Think Twice/Funk Club/WAMiFestival Showcase

Mon 30th May, 2011 in Gig Reviews

While being relatively safe from any mass epidemics, foreign invasions, or zombie apocalypses, being the most isolated capital city in the world does have its drawbacks. We must deal with the harsh reality that very few international acts are willing to pay the exorbitantly high baggage fees (HOW much to ship my drum kit!?) to play to, what they imagine to be, 20 people in a makeshift tin shed with various farmyard animals running free through the mosh pit. With that said, when a big name does come to Perth we savour every last drop of their performance. When this name is one as historic as Kurtis Blow you can already anticipate the sort of reaction you will get.

One of the canonised first generation rappers from the old school, Blow was the first rap artist to release a single through a major record label. For the past 32 years Blow has been recording and producing some of the world’s finest hip hop, both under his own name and working with the likes of Wyclef Jean, Run DMC and The Fat Boys. Thanks to the combined efforts of WAM, Mass Appeal and a couple of friends, Kurtis Blow was brought to Artrage Bakery last Friday to play alongside Perth’s best DJs, local talent and Bboys for some old school hip-hop in celebration of the WAMi festival and Mass Appeal’s first birthday.

The Bakery was filled with hip-hop fans from all walks of life and, weaseling your way to a good vantage point. you could watch the Bboy crews warm up for the eagerly awaited face-off later that night, performing acrobatic feats to the funky beats laid down by local DJs including The Mass Appeal Allstars, Selekt, Nathan J and Benny Hill.

Patrons tantalised by the Bboy warm ups didn’t have to wait long for the contest to begin. Composed of (somewhat awkwardly) five crews performing to the tasty beats of one DJ Zeus, a series of eliminations took place. Though the competition was light-hearted, it was nonetheless fierce; twists, turns, spins and freezes were all performed with cat-like agility. The finale of Deuce Crew vs Zou Rock was a no-holds-barred dance-off, however Deuce Crew managed to snatch victory away from the outraged Zou Rock crew.

Following the Bboy competition came a very different tribute to hip-hop. Local bands The Stoops and Accumulated Gestures had amalgamated in to one unstoppable beats and brass band, dubbed ‘*The Accumulated Stoops*’ to play their first gig that very night. The 11-piece borrowed songs from their seminal bands, propelling the tunes to a whole new level of funky musicality. There full and rich tones of the electric violin and horns melded with the electronic beats of the DJ and keys, all propelled by an inexorable rhythm section and augmented by some exceptional vocals and emceeing. Including a tribute to A Tribe Called Quest and a guest appearance by Georgie K, the band’s first gig turned out to be a rocket launch.

It was all ready; the stage was cleared, the beats were programmed, the time was right, all that awaited now was for the entrance of the man Kurtis Blow himself. Walking on stage donning a simple tracksuit, Blow exploded in a vivacious storm of crowd teasing and animated dancing backed by Perth’s own DJ Charlie Bucket. Beginning with Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight, Blow decided to antagonistically stop the song and opt instead for a number played in the movie Krush Goove called Party Time. Blow continued with some of his classics The Breaks and Basketball as well as covering classics such as Grandmaster Flash’s The Message, House of Pain’s Jump Around, a Trouble Funk rendition of the Transformers theme song and Sam Cooke’s Twist the Night Away. The Bboys were invited on stage to show off once more while Blow demonstrated some surprising dance moves, considering his age. Blow wrapped up the night with an encore performance that hardly seemed to satiate fans before ducking off behind the mysterious ether known as ‘backstage’.