Afu-Ra Wants To Know Where the Hip Hop’s At!

Ill Commotion live @ Cargo, Wednesday 5th May 2004 featuring Afu-Ra, Doc Brown, Lowkey and DJ Blakey.

This month’s Ill Commotion event at Cargo not only tested the hip hop smarts of Londoners but also the patience of special guest Afu-Ra.

During a pop quiz break between the performances of host Doc Brown, DJ Blakey and Low Key, from Poisonous Poets and Brooklyn’s Afu-Ra, the crowd were asked three trivia questions about hip hop music. “Who can name three original members of the Juice Crew?”, “Which member of Wu Tang was the first one to make his own album?” While one guy confidently answered both questions, on the third which asked “Who or what were Tu-Pac and Jay-Z referring to in the song ‘Me and My Girlfriend’?” he, along with a few people others, proudly shouted out “BEYONCE!” Actually the answer was Tu-Pac’s gun, but it was a good trick question anyway because not only did it reveal the intelligence level of the crowd but it also foreshadowed the un-enthusiastic crowd's reception of Afu-Ra.

Maybe it was the rawness of Afu-Ra’s style, or his intimidating crown of dreads, or his overwhelming energy, or the fact it was a Wednesday night in Shoreditch, that put off the crowd.

He started out rapping along to familiar samples from Wu-Tang and other NYC hip hop artists (sorry, I am not a hip hop dictionary yet). Then he broke into his own flow, inviting everyone to ‘have sex with my lyrics.’ Afu-Ra, showcasing his unrefined technique, also used body language to add to his passionate in-your-face style. Too bad the crowd was seemingly shied away by it.

In an attempt to break the apathy, Afu-Ra asked another question, one that took little brains since he provided the answer: “Now when I ask ‘Where’ s the real hip hop?, y’all say ‘It’s over here!’” The response was pathetic, lazy and honestly, embarrassing. He tried to hype up the crowd a few more times, before getting fed up enough to mention that “I have been all over Europe- Germany, France- and they seem to have it goin’ on. I am not so sure about London. Now tell me, where’s the real hip hop?*!%!” Still, there was a slight delay and the crowd seemed disoriented as if they had never been to a hip hop concert before.

Afu-Ra struggled on with his show while things worsened. As the energy level plunged, so did the dreads from his pony tail. He, a non-MTV type artist who is clever and experienced and likes it raw was let down by a crowd that did not share his enthusiasm on this occassion. A different venue and different date may have suited him better because his effort deserved more respect than was conjured up in East London on the night.

Ill Commotion is once a month at Cargo. Doc Brown and crew can also be caught playing around at The Lyric Pad at the Oh! Bar in Camden. For more info on forthcoming Ill Commotion events check cargo's site or email them.

All Photos by Elio Stolz P2