EVENT: BLACKSTAR, DE LA SOUL & RAKIM

Tuesday 10th May - Me and my mate went to Hammersmith Apollo for the Blackstar (Talib Kweli & Mos Def), De La Soul and Rakim. When I found out these 3 hip hop greats were going to be in london, I knew i had to get tickets asap. Anyway we got there, didnt need to spend ages in the queue. One thing I do hate about Hammersmith Apollo is that they charge RIDIC prices for food. Hotdogs were £4 and a bottle of Smirnoff £4.70 kmt.

We got to our seats and waited about 20 mins before the show started. It got PACKED within mins. Defo a sold out event. I loved the fact that despite it being a hip hop concert, there were people of all ages, races and backgrounds there all enjoying under one roof.

Hip hop great, Rakim came on first and sprayed a few of his classics. He apparently hasn't performed in 15 years. Not to be rude but you could defo tell. He was really working the crowd and the energy just wasn't there. He closed his performance with his classic 'Paid in Full'. The whole crowd went WILD!! The vibe was excellent.

De La Soul came on 2nd. These guys have not aged one bit. They also performed some of their classics such as 'Me, Myself and I' and 'Ain't all good'. I think they did a 45 min set. The vibe was live and kicking. These guys had the most energy ive seen in a live perfomance for a while. EPIC! The funniest part was when a girl in the crowd was not vibzing to thhe song they were performing. They cut off the music, called her in front of the whole audience. EMBARRASSMENT! They did this a few times, but not in a way to mock their audience but to make sure that EVERYONE appreciated their performance and most importantly enjoyed themselves.

Then the two hip hop greats we were waiting for graced the stage, SUITED AND BOOTED! Mos Def (my husband) was looking SHARP. Now, I don't know what happened or whether their set was properly organised or not, but it seemed like their DJs were playing the wrong songs. The vibe was still live but all the confusion on stage was affecting the audience. Don't get me wrong they were good but De La Soul won the night for me. It really should have been the other way round though :/

Overall the night was good. I do have some photos and videos on my blackberry of the event but the quality is PANTS. Apologies, I couldnt be asked to bring Venus (my SLR) with me this time. 

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ARTIST: ED SHEERAN

ED  SHEERAN - This talented guy from Suffolk has taken the industry by storm!! The buzz around his name is immense! Defo showing that the UK does infact have talent. Sold out gigs and all and to think this talented kid only turned 20 this year!!!!

Ed's released numerous EP's but as he now signed to Atlantic Records, he will release his first album titled '+' in August! Cant wait for this. Hes got some tour dates coming up so I suggest you all get your tickets and get yourselves down there.

 'Little Lady':

'Wayfaring Stranger':

For Ticket info: http://www.songkick.com/artists/2083334-ed-sheeran

To Download his latest EP 'One Take' please visit: www.edsheeran.com and sign up to the mailing list to get the download link.

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EVENT ALERT: WU TANG CLAN UK TOUR

Hip Hop royalty will be on tour in the UK in June!! Tickets when on sale at 9am and they are on average about £32.50! The tour will be taking place over 5 dates: London (2 dates), Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester!

If you are thinking of going, I wouldn't wait around for long because I can see these tickets selling out pretty soon.

Here's a link to buy tickets: http://www.seetickets.com/Tour/WU-TANG-CLAN


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MUSIC: SONGS ON REPEAT!!!!!

1) Remember my post about Jhene Aiko 'Sailing Souls' mixtape!!! Well you guys know I <3 it!! I play it all the time now! At the moment, 'Stranger' is CONSTANTLY on repeat! The beat and Jhene smooth and sassy vocals together make this track BONKERS!

2) Erykah Badu 'Otherside of the Game' - PFFTTT! Remember this tune on the 'Baduizm' album! Friggin fantastic! The other day I brought out the album - QUALITY. I remember when this first came out and my mum would bang out the tape (Yes tape). Aww the days of tapes and no CDs lool great times they were but what a nightmare when they decided to chew up! 

Anyway, let me shullup about the old skl days and tapes. Me thinks I may need to take myself down to the Brixton Academy in July to see her you know.

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EVENT ALERT: ERYKAH BADU @ Brixton Academy

 
BADU is BACK! Last night I heard Erykah Badu was going to do a concert in London. Didn't believe it until did a lil digging around. Low and behold it was true! I really wanna go and see Badu...tickets are £32.50, which isnt too bad. I really shuld have gone to see her last year but was procrastinating. Anyway the concert will be held at Brixton Academy.

