Sugarhill Gang with Grandmaster Melle Mel and Scorpio's Furious Five
In a strange quirk of fate, exactly a year to the day since their previous visit to the Waterfront, the snappily titled Sugarhill Gang with Grandmaster Melle Mel & Scorpio’s Furious Five returned to give us a hint of 1970s Brooklyn and the birth of hip-hop. There was a decent sized crowd assembling as we approached showtime and as has become customary at Norwich hip-hop nights Chrome & Illinspired were there to play a winning selection of rap and funk classics - props for the Rare Earth track in particular.
Sugarhill Gang bounded on stage and the high energy start to the show began to get everyone moving, Master Gee especially impressed with his clear flow and ‘unique’ clothing choices. After 15 minutes or so the atmosphere was further ramped up by the introduction of Melle Mel & Scorpio from the original Furious Five. When these two legends were in full flight together it really did feel like a classic hip-hop show, their syncopated rap skills were great and I could just about imagine how unbelievable it must have been to have witnessed these guys way back in the day. Every song you associate with either act was played, in part or in full - White Lines, Apache (Jump On It), Beat Street, The Message & Rapper’s Delight. Melle Mel especially was a joy to behold. Buff as fuck, he was having a really good time, messing about with his bandmates, busting out some moves with Scorpio and generally acting like the star he has always been.
They left no cliche unturned, but then as they invented most of them they are forgiven. Still it did a grate a bit when the music was repeatedly stopped to be asked questions like - is hip-hop in the building - duh, obviously guys, we just said yes when you asked us, like, two minutes ago. At times the Waterfront was a proper party, everyone was getting down, it was really sweaty and good times were being had so ideally the music should have been uninterrupted, but too often the flow was broken. The last 10 minutes also was a disappointment - I really don’t want to hear versions of Eurythmics & Queen songs and when the crew left the stage it did feel like a slightly wasted opportunity.
Overall though the the hour long set was fun with a capital F. Like a hip-hop pantomime or cabaret show - honest to goodness goofy fun with a bunch of dudes that have been rapping for longer that almost anyone else in the game, and for that they have my fully earned respect.
