Yesterday saw the final leg of the 5fm sponsored concert through SA. Hosted at the Good Hope Centre in town, which i should state is a bit of a washed up venue lately. I really don’t understand why the organisers went with the new industry standard of having it at the Bellville Velodrome.
It was disappointingly attended, but then again Hip Hop never gets the support from Capetonians as it should.
The show was cool. Definitely nothing “WOW!”.
Ready D, the local Hip Hop god tore up the decks with a 45 minutes set that was absolutely unbelievable. He is without a doubt the best Hip Hop DJ in SA and is currently ranked in the top 20 best Hip Hop DJ’s in the world. Y’day saw him play out his best set yet, in my opinion. Better known as the guy who played for “Prophets of the City” and the pioneer behind “Brassie Van Die Kaap”, he has played next to giants like the Fuggees, Ja rule, Ice-T, Public Enemy and even featured as the regular resident DJ for the Phat Joe show on SABC a few years back! I really wish him luck and I can only imagine how hard it was for him to break through the scene and set himself up as being SA’s Hip Hop god!
Grant and Anele made an appearance next to Poppy all from 5fm. For the record I would like to say that G & A are the most annoying wannabees in the history of the great station. It is really sad to see 5fm slip into hiring such sad DJs. The next few local acts are not even worth mentioning, but I think its fit to say I really miss Red Angel! R.I.P Angel! The Hip Hop scene greatly misses you bud!
Black Violin was the first of the 3 international sets. These guys were downright brilliant!!!
They are Hip Hop violinists! I have never heard anything like it before! They whack out tracks by TI and DJ Khaled on a set of violins, so imagine! They also stand as a huge inspiration to black kids who see classical music as a looser thing! I think Black Violin really made their point when they played out a piece written by Chekovsky (I think thats how you spell it).
Fat Joe and the Terror Squad took to the stage. In true CRACK fashion, he was accompanied by loud gunshots as he walked out. He did most of his famous tracks, including Whats love?, Lean Back, New York and also did a Big Pun, B.I.G. and Tupac dedication!
Joe was honestly a disappointing act. I’m a huge fan of his, but I think he made it clear that he is a studio artist and not a performing artist. And Joe, how the hell can you can you come out in public without a cap man? What’s wrong with you?
Akon on the other hand was a great set. He is a true performer and a crowd pleaser. Besides ordering security to remove the divide between Golden Circle and the rest, he spent a lot of his time in the audience. He sang most of his latest hits and did a good job with them too. What I thought was funny though, was when Mr Senegal decided to crowd surf and someone stole his shoe 
. C’mon man, this is SA, what did you expect?
All in all a good show! Besides the venue selection, the organisation was good and it was really good to see these industry giants in SA!
The Terror Squad Boys have an album launch later this year, so look out for that and I truly recommend picking up Black Violin’s album!
Up next is 50 and the G Unit crew in May 2008!!!
P.S. I really hope Ready D plays again )
