On a hot night in NW1, Big Narstie brought his BDL Tour to Camden’s Purple Turtle, during which he performed alongside numerous members of grime royalty to a packed out crowd.
While the list of MCs who were part of the show included a number of big names, Narstie and Dice Recordings, who arranged the event, also made space for lesser known acts to have a chance to perform to the exuberant crowd. Up and coming artists who performed on the night included Brixton MC Uncle Sydez, Kent based rappers Sickzta and Danny B, rapper/singer Ms Banks, Derby based MC Eyez and beatboxer Mr Wolfe but the standout newcomers had to be MCs Pawz and C Cane,whose rapid bars and back to back style got the crowd hyper every time they jumped on the mic.
In terms of the more established artists to appear on stage, Heartless Crew member and early grime pioneer Bushkin was first up performing a track due out later in the year called ‘Ganja In The Air’, which features Big Narstie and samples the christmas classic ‘Walking In The Air’. Birmingham’s Sox was up next and the LOTM MC treat the crowd to a selection of tracks from his recent album Winning and Chilling including a lively performance of his latest single ‘Brum to Ibiza’.
Following Sox on stage was Kozzie who performed tracks from his latest release Koz the Kid 2 and he was joined on stage by Drifter and later on by Scrufizzer, who climbed up to the stage from the crowd to go back to back with his fellow MCs. Rascals was next up and his “little white boy” bars received one of the biggest pull-ups of the night as the noisey crowd recited every word. Rascals was joined on stage by ‘loose cannon’ Discarda,whose “waterboy” bars were also reloaded numerous times throughout the evening.
Bloodline members 9 Milli Major and Prez T walked in the room and sprayed what they liked, much to the evident delight of the heaving crowd, who by this point had pushed right up to the front of the stage to create an intense and powerful atmosphere. With Prez T still busting out his trademark skank that has become a staple of his performances, Boy Better Know’s JME appeared on stage and dropped several new bars as a mass of smartphones were pulled from the pockets of the audience all wanting to catch the first outing of these new lyrics from one of grime’s most revered talents.
Another MC representing the emerging wave of talent from outside of London, Lady Leshurr then wowed the crowd with her notorious ability to spray bars at warp speed but maintain lyrical clarity at the same time. Grime veteran Flirta D was next to join the mass of MCs who had, by this point, flooded the stage as though it was the last chance they would ever get to grace the mic. Spitting classic SLK bars amongst others, Flirta D was well received by the crowd and didn’t fail to deliver with his trademark sound effect flow.
Following a brief break in the proceedings, the final act of the night saw headline artist Big Narstie grace the stage to perform tracks from across his catalogue of EPs with ‘On A Million’ and Arctic Monkeys-sampling ‘Don’t Sit Down’ gaining a great response from everyone inside the building. Highlight of the set, however, was Narstie and Flirta D’s collaborative track ‘Foolish Base’, which was reloaded several times due to the phenomenal response of the crowd.
Speaking to Big Narstie after the event about how he felt the night had gone, he said,
“I feel the night has gone really well. It’s been a lovely, peaceful, drunken night; breaking all the stereotypes as they always say. They think when people congregate, drinking alcohol and listening to our type of music that something bad is gonna happen but everyone is going home live and kicking and probably gonna get apple crumble and custard like me! I lost my voice; I feel like Paul Gascoigne in ’97, in the good years.
Having given numerous artists the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of a large audience, Narstie felt strongly about blooding fresh new talent alongside established acts at this type of event saying,
“There’s no ‘I’ in team; everyone needs help. Don’t be in a situation where you have to ask for a guys help as a last alternative, make sure it’s love so man feels happy to help you so it’s not like, ‘rah, see, look at you now, now you need my help’; you gotta support the team.”
Keeping the beats flowing throughout the evening was the likes of Original Memzee, DJ Cameo and Sir Spyro and the range of grime instrumentals on show was genre spanning including everything from Wiley’s original grime beat ‘Eskimo’ to more recent productions like Rude Kid’s ‘Electric’ and the Riddla remix of Trends’ Biggie-sampling ‘Hypnotized’.
As the Metropolitan Police’s form 696 has impacted numerous grime shows in the past, what the BDL Tour showed, which Big Narstie alluded to, was that grime shows can be held at established venues such as Purple Turtle and will run without any issues. Putting on a music event is one thing but having to constantly battle against unfair discrimination towards a genre of music is another and Big Narstie, Dice Recordings and all involved in organising the BDL shows should be given the utmost credit for persevering and ensuring that a scene that is loved by so many can still have the live events that it deserves to.
Long live the BDL!
Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno
Matt Tarr
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