Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg - Snoop UK live debut.

Crowd was bananas, show was over sold, security got rushed multiple times, police abandoned the area, chaos for hours, fights inside the venue everywhere, open weed and crack smoking, coke sniffing, displays of weaponry, dudes getting properly jacked up for their whole shit right in the crowd inside and outside...I got robbed at knifepoint myself...lost a few quid, kept all my blood lol...

Venue was Brixton Academy, about 90/91 I reckon, whatever year it was that 'The Mirror' put Snoops picture on the front page and called him an evil bastard in the headline lol....think it was to do with him being on bail for murder at the time...

Dre and Snoop opened with 'Deep Cover' in pretty much pitch black....crowd went fucking super nuts...no word of a lie, in the first minute and a half of that song about another half dozen serious fights broke out all over the place, people running through swinging shit like woah....fucking mad shit, dre and snoop only stayed on about 45 minutes as the whole shit was out of control so they pretty much fled...crowd went even fucking nuttier...

Took fucking hours to get out of Brixton, full on road block grid lock chaos madness...

But. That 45 minutes they were on stage was honestly one of the most electrifying things I have ever seen...Dre was already a seasoned performer and Snoop was still a kid and was completely fucking amped up and rocking this huge afro that made him look kind of crazy and he was completely into stoking the fuck out of the crowd which didn't help the situation lol....

I been to a lot of hip hop shows over the years but this was on some other fucking level of mad...

Notable mentions go to KRS One, Cypress Hill and Public Enemy - seen all of them multiple times and they are some of the best live performers around, their shows never disappoint and they know how to move the crowd...

man thanks so much for sharing, I only wish I could have experienced this. I no doubt would have been robbed but alas happy... xD

Dude, I shit a brick lol....yeah...I heard a song years later by Troy Scalpels, call 'It happened' and it's his story of a night out at hip hop club gone wrong and it's got this line;

'I wish I wasn't here, but the hop hop led me, the snare drum fed me, now I'm tripping, on upturned furniture'

...lol...everytime I hear it I think of that night...get the cold chill down the back... oooooh....

awesome read

wow makes me wanna grab a time machine

I been lucky man, seen so many amazing shows, Redman, Keith Murry, Das Efx, The Fugees, Onyx, Public Enemy, KRS, Funkdoobiest, Cypress Hill, half of Wu Tang (lol...)etc etc....pissed I never saw Pac or BIG though....I am biased but the 90s hip hop scene is the golden age for me man...give anything to go back and do it all again....

Has anybody seen ALL of the Wu in one place? I saw them in 2003 and it was only RZA and GZA plus a load of ransoms (and that UK guy they said was part of WTC)

Lol...I had three fucking goes at the Wu and still not seen all of them!...still never seen Inspectah Deck...the most under-rated of team but actually a killer mc...

Yes!!! Really is isn't he! Always loved Meth but have to admit Inspectah Deck is the most natural lyricist of them all

that's a great question

Yo this threads my jam. Who's sparking the blunt!?

My most notable concert. Rock the bells NYC can't remember what year. maybe 2016

Nas headling. DJ Premier and Pete Rock had a live beat battle. Cypress Hill on beforehand fucking smashed it, Mos Def and Talib Kwali are Blakstar before that.. Wu - Tang stage, got to see all the members apart from ODB. Mobb Deep were on their stage too. Lauren Hill played and brought out Pras and Wyclef to do some Fugees tracks. Can't remember who else but there were more.

Blunts, Stunts and Hip Hop man lol...

Daaammmnnn.....would love to have seen a Rock The Bells...they do quite a few of those full on 'mega tours' in the States...The 'Up In Smoke' tour would have been fucking awesome to see... Nas is one I never caught and would love too, Mobb Deep too...that must have been an awesome experience man.

Ha, the Fugees! Man they rock a live show. I actually saw the Fugees before they were big, they were actually playing as support for Das Efx lol!!! And first support at that, at like 9pm, real early, think it was K-Solo and Redman as 2nd support before Das on that one.

Yeah...it was at Subterania in West London, was funny actually....place is all hip hopped out, all carhart hoodies, tims and oversized jeans and bad attitudes lol then the fucking Fugees rock on to the stage and broke out the instruments and you can literally hear the 'what the fucks' all over lol...but shit....they started with Temple and it banged the fuck out the place...

Was very cool being such a small venue, at one point Lauren Hill was literally 4ft from my face on stage when she did that tune with the chorus 'some forget harlem' (I forget the name, very cool song) and I could actually hear her singing straight out her mouth kind of thing, (If that makes sense!?.. But like I could hear it before it hit the mic sort of thing..) and damn...raw, raw talent and soul and well....stunning woman visually you know...fried my weeded brain at the time, I was just like dazed out for 5 minutes, like ahhhhh, damn....lol...Saw her again at a sold out Wembley arena 10 years later...couldn't barely even see her on stage from my pauper seats lol...watched the whole thing on the side monitors...not the same...fuck the fame lol...

