Lethal Bizzle, Skinnyman, Flamboyant Bella.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 12 December 2007.

I have to admit, that hip-hop has never been a favourite musical genre of mine and even attending this gig has not altered that view. But having seen Mr Maxwell Ansah, otherwise known as LETHAL BIZZLE, in action, I have to give great credit to this showman of 'grindie'. On the back of colossal coverage NME has afforded him these last six months, it's no surprise that tickets for this gig soon sold out. His collaboration with former Esquires visitors Gallows and Pete Doherty (amongst others) has no doubt helped, plus his appearance on the NME Rock 'n' Roll Tour.
The cries and screams from this young crowd as Bizzle and his fellow MCs walk on stage is truly deafening! The musical crossover he has developed is very noticeable as this audience would not be out of place at any indie band's gig. The anticipated crowd problems that have been a chinese whisper around the venue for the last few weeks thankfully proved unfounded. These youngsters are just here to party.
Cutting quite an imposing figure, wearing his baseball cap at an angle and donning his trademark shades, he already has the crowd in the palm of his hand as the first couple of songs warm everybody up, before Bizzle shouts out "You had the old, now it's time for the new!". For an old guy like myself I recognise the sample of The Ruts, remixed by Bizzle for his hit "Babylons Burning in the Ghetto". At its end, as with all of his songs, Lethal Bizzle triumphantly shouts out to his fanatical fans "Make some fuckin' noise Bedford!". These youngsters seem to shout louder as the set progresses.
For the next song, Bizzle and his fellow MCs split the room into two halves. Trying to outdo each other they have to sing "What do you think this is?". The reaction is superb and everyone takes part. With a deep thumping bass sound prevalent on all the songs, his semi-autobiographical story told on "Police on my Back" really finds an affinity with these kids! The evenings mood lightens with the ultimate party anthem sample of "Jump Around", but there is no pain in Bizzle's house as he asks his posse "Are you tired yet Bedford?". A collective shout of "No!" as they bounce up and down with arms in the air.
With one final song Lethal Bizzle makes his exit. Cries for an encore begin and are triumphantly answered as Lethal Bizzle reappears and orders everyone to raise either a cigarette lighter or mobile phone into the air. This is then photographed from the stage. The picture will be a fitting pictorial of a memorable evening.

Supporting tonight were FLAMBOYANT BELLA, a male/female vocal indie quartet whose last song was a fantastic trancey dance effort that was out of step with the rest of the pop stuff they performed.

Skinnyman was also here, a hip-hop veteran who I thought was quite dreadful! As his tired old spiel about drugs, police, politicians, yawn, yawn rambled on, he did make a positive point about www.wateraid.org