Concert details:http://www.seetickets.com/Event/ERYKAH-BADU/O2-Academy-Brixton/548461

EVENT: DWELE @ THE JAZZ CAFE

 

So yesterday was the 2nd day of Dwele's UK tour! I missed him the last time he was over here and was adamant on getting my tickets asap. Missing out again would have been much! Anyway so 1-4-11 arrives!!! Me, my mate cat and her sis Jen, made our way to the Jazz Cafe. We stopped off at McD's - loool @ Cat getting shouted at by one Mcd's worker!!

Anyway got to The Jazz Cafe in Camden and we were greeted by some mean hench off polish bouncers. After questioning whether my ID was mine, we got in. Took some pics to past time and i also bumped into my friend John and also saw Sexy Yas aswell.

loving the outfit!

 Anyway, after about an hour of waiting, Dwele comes on to perform. My gosh did he look suave *love eyes*. Dwele's vocals seduced my ears, arrgghh i love this guy! He also paid tribute to the late Nate Dogg (RIP). I will upload the video of this in due course.

The highlight of the night for me was the guy on the keyboard! I will nickname him 'Rasta' for obvious reasons. When Rasta did his solo piece, he went INNNNNNNNNNNN! Dreads flying all over the gaff, he even went so crazy that his glasses fell off. The way he was going on you would of thought it was his concert! -_- Either way, you could tell he had a passion for music, well either that or he was on suttin!

Not a great pic but this is when the glasses went flying. Even Dwele's getting in a sneaky laugh

Rasta

 Another highlight was at the end, Dwele was singing in the crowd. This girl next to me was talking throughout the concert about how sexy he is etc and as soon as he hopped down from the stage, she goes 'im getting in there'. Please believe this chick pushed her way through the crowd towards him and starts whining up on Dwele! Bravery!

Overall, I enjoyed the concert but an hour was not enough. I wish he done some of his older stuff as well. But if your in love with his latest album 'Wants. Women. World' then you'll thoroughly enjoy the concert!


He's added more dates for his UK tour so it's not too late to get tickets!

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EVENT FAB!!

THE 2011 GAYMERS CAMDEN CRAWL:

This event occurs every year in Camden, London and this year will be held over the bank holiday weekend 30th April - 1st May. Last year the Camden Crawl had acts such as Plan B, Roots Manuva and many more performing. If you plan to attend this year expect to see live comedy, spoken word, karaoke, Bbqs :) and many more. As this is held in the day time, there will also be plenty of after show parties that you can also attend and dance your socks off.

To get your tickets and get more info: http://www2.seetickets.com/camdencrawl/price.asp?code=508027&filler1=id1camdencrawl&filler2=multiid1camdencrawl&filler3=


ONE LOVE FESTIVAL:

Heard about this event through the grapevine and judging from the line up of act performing i think it's gonna be a good one to attend.

Busta Rhymes, Sean Paul, Gyptian, Etana (LOVE HER - she's got too many tunes, ASWAD (legends), John Holt, Natty King and many more. Skepta will also be there - don't get me started on 'All over the house. The festival will be taking place at Wembley Arena on 31st July.

For more info and ticket info: http://www.seetickets.com/Event/ONE-LOVE-FESTIVAL/Wembley-Arena/547860 


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EVENT: THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONCERT @ CARGO

12th January 2011:

So my friend Cat (aka @KittyAmorPDT << Follow her) showed me about The Foreign Exchange. Instantly, I became a fame. I am a real lover of all types of music and I was definitely surprised that I had not come across them before. Anyway, she told me that they were coming over to London to perform. Tickets got booked FAST. 

The Foreign Exchange is made up of Phonte (sweetest vocals ever) and Nicolay (this guy is too talented). The albums they have released so far are: Connected, Leave it all Behind, and their most recent Authencity released in 2010. The way I would describe their sound is a mix between Neo-Soul, HipHop, a tad bit of Electronia. Their music can easily described as that 'Feel good' music. You know what I mean.

So the day approaches, I finish work in London Bridge and head down to Cargo. Met one of my mates and order some grub and cocktails. If you ain't been Cargo before, please go and have a pizza there....sooo lovely. Slowly but surely everyone started to arrive. Saw Richard Blackwood bounce in and a couple of other familiar faces came in also. I bumped into Alex - member of White Elephant and Sacha who is also part of White Elephant (watch out for these talented lads). I hadn't seen these guys in ages so it was good to seeing them.

Alex (White Elephant) and friend

Friend with Sacha (White Elephant)

My sisters from another mother - Jennifer and DJ Kitty Amor

Beth, my sis Ije and Maria - lovely pic :)

We decided to head into the main room to get a good spot to stand, plus I had Venus with me (my SLR) and wanted to take some good snaps of the night. We got more drinks, bubbled away to the music, chatted and cracked jokes until The Foreign Exchange decided to perform. By 9pm the place was RAM. Everyone was enjoying! 


