greeted the audience as “Welsh wankers”, added extra fire to a varied night of hip hop and grime. Anyone who can call a Cardiff audience Welsh wankers and live must be doing something right.
Although the songs and Akala’s flow were brilliant, the highlight was watching Akala match the lyrics on the screen playing behind him, without even looking at it. This was a show with a message, and songs like Malcolm Said It and Murder Makes The World Go Round highlighted the fact that this wasn’t just a musical performance, it was social commentary that discussed modern day issues and put them into perspective.
This was a great performance by the BAFTA and MOBO award winning artist that proved that Akala still packs a fiery punch.
words LUKE OWAIN BOULT, photo NXSH