Pow Negro / Childs Play
Jack Rabbit Slim’s
Friday, May 27, 2016
It may not have been their headline show, but you would have been hard up to find anyone who didn’t find Pow Negro to be the breakthrough act of the night.
Merging Jazz elements in their fusion hip hop with an aggressive vocal style that falls somewhere between the energetic bounces of Zac de la Rocha and the funk come street verses of Mos Def, the six piece hit the stage hard and snatched punters in.
Nelson Mondlane was relentless in his swooping vocals as he swaggered in a Florida Panthers jersey with confidence in spades. With a short and snapping set, Pow Negro have hit the mark as one of the most exciting and unique new breeds of Perth bands emerging at the moment.
Childs Play wasted little time to keep the crowd buzz flowing, featuring Cruz Patterson and Christian Ruggeriero of Koi Child along with Sam Newman on samples, their set was tight and technical with Patterson seemingly unstoppable in his lyrical form, setting the stage perfectly for the main act.
Remi has been on an incredible run lately, after slaying Groove In The Moo recently and stacking dates all over the country, it’s no surprise that the hyped up room is feeding off every lick the duo serve up. Dropping in new tracks from their upcoming new album Divas & Demons including the latest single For Good.
The show took no time to become an exhibition of Remi and beatmaker Sensible J at their finest. Bouncing between leaning on the foldbacks over the crowd and leaping left and right of the stage, Kolawole looked at home on the Western front and fed the energy straight back into the cracking setlist with a cutting freestyle featuring the nights previous MCs over the top of a well selected James Brown sample.
Taking the night out with the call to arms percussion and fierce chorus of Tyson, those that missed out should thanks themselves lucky that there’s still another Perth show to come in a few months.
MARK BERESFORD
