Urban World

ILUVLIVE Review - 21st February

This week the masses turned out in force to welcome the all-new ILUVLIVE to Cargo, just a short walk round the corner from its previous home at the Queen of Hoxton. Leading the festivities and eager to get the show on the road were resident hosts Ras Kwame and Twin B (who took his position on the decks to spin the latest club bangers).

Up first were last time’s open mic winners, The Lynch Sisters who dived straight into an acapella with ‘Melodies from Heaven’ and ‘The Solution’, setting the pace for the rest of the acts that evening.  Next to do their thing were Krept and Konan, a south London rap duo who’ve been fast gaining the attention of grime and rap fans online. They kicked off with ‘Heart of a Lion’ an unapologetic anthem about perseverance and pride, taken from their ‘Tsunami’ mixtape and originally featuring man of the moment, Wretch 32. Still riding off the high they created, the duo went into their highly talked about smash, ‘My Hood’ overflowing with energy. Anyone who didn’t know about Krept and Konan before definitely left ILUVLIVE as fans.

Electro collective, Half Nelson continued to grab the attention of the audience with their quirky style and foot-tappingly infectious tunes such as ‘Never Known’ and ‘Downtown Mix’ – just think La Roux meets David Bowie, totally electortastic.

Following a brief interval north-west London rapper and ‘Jump Off’ veteran, Sam Khan didn’t shy away from showing his lyrical prowess with an impromptu freestyle using the letters of his name. Taking to the stage with Jai Amore on vocals, Sam switched it up with ‘Differently’ and soon decided to school the guys on how to treat their ladies right with ‘I Love Your Lady’ an R&B song all about him tending all those neglected females in relationships.

A confident Soneni & The Soul hit the stage and soon laid down the rules with their bubbly funk track, ‘Starstruck’ a song that gained some serious rotation on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra with Ras amongst its high profile supporters. A stand out moment in their set had to be ‘My Life’, a musical testimony to sticking by your hopes and dreams. The ensemble’s high spirits were channelled through their music and it seemed like no one could resist the urge to shake a leg, particularly during their last house-inspired track, 'Fly So High'. It was a definite crowd mover.

When you thought that the night couldn’t get any better, Ruff Squad officiando, Dirty Danger up’d the ante with his rendition of ‘Luv Fool’, an R&B song about relationship stress featuring the overly vivacious A.L, that mixed into the funky track, ‘Send Me Your Number’. In true recording artist style, Dange found time to plug his up and coming album, 'I Ain’t Rich Yet' and gave the crowd a quick taster of what to expect when he performed 'Don't Break My Heart'  alongside Ruff Squad band mate, Slix.

The appropriately suited and booted Kings of City kept the energy levels high with their rock-grime-indie hybrid with 'Listen to the Old Man' and ‘Whispers’, filling the room with their raw enthusiasm even in the midst of a few technical difficulties. But the highlight of the evening was when they were joined on stage by UK hip hop heavyweight, Klashnekoff on ‘Darkness’. You could feel the rush of adrenaline as the crowd went nuts (it definitely didn’t feel like terra firma during all that excitement). Last but not least to take the stage was Tre Mission, another ‘hot property’ emcee who’s also been causing a storm on the net, not just for his bars, but for the fact that he’s a self taught emcee from Canada. Tre didn’t hold back when it came to his well-known rapid fire delivery over the Royal-T mix of ‘Maxin Everything’, from his new EP by the same name. He killed it on stage with a strong performance and he definitely needs to stop by ILUVLIVE again when he’s next in town.

All in all it was a great night with lots of familiar faces in the audience. So if you missed out, make sure you don’t make the same mistake again, and get down to the next show on 7^th March.

 

Words by Nonny Orakwue