On Saturday 20th of July at The Voodoo Lounge on Arran Quay, I arrived to witness what I can only describe as an evening of pure pleasure from beginning to end. At least 15 hip hop acts where there to battle it out and try to earn themselves a chance of a lifetime.
Irish rap & hip hop acts came together to perform, in the hope, they can secure a support place for hit rap group from the USA, “Bone Thugs-N-Harmony”. This American sensation will be playing here sometime in November. I was a bit late, but they still issued me with a vote card. This was my first time to go and see a rap & hip hop gig, and I wasn’t one bit disappointed. In fact it was so good you could nearly say this is Ireland’s answer to X-Factor. This was the gig to be at guys, pure 100% Irish at its best.
The evening kicked off with acts that were randomly picked out of a drum, first up was a duo from Dublin under the name of Dubb D’Z’s who dazzled me with a style I never heard before, a mix of reggae and hip hop. Next up were (DCR) Dublin City Residents, who I previously met in January of this year. Despite not all of the crew turning up, they performed very well and were the 1st to be picked to back the one and only Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. The fantastic Dean Doonan came second, while Dubb Dubz, & Cork Street Posse came third.
Other great acts playing that night were Carl French, Tanita Sikes, Yazz aka Top Notch, Simon Young aka Siyo, L.C.G, Street Literature, James Costello, Nugget, Skin T, Deanie, with guest appearances by Temper-Mental MissElayneous. It was a great night altogether and as I have mentioned in previous articles, this style of music has a huge following and is on the rise. There will be another gig coming soon please log on to Bloodshed Productions for more information, also you can vote for them in Arthur Guinness Projects, well done to everyone from the performers to the production team.
1st: DCR (Dublin City Residents)
2nd: Dean Doonan
3rd: Dubb Dubz, & Cork Street Posse
Well done to all of the acts who got on stage that night and who took part in putting on such a wonderful show, from Alan Finn & all at frg.ie
IMAGES: HipHop @ The Voodoo Lounge 2013 – image credit: Alan Finn/FRG.ie