Jealous mate

Jay Z at Hammersmith. Warm up act was Lupe Fiasco but Nas made an unannounced appearance as they’d just squashed the beef.

Even my ex was happy as Beyoncé also made an appearance.

Beastie Boys - Wembley Stadium 1999
Supported by the Jungle Bros

Was my first proper Hip-hop gig

However...

Glastonbury the same year (I think). Jurassic 5, The Roots, Everlast and Cypress Hill (pre-beef), Scratchperverts, DOOM, Slum Village, Black Twang (with Rodney P, Skinnyman and some of Mudfam), and I've a vague recollection of seeing either Cash Money or Prodigy but can't be certain.

One hell of a weekend for Hip-hop!!

Blak Twaaaang....the lost album Dettwork South East, fucking classic, copies did change hands back in the day

Fucking Sir Rodney P!! How can I forget... I am off the play 'The Future' LP like now...and the neighbours are about to learn about 'The Nice Up'...

Cypress Hill @ Nokia Theater NYC

Busta rhymes, nas, snoop dogg, jay-z, lil Wayne and skepta.

Busta was the best for hype, crowd was nuts.

Snoop was best for getting high, I was high as a motherfucker.

Nas was raw.

Man some of those lists are insane man.

Went to see Cypress Hill at Barrowlands Glasgow last year and it was immense! Two of my favourite tapes ever Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill and Black Sunday!

Also last year went to the Blastoff Tour Gig which was great fun although a bit commercial with the likes of Shaggy (who was shit haha)

Nelly, Salt N Pepa (They were soo good man! lol), Shaggy, Mya and Blu Cantrell.

Hosted by Fatman Scoop and included exclusive appearances from UK garage stars So Solid members Lisa Maffia and MC Romeo, scene pioneer MC DT and the British duos Oxide & Neutrino, DJ Luck & MC Neat and Sweet Female Attitude.

The best rap show I never made was Tribe Called Quest ?

Eminem @slane castle was fire! ?

Public Enemy at Homelands Festival. It was a greatest hits set and Chuck D killed it.

I've also seen the Wu Tang Clan three times, but not once have I ever seen the full line up.

Only ever been to one, and it wasn't strictly rap. Ice T and his metal group, Body Count, at the Octagon in Sheffield. Must have been around '94 - '95. Loads of white middle-class students going mental to the anti-establishment sentiments of a black dude from LA. It was a good night.

DJ Premier - I've seen him in many cities across the world but the show he made in Paris in 2010 right after Guru's death was legendary. He arrived late but we didn't leave the venue before 4am after screaming "Fuck Solar" for hours. Primo is really a legend

Rock the Bells in Amsterdam, think it was 2009 or 10. What a line-up De La Soul, Pharcyde, Nas, EPMD. Incredible show!

This is very hard.... but Skepta in Dublin 1 year ago... man Shutdown the place. A close second is Joey Badass in Dublin 3 years ago at the Olympia Theatre.... never forget he told this small blonde girl that things were about to get heavy.. so move to the back... she didn't... she got crushed..had to be carried out. Good Times, good times.

Insane Clown Posse put on a crazy show. Tech n9nes first show in London was crazy but I'd say Flatbush Zombies at the Ritznin Manny. Ever felt that floor bounce like that

of everything ive read in this thread i think icp is the act id most like to have seen

Went to see snoop in Manchester years ago and cypress hill was the surprise opening act was amazing, snoop flicked his blunt into the crowd n that thing got attacked people fighting to get it🤣🤣😮‍💨😮‍💨🔥

Mark .Morrison

Return of the GT 👊

De La Soul on the beach down in Newquay, good times!

Eminem stade de france was a madness still not managed to see him in the uk

Skinnyman dropped one of the best UK rap albums (council estate of mind).

Agreed. One of the best ever.

Tru dat
If i make thru the night i'd be surprised i'd be surprised is still one of my favs

Agreed big up skinny

I’m old so I’d argue Kalashnekoff, Fallacy or pretty much half of the old mud fam (skinny, Chester), got to give a mention for doc brown though, new album is nice, still going

Fucking love a bit of k-lash tho... it’s murda, black rose etc yeah... gonna bang that parrowdice album like NOW lol

Yeh that K-lash album was a banger, actually gave it another listen not long ago and it’s still a fucking banger. I’d say any from K-lash, Kano, Taskforce and Jehst.

shed you know the deal lol! but there is no way we can put this down to ONE best uk rapper, Klash & terra firma... MUD fam, That arab uk guy from deal real days cant remember his name but TOP lyricist, Too many to mention TBH,

Shit even used to bump pound sterling and RSG. So much styles in the UK rap scene over the last 15 years its hard to say whos the number 1!

