The Showcase Weekend

Well, at least its all dusted. A month of serious graft and a mash up to match.
The showcase went better than anyone could have expected, least of all myself. In spite of it all appearing to fall to pieces on Thursday afternoon - including Killa facing 5 hours MCing (!) - all involved pulled together above and beyond to make shit happen.

Things kicked off with DJ Deals liquid funking it up b2b with Tom (drums) and Dan (electric bass). Smoothness all over to get things rolling nicely! Then up stepped Bensun to battle with Mike (drums), Rich (double bass) & Lee (keyboard). It was pretty freestyle - the theme of the whole night - and was more of a jam involving decks than a battle, but was cool. It culminated in a live rendition of Brown Paper Bag, double bass and all!
In come Killa, battling Intermet (Spee was unavoidably absent) over Hip Hop (Mobb Deep's 'Hell On Earth' & Dizzee's 'Fix Up...'), Grime (Wiley's 'Eskimo') and DnB (Pulp Fiction). It went pretty well, especially the Eskimo murkage. PoW!! Bensun proceeded to rinse out a 4 deck Double Drop special set, which at times was sick. Basslines popping off everywhere. By now the crowd (around 400) were gettin well into it, as were the dancers (complete with fluffy boots+podiums), creating pure vibes.
Killa then performed his first ever tune...live! I was well apprehensive cos Ive never written a tune b4, and I lost a vocalist last minute. Props to Intermet who stepped up in a difficult situation, filled in the gaps, repped it and brought his own flava to it. Props to the Mike's band too, who suprised even me and smacked out a roller. Complete with switches, drops and Bensun scratching. Would u believe it, it turned out alllll-right!
Highlight of the night must be Ed Bosher dj-ing one handed, and then with NO HANDS!!! yes, u heard me, boy was mixing it up with his teeth, chin and nose. Sick. and he pulled it off too. Bassline switches, cutting and all!!!! Unbelievable.
The night finished on a high, with the Final Showdown: Deals b2b Bensun b2b Bosher, Killa b2b Intermet, Tom b2b Mike, plus bass player. It culminated in a serious GForce crew-only brock out on stage for last 5mins!!! Personally, i was so knackered by the end of it that i could barely stand, let alone spit. But somehow i pulled thru, and the last 30mins may be some of my best MCing to date. I was doing stuff i didnt even know i could do. It was quite a moment for me, something i could write a whole 'nother blog about. But i'll save u the boredom!

All in all, the night was a resounding success and ive been getting compliments bout the nite ever since. As my first nite, i cant really describe how proud i feel. Fuck knows if i can b arsed to go thru that shit again tho! Showcase 2006....?

The rest of the weekend (Fri-Mon) was spent celebrating HARD. Including....free breaks rave@Egg-Dream Temple Cafe-mushrooms,Richard Pryor DVD & trippin' balls-ice creams-fine pizzas-fine pubs-phat spliffs-3 Second Clowning-Mad Props-Brick Lane-lots of Camden...blah,blahblah. Point is, it was a quality weekend and exactly wot i needed to de-stress. Im still recovering, and sure that ive left London with less-than-half the brain cells i came down with. Ah well, eh?

Anyway, in true artiste stylee, a final word to say thanx to everyone who made the Showcase happen. I love u all, for not making Killa look like an idiot!
Big up Mikey (for watchin killa's back on all of it), Bensun (for doing everything!), Bosher, Deals, Tom, Dan, Mike, Rich, Lee, Intermet (for the moral support+steppin up), Maxwell (for makin me step the showcase up a level), Spee (for makin me step up 2 levels), Hustla (repping with the banner), Steph (for support+confidence in the killa) and, of course, all crew who reached and came to support (Becs, Snapper, Joker,Big P, Schlewis, Lay, Sam).
Mad props to everyone who made the London mash up so big too: Firefly, Nips, Kyla, Russ, DaveDave, Gabes, TurboKlaus. Wow, i feel like a proper artist now! Nah serious tho, just need all crew to know that I appreciate everyones efforts in making the Showcase, personally, my biggest ever achievement and thus the weekend so memorable.

Takeover Dun. Tripped Balls. Watch this space for photos, DVD and tingz. Its all niceness...