Music > Live Reviews

Rejjie Snow

The Adrian Flux Waterfront

25/04/18

I guess it would have been somewhere near the start of 2017 when I first heard about Rejjie Snow. The Irish/Nigerian heritage was an attention grabber and tracks like Crooked Cops, Flexin’ & D.R.U.G.S immediately captured my attention. Once this gig was announced last year though the trail seemed to go a bit cold – I wasn’t as enamoured with the new songs I was hearing, and when his long awaited Dear Annie lp dropped a few months ago I’m afraid I was somewhat underwhelmed. Too much of the material felt overly low key and Rejjie’s delivery and style had become too Americanised. With the ticket not feeling quite as hot as it once did I headed down to the Waterfront to see what Rejjie had to offer.

Arriving to discover the support would be, from straight outta Northampton, Slowthai, was good news - I knew the name from YouTube recommendations, and he did a great job of hyping up the crowd. Although initially a bit confrontational, and with a style that was more bludgeon than subtle, he nonetheless settled into it and soon had the whole room bouncing. By the time his final song arrived he was on the floor for the duration and had definitely earned himself a whole bunch of new admirers. Getting us all to chant "Fuck Theresa May" helped too. Check out new single North Nights for a good example of what he does.

The venue was busier than I’d anticipated, with a lot more girls in the crowd than I’ve seen at recent similar gigs – always useful for keeping the laddish element in check. When Rejjie Snow strolled onstage looking relaxed and confident and the thunderous bass kicked in I felt like my expectations had already been exceeded. Where some of his recordings can fade into the background, here his raps were crystal clear, easily cutting through the deafening music. Everybody was dancing, the atmosphere was brilliantly positive; Rejjie told us that this wasn’t just a hip-hop show, it was an experience and he was right. The music was woozy and trippy and it was easy to become enveloped within it. The live performance lifted everything – the beats and the vocals were intensified, the crowd sang along and really let themselves go. Tracks off the album like Pink Lemonade, Spaceships and Egyptian Luvr completely came into their own.

I do have an issue with Rejjie rapping in an American accent, especially when between songs his Irish accent is there for all to hear, but in his defence everything he did seemed entirely natural and not all forced. It felt like I was witnessing a proper artist who had put a great deal of thought and effort into his set. It was a lengthy set too, something which can be all too rare among young rap artists and by the end I was utterly in the zone.

I came away feeling excited once again by Rejjie Snow and top of my ‘to do’ list over the next week is to revisit Dear Annie, because after witnessing a show this enjoyable the fault clearly lies with me.