Live
NAS: LIVE @ HAMMERSMITH APOLLO, LONDON: 22.05.07
When Nas wrote ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’, I doubt he realised much of the crowd at his London show would deem this performance hip hop’s parting shot.
Upon arriving at the Apollo, the queue reached all the way round to the Fulham Palace Road, and it soon became apparent that the Apollo had failed to open the doors at 7pm as stated. By the time the last fans entered the building, it had gone 9pm, and there was a tangible sense of anticipation as the crowd awaited God’s Son.
On stage an inept MC and Choice’s DJ 279 were trying to keep the crowd satiated, however as the numbers man dropped tracks from 50 Cent and Jay Z, the assembled heads began booing in earnest. Minutes passed, the booing got louder, and chants of “We Want Nas!” echoed around the building. Soon plastic bottles were flying onto the stage in true rap fashion, and 279 took it upon himself to stop the music and shout “If one of those bottles hits me, I will fuck you up!” Not a good look in front of such a volatile crowd, eh Numbers?
Finally DJ LES took to the stage and Nas shot out to chants of “Braveheart!!” gone 10pm. Kicking off with ‘Money Over Bullshit’ and ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’, Nas performed well, obviously aware of the fans’ frustration. A mash up of ‘Ether’ over more Jigga and Fiddy beats led to more boos, before Nas cut the tracks, calling 50 a “fucking bitch” to roars of approval, and then ripping up some of his more underground joints. Cheers were garnered from renditions of Nas classics such as ‘One Love’, ‘If I ruled The World, ‘Street Dreams’ and of course, ‘One Mic’, though the absence of a backing singer rendered newest single ‘Can’t Forget About You’ redundant.
A hoarse Nas left the stage an hour later, with no encore, and heads spilt liquor to commemorate hip hop’s passing. A sad day for the culture, indeed.
Words Natalie Illumine