And then the Foreign Exchange stepped onto the stage to perform. The vibe was immense, people were doing 1 2 steps and getting down. The age group was a lot older than us youngin's, but when I say they could get down. Jeeze Louise. 

The performance was OUTSTANDING! I loved every minute of it. The highlight for me was when Phonte and Sy Smith decided to do a random freestyle. All I can remember was something like "Chris Brown that B****" loool. The way they performed 'DayKeeper' *heartfelt*. Sy Smith - This girl can sing LAWD HAVE MERCY. Im sure Sy Smith fancied one guy in the audience, she was singing to him at one point then at the end she took of her tee and flung it at him. At that point, I saw so many guys break a sweat loool. 


Here are some pics from the performance:

Phonte 

The crowd enjoying

AB, Sy Smith and Phonte

Nicolay on keys

Sy Smith

I left that concert feeling so refreshed and full of positive energy ^_^. 


My friend told me that I'm on the tour video. Lool yep for a glimpse only but still.


If you would like to see the video of the concert click >>> http://www.theforeignexchangemusic.com/2011/01/the-foreign-exchanges-authenticity-tour-2011-at-cargo-london-uk-second-night.php May I say it's beautifully edited.

Follow those mentioned in this post on twitter:

The Foreign Exchange members - @Phontigallo and @Nicolaymusic
White Elephant members - @AlexandPetrelli and @MisterG3 


DJ Kitty Amor - @KittyAmorPDT - Get your bookings in asap...this girl can spin tunes wicked and im not even being bias. Download her mix cds and see for yourself.

EVENT: J COLE CONCERT @ XOYO, CAMDEN

So I booked tickets for me and my mates to go the concert in November.The way I was EXCITED to see J Cole, don't think you understand! The buzz around this event was too much.

J Cole is a rapper from the US who signed to Jay Z's Roc Nation's label. He's released The Come Up (may I say that was a classic) > The Warm Up >  and most recent mixtape Friday Night Lights (i personally think that could have been his first album). Besides the fact that he's a sick rapper, he blooming sexy! *love eyes*

Anyway, so Sunday 9th January arrives. I fling on my varsity jacket, packed my SLR - Venus and pick up the chicas. We get to XOYO, WOWW, the queue was LONGGG. Luckily, I see Nelson in the queue and did one, two maneuvers and squeezed in with him. We decided to experiment with Venus and take some pictures to pass time.

Ije and Cat - My two fav girls

Me, Nels and Cat

So we were right at the front of the queue and after waiting for nearly an hour for doors to open, WERE IN. AHHH the excitement reached a next level. The way we did some crazy speed walking just to get a right at the front of the stage.


The music's pumping as we await J Cole and his supporting act Maxsta. Dj Semtex is on the decks spinning and mixing classic after classic. EVERYONE was dancing, singing, bubbling, skanking.....you get the gist.

'Buffalo Solider, Deadlock Rasta' - he nearly took my eye out with his dreads

 Maxsta comes on to perform. Before the concert, I had heard about this Maxsta dude but hadn't taken the time to proper listen to him. Overall, his performance was good, especially when I saw one kid who looked about 13 run out on stage to start performing with him. At the point, I was no longer interested in anything else but seeing J Cole. XOYO was RAMMMMM. I could not move plus there was one guy standing in front of me that was suffering from B.O. and bad breath. To make it worse he was singing along to EVERY tune and skanking also. My nostrils were quite disgusted at the stench.




J Cole prances out on stage. The whole place went WILDDDD. When I tell you I thought I was going to get crushed to death.

  One of the highlights for me was when he performed the first part of 'Lights Please' on the piano. Ahh we were all enjoying. At one point J Cole stood on stage in awe at the fans chanting his lyrics word for word. I think he was surprised that it was a sold out event and didn't expect people to even know his lyrics.

Here are some pictures of the man himself:

 'I Got A Dollar and A Dream'

 While performing the last song, J Cole jumps down and comes to greet fans at the front. Im sure i felt a bone crack.....(sly exagg) but one lanky dude and his mates nearly crushed me to death. By them pushing me so much I got to near enough to hold J Cole's finger....I nearly popped it off. LOOOL.


If you dont know about J Cole, download his mixtapes, and take some time to listen to this guy. There's an exciting buzz around him right now especially since he toured with Drake.

There's so much I can write about this event but I have work in the morning and i need my beauty sleep. I may upload video tomorrow.


'I got ammo and a lot of rounds coming, up in the streets where you not allowed, runnin', got the songs bitches ride around hummin' - J. Cole

Hope you enjoyed this post. Leave a comment.


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