Utreg Centraal V
Tivoli, 02/09
The premise for Utreg Centraal was simple – stick all the best hip-hop talent from Utrecht on one stage in one evening to create a live mixtape. Happily the definition of hip-hop was broad enough to allow Nobody Beats The Drum to perform their You Tube phenomenon that is 'The Drum' (370,000 views and counting). Typically they mashed it up visually and musically, transforming it into a bass heavy monster.
It led nicely into Kapabel and PerCeptie, now performing as In Stereo, to rip through Beter Wel. These two are now a well-tuned duo who feed nicely off each other, taking it into turns to milk and hype the crowd. They came back later to blast another couple of tunes later on, and they’re now more than ready to take on the SXSW festival in Texas this spring.
This partnership between the two MCs highlighted the theme of togetherness and collaboration that ran throughout the evening. Symbolically it began with all the acts chanting a tribute to Utrecht arm in arm, and this all for one, one for all mentality continued as they jumped on stage during each other’s shows so much that sometimes it was hard to know who exactly was meant to be performing. One moment Arts The Beatdoctor was rocking out with his saxophone player, the next he was revisiting Sleep with Pax. C-Mon joined in the fun with Thijs from Mdungu , while the Keynote Speakerz and their associates popped up around three or four times and amongst it all was Kypski. Or at least that’s what he claims, as he was completely hidden from view behind a mass of MCs. It was all beautifully chaotic.
It doesn’t really feel right to pick out individual performances on this basis, but Kyteman was as impressive as ever as he played (of course) Utrecht University and City’s Burning, Skiggy Rapz served notice that he’s ready to shine with a new band backing him, Atactic reminded us all that he's a pretty hot MC when he's not fronting Boemklatsch, while C-Mon’s short set with Thijs added some welcome diversity to the hip-hop mix (and he dropped one of the biggest tunes during the night, though I’ve got no idea what it was).
So often in hip hop, and music in general, it’s all about the individual. So nights like this, which keep the spirit of community that hip hop rose from alive, are increasingly valuable. Big up everyone involved.
Photo: Roel D