No posting for over a week, slacking behind smh.
Last Monday, east-side Johnny McKenzie aka Johnny McKenzie aka Jay Rock blessed Brixton with his presence for the European stretch of The Big Redemption Tour. I was fortunately not too crippled by University work to go and TDE's original member did not disappoint.
But before we got to see the man himself, TDE vlogger and and apparent DJ Mackwop came out on his own to get the crowd extra pumped for the opening of the show, admittedly in quite a cheap way by playing a lot of Kendrick's DAMN (which is a guaranteed buzz for anybody there) thrown in between other turn up anthems like Mo Bamba (which tbh i don't like but when it is loud af and you're amongst a crowd of people it does slap I must say) before the moment we were all waiting for arrived and Rock stepped onto the stage.
His entire set was an almost faultless track list, with him bringing his top songs and even a few of his best feature verses that also happen to be my personal favourites:
1. Knock it Off
2. The Bloodiest
3. Hood Gone Love It
4. I Just Wanna Party
5. ES Tales
6. Tap Out
7. Tity and Dollar
8. Wow Freestyle
9. Money Trees
10. OSOM
11. Vice City
12. Rotation 112th
13. Troopers
14. Redemption
15. King's Dead
16. WIN
(Do listen to ALL of these)
Unfortunately, no artist came out to support by giving their verses or anything - not the worst thing in the world as we were there to Jay Rock himself. He did all the covers justice and songs like Vice City and I Just Wanna Party still slapped just as hard, even without the entire line up that are part of the original.
The stand out performances for me were I Just Wanna Party, which is have previously covered in my list of features, which Rock delivered his mega verse in the expected hard hitting manor, as well as King's Dead, Wow Freestyle and WIN bringing so much energy that they became the catalyst for non-stop mosh pits inside the small venue of Electric Brixton.
He took the time to explain the entire concept and purpose behind the album when performing the titular track, and I most likely will upload a review of the album next whilst we are fresh on the topic of Jay Rock.
The two hour set absolutely flew by, with him closing on WIN. This then led to the classic encore demand which saw him come out again, but this time shirtless for some reason, to perform WIN again. Random, but a strong performance nonetheless.
Whilst it is a shame that Jay Rock doesn't get the acclaim that he truly deserves that would allow him to perform in the big arenas worldwide, it was so much more of a memorable experience being in such a small venue. Would absolutely see him again.
Redemption album review coming soon!
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