Gig reveiw: The Pharcyde - ABC2, Glasgow
The Pharcyde - ABC2, Glasgow
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Although hip-hop has changed greatly since the heyday of the so-called Daisy Age rappers, their blend of playful humour, call-and-response vocal interaction and supercool sampled repertoire of soul, funk and jazz still sounded fresh, even a tonic in comparison with the formulaic brand the genre has become.
The energy was there from the off, as a trio of rappers traded their embarrassing anecdotes on Oh Shit, their contrasting vocal tones lending dynamism to the performance.
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Hide AdThe fluency of their interwoven rhymes, catchiness of their hooklines and incorrigible impishness were reminiscent of The Beastie Boys, especially on crowd favourite Ya Mama, a playground diss match hurling ever more comical insults at each other’s beloved moms. But there was also a chilled smoothness to the likes of If I Were President and On The DL, a nod to the mean streets on Officer, the delicious jazzy backing track of Passin’ Me By and an audience participation breakdancing display to mark them out as more than overgrown b-boys.