I love doc Brown's music, but the guy's an arsehole

K-lash though, man he can rap!! Even the young'uns love his stuff too

He had some absolutely bangers tbf citizen Smith vol 2 no more said

That parrowdice album is absolutely timeless never get bored of listening to it, pound sterling use to like some of his stuff from back in the day? Can you remember channel u, that was on sky, had all the upcoming young english talent, use to watch religiously, use to have some mad guys on there!!!!

Great shout there - were you also a Yungun fan? He’s back with new stuff under ‘Essa’ - still awesome! Also used to bang Universal Soldiers every single day - going to put it on now in fact, happy Friday all!

Yungun! Yeah man, he had a phat album with Mr Thing called GMB (grown man business) and he got a song on there called 'peter pan syndrome' which actually makes my heart bleed.... that dude is an entertainment lawyer now!

Top album!! Yeah man that’s crazy isn’t it!! Wiccaman theory by Chester P used to get me like that! The ten pound bag mixtapes were brilliant too. Loving this thread, now reminded me of how much I love Dabbla and LDZ, having a great day :D

Ten pound baaaaagggg...oh my days... the problem with smoking so much weed is I forget too much music lol...damn, louis slipperz on the mix...some of the beats of those were mind-wreckingly phat...man, I got to dig those out...yeah, loving this thread too man, nice to know I'm not the only one still rocking out Taskforce and Skinnyman and shit...oh shit...Sway...remember that cat? He did the tune over the car racing tune..ah shit...memory lol...I know the one, think it was called 'up your speed', so many bangers lost to the pit of my weeded memory lol...

Hahaha mate 100% the same!! Weeded memory sucks!! Yeah I’d completely forgotten about Sway! Flo’ Fashion was an absolute banger as well!!

Anything off that album was fantastic.

Download still cracks me up when he's talking about going to an Internet cafe to find a man named kazaa haha.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii give yooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuu, bluebells... The memories!

Agree with pretty much all of the below suggestions.

Recently found this banger by Kano, D double E and Ghetts.... Such a tune, such great energy... Real uk OG's. Kano's got the longevity

... enjoy ...

Kano is tremendous live too. And so is d double e....ghetts is passable but compared to the other 2 he falls short in my eyes. I've seen all 3 of them perform multiple times

Yeah that live performance is sick!

Didn’t even need to play this via link got this one backed up on the old I tunes... Badabapbap!!! Big tune

Akala for the win. Definitely NOT Skinnyman... Although I did like Council Estate of Mind.

Jehst..lyrically stunning and his delivery unrivalled!

OLDsKoOl... Return of the drifter was an epic album.. still gets alot of play in my dojo lol! How could we forget Jehst!

You like braintax too?

Anyone remember roots manuva?

Witness the fitness!!! Legend

taskmaster burst the bionic zit spitter, break neck speeds we drown 10 pints of bitter.

classic

Movements

Yup

Gotta be klashnekoff, that mans next level!!!!

Still listen to “sagas of kalashnekoff”. If anyone is wondering, the film used for the skits is “Babylon”. A great film, its like a reggae “commitments”

Every Thursday at 7pm we should all go outside and start shouting "can't take no more of that"

Hahahahaha yessssss man!!!!

You sir are a genius.

Definitely gonna check that out, nice one!!

Boom!
K, lash your rasclart neck off

Split you in half like a gum blast from lennox!!! LENNOX!!!

Get dropped on your doorstep like Dando. Who writes that haha?

That black cunt outta stokie, banana mango munching monkey, ill kick off ya door like jumanji!!! Hahahaha that guy!!!

FOCUS MODE "This is hot shit! You don't know silly, come on buy that"

Chester P in my opinion. I'll never sell my early TaskForce vinyl

Love a bit of Chester and early Task Force... Great shout!

Rodney P’s got to be on this list!!

Fliptrix, Chester P, Akala, Lowkey and skinny man... Can't really claim one is better than the other, they have all reached maxed skill in their unique styles

Glad to see someone get fliptrix in there. Saw him and skinny man live at subterranea just before lockdiwn and its unreal how much stage presence fliptrix has...and he's a fucking giant lol

I'm younger than some on this thread so don't know too many old school UK rappers. Mainly like old American rappers/mcs from the 90s, but would also give a vote to skinny man. Council Estate of mind is one my favourite albums of all time and its criminal he's not better known (In the mainstream).

If we're talking about modern day.. casisdead is currently the best in the scene/UK in my opinion, bar none. Can't wait for his new album to drop.

Kano

Def a personal favourite. Don’t think he’s made an average album and seen him live a couple times and never disappointed.

As much as I properly love late 90s/early 200s UKHH, I have to say that Dabbla is right up there for me.

