A night of old school Hip Hop beats

DJ Yella bursts on to the decks at Park Street Mews Stables recently with a luminous yellow t-shirt and matching coloured microphone. He is joined with an MC wearing a T-shirt that says “Wisconsin."

For those of you who are not familiar with Hip Hop, he is an original member of the gangster rap group Niggaz Wit Attitudes (N.W.A). The groups other members  Dr Dre, Ice Cube and MC Ren are all now industry heavy weights. The fifth member Easy E sadly died of Aids in the late 90’s.

The group shot to fame in the 80’s with their controversial style of music with their debut album Straight Out Of Compton, which also was made into a hit movie released last year. The album became a major hit while also drawing criticism for their use of profanity. The album painted a picture of urban youth lifestyle. The most notability controversial hit “Fuck Da Police” protested police brutality and racial profiling.

The night saw hard-core Hip Hop fans turn out on mass to see one of the most legendary and influential artists first ever performances in Sri Lanka.     The night began with local beat boxer Julius Mitchell and singer rapper Michelle                    Stephens preforming her own songs, accompanied by a trio on break dances. Then was the turn of local scratch artists DJ RD and DJ Rami, also supported by turntables duo Selectro.

Performers played hits from the begins of the genre like “Rappers Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang to new hits like “Pop Style” by Drake. DJ Yella on the other had got the crowd going with his classic style of ‘gangsta rap’ that he and fellow NWA members pioneered. He scratched together rap artists hits from House of Pain to Tupac.

The crowd was small but all were true fans of the genre. They dressed in baseball caps oversized t-shirts printed with rap logs and baggy jeans that can be seen in the images taken.

Text and pictures by Dilantha Dassanayake