Institute of Contemporary Arts

DAY TWENTY-FOUR Kano and Natty

Date: 24 July 2007

Kano - Direct Hit

The girls batted their eyelids and the boys looked cool at last night’s Kano and Natty concert. Kano, I read, is more interested in his music than the clothes, the cars and all the other additives known to accentuate the life of a famous hip hop/rapper, but still he and his fans looked hot to trot. There were lots of bright white sneakers in the house, I saw gold hoops and tight frocks and hairdo’s that didn’t fall out of bed like that. As a photographer, I was enjoying the urban styling going on around me and  felt very cool to recognise labels like Boy Better Know  - the name of a grime crew that performed at the Dirty Canvas nights at the ICA earlier this year. Natty and Kano were looking dapper themselves - Natty sporting a very spangling red t-shirt with Jimi Hendrix on the front and Kano wore a black and gold ‘Boy Billionaires Club’ t-shirt complete with ninja dragon baggy pants, addidas trainers and shades. Not just any shades I must add,  I earlier witnessed  him scrutinise them when his manager handed them over ,‘are these the same ones? The box looks different.’ For a boy not interested in the bling, there was certainly enough of that vibe about, or ‘the cool’ anyway - but I appreciate when a performer and an audience put in a little effort for a gig. And it wasn’t as if the music let people down - Natty and Kano gave the crowds just what they wanted…

Natty was first, returning to the ICA after his visit in May and illustrating the same happy and chilled out mood as before. I don’t think much could phase Natty, (who does actually look like a young Bob Marley) but he told the audience he was nervous seeing as the master rapper Kano was headlining. If this was true, it didn’t show, and except for forgetting the order of his play list  (because of the ICA’s ‘beautiful surroundings and all the pretty ladies around’ apparently) he smoothly performed a selection of  his latest music. Tonight the emphasis was on his sexier tunes, something to do with Kano’s female-heavy audience no doubt, and we were treated to renditions of Bedroom Eyes, Bad Man and July which talk of skimpy bikini’s, beautiful ladies and come to bed eyes. We did get some of  the social commentary  for which he is becoming renowned; Police Sirens references his upbringing in South London and in Coloured Souls he talks about our modern urban society and the increase of computers, x-boxes and play stations. These songs were accompanied by John Blood on the bongo drums whose added harmonies, calypso beats and syncopated rhythms pleased the crowds and gave this acoustic reggae set an added edge. It was all a bit slow for the young ladies in the front row who were eager to get rough and ready with Kano, (‘This is the calm before the storm’ they chimed mid song) but I was happy to close my eyes and kick back to Natty’s dulcet tones.

And then onto Kano. Well, rough and ready he was. Not quite Akon, the proposed headliner for the night but a young man of attitude of all the same. A mere 21 years old (if I’ve calculated right) he seemed completely un-phased by his surroundings. He bounced on stage and began belting out his rhymes on life and the word on the street without a flicker of self doubt. But this was unsurprising really. What wa an intimate theatre of only 300 or so people to a boy who started on street level playing in hard core underground venues, who has free-styled on exclusive and respected pirate radio stations and was a key member of the H.E.A.V.Y grime crew. Playing in front of a few hundred adoring fans wasn’t going to intimidate young Kano who has worked with the likes of Lemar, Craig David, The Streets and JME. Last night he enjoyed  the opportunity to share his urban poetry with the masses and wooed the crowds in a way only such a handsome, talented  boy could. He mixed  up heavier grime style  tracks like London Town , Boys Love Girls (his first ever release) and  Layer Cake with softer RnB influenced numbers like This Is The Girl. How much time this boy has got for just one girl I don’t know (he chose to follow that song with a rap whose lines include ‘I don’t want to fall in love’) but this didn’t stop him charming the ladies and he even took the time to have a little personal chat with one of the girls in the front row. ‘You workin’ and that yeah? you doing alright?’ before giving her a low five. Was there fainting action at this point? I couldn‘t see; but I wouldn‘t have been surprised.

So Kano went down a treat with the ladies, and the gents too. The ladies appreciated his looks and everybody enjoyed what is at the heart of his popularity; his musical skill. I don’t think many people can get up and churn out 14 rap tracks without blinking. All those words! So fast! And not one mistake. At one stage I heard the line, ‘I avoid the green’ (referring to marijuana for the more innocent? reader) and I believed him. This is rapping in a different league to the old days of Wu Tang Clan and the stoner rappers like Easy-E, Snoop, Biggy and Master P, ‘Pass me the weed I need some green with my hennesy’. Those boys had melodies, musical beats and a slower pace to work with. With grime it’s lyrics all the way, a rapid and dexterous flow of words that only few can achieve. It appears Kano is one of them, it was a bit of a shame we didn’t get one of his legendary mixtapes at this gig. Oh well, I suppose I’ll forgive him this once.
 

Torie Speyer