LDZ, Dead Players, his stuff on HF, and his solo albums on Potent Funk, he's kept it fresh, pushed hard and spits like nobody else. His wordplay is incredible.

Dabbla isassivley slept on. Psychoville is a masterpiece

wondered when dabbla was gonna get a mention..

Top reply that! Early Jehst is hard to beat in my book! Chester P also up there - more recently loving Lee Scott (by no means would class him as UKs greatest but he’s a personal fav of mine :)

Chester P is also a bloody lovely bloke to boot. A carer these days and seems.to have his head properly screwed on

Chester P for mayor!!

Ches is a fucking dude...he dropped one of the hottest 'fire in the street' freestyles ever...dude is deep as fuck, massive respect for him.

MC Pitman ftw!

Loooool...Witness the Pitness.....ah man, forgot all about him

Second that!

ches don't like MF doom he says hes a traitor to the uk scene but MF's perants moved to the US he had no choice and i just think ches is bitter and jelouse he never got what MF doom did ..

Ocean wisdom I think has one of the best flows in the UK scene Verb-T perfect for a heavy zoot and a relax

Dave for me. His lyrics and musical ability is unrivalled imo

Silver Bullet, hands down is the best UK rapper (really showing my age). 20 Seconds was good but 'Bring forth the Guillotine' is a classic.

Some greats already mentioned! but Dizzie rascal has to be in there for me! . Stefflon don , Jaykae and Bugzy Malone have some tunes too. Could be cheating but 21 savage as well I’m sure I saw he was from Newham originally?

So many of these roads lead right back to DIzzie

I think he is you know!!! Who was the the other mc how was orginally in the newham generals, cant remember his name to stoned!!! Haha, ive even seen him live aswell at show at london dungeons, my mate won vip ticketsto see them and dizzee and jammer!!! Only 200 people whata fucking night that was!!! Still cant remeber his name!!! Haha

Monkstar!!!! I knew i get it in the end!! Haha he was sick

Bullet from a guuuuuuunnnnn!!! Derek B was the fucking man, he must have been one of my first UK hip hop heroes! Ahhh, this brings back memories..who remembers Normski?! Cannot for the life of me remember the show he had on tv for a while but I fucking loved it...

Was it called Def 2 on BBC 2?

Ooooh, that rings a bell...really can't pull it out of my brain, Normski was the presenter and it was literally the only thing on tv that had any flavour at all, was late on a Friday night iirc

Wretch 32 for technicality

f you're talking the hardest..

Slick Rick

Uk rapper lmao

Born and raised in London before moving to the US lmao

Mic righteous??????

Showing my age ( and probably giving away that I’m more of a guitar guy ) but The Streets first album is awesome

I think for me it’s Potter Payper if you want that real rap but grime wise I’m going to say Ghetts.

No one shuts down a race like d double,
But ghetts is definitely the best lyricist in grime

Roots manuva

All completely subjective but

Kano is my all-time favourite.

Boy in da corner was a groundbreaking album, and has stood the test of time (still sounds amazing to this day) so Dizzee has to have a place on the UK rap Mount Rushmore.

Also high ratings and much love for Klashnekoff, JME, Sway, Devlin, and Roots Manuva.

1/2 the other candidates wouldnt have existed without Dizzee

It’s gotta be Skepta or Dizzee man!

Nothing touches Konichiwa, Boy in da corner or Showtime.. nothing!

Dave

Ty (RIP my bro), Skinny, Manuva. Orifice.

Funky DL (Old school) & Wretch 32 (Nu School)

For skill, Harry shotta. Me personally. Then Kalashnekov dizzee and the streets. A grand don’t come for free was a masterpiece

Honestly I think chipmunk will beat any UKrapper in a clash. Past or present

GHETTS' LATEST ALBUM SERIOUSLY MAKING ME CONSIDER HIM THE UK GOAT

HIM AND KANO ARE PROBABLY THE BEST DUO THIS COUNTRY EVERY PRODUCED

JME all day. Showing my age now.
Rating Ocean Wisdom atm tho
Far too many good ones to list on here tho.

JME is good but I think Skepta takes it for me man

Double S rap dis tho <<<<

So many to choose from such as Ghetto but I'm gonna have to go for his old mate Kano. Special place in my heart for that donny.

kanot sorry, but i'm open to you convincing me otherwise

Yeah technically Kano is a master... but never liked his style

I get what you mean I'm mainly on about his first shit after that he got annoying as fuck when he switched his style tbh lol

It’s all a bit mid 2000s Roll Deep etc. Good proving grounds for the future, some good MCs came out of it, but in itself it’s pretty shit. I mean compare that to some Wu Tang shit, which I guess would be the New York streets equivalent 15 years earlier... doesn’t even compare.

Not the most original post, but if what I read on the internet it true, then I would say MF DOOM, (apparently born in London).

MF Doom - Rap
Trim - Grime