Review: Pete Rock (@PeteRock) & CL Smooth (@CoreyCLSmooth) Live |London

By Salfreckles • On Reviews ,

IMG_4936This is going to sound like a diary entry of the adven­tures of Salfreckles…well, it kind of is!

This time last week I was fin­ish­ing a paint­ing and tak­ing pho­tos of the recent art­work I’ve done in trib­ute to Pete Rock & CL Smooth, the day was mine, and the night was going to feel like a triumph!

I first saw Pete and CL as an enthu­si­ast­ic teen in the 90s, and again in 2012 when there was a dif­fer­ent sense of awe in me, a nos­tal­gic awe at the power they, and the music had, to rewind me back to my teen­age self, who sought solace in music — espe­cially of the hip hop vari­ety,  and I know, I know, I’m not alone there!

So, on the 15th Octo­ber 2017, I entered the ven­ue to fuse the love for my art and hip hop together.

It was a solo mis­sion to deliv­er a piece of art­work to Corey (CL Smooth). Over the sum­mer, I’d pos­ted a few adapt­a­tions of my “Look Ma, no shoelaces” illus­tra­tion on Ins­tagram [@sal_freckles] and one in par­tic­u­lar caught his eye! He’d been humbled how I’d quoted his lyr­ics, I prom­ised that next time, when in Lon­don it’s his! Low and behold, a date was soon announced.…

Sunday night.…
It’s always a bonus when the sup­port act com­pli­ments the main. Being in the room, listen­ing to Mic­all Parkn­sun warm us up nicely with Mr Thing on the turntables and Joker Star­r’s motiv­at­ing sup­port, I felt at ease, at home, and not alone!

When Pete Rock came out and stood at the decks, he asked if we were ready?!!
Of course,  we were indeed !

Cel­eb­rat­ing 25 years of “Mecca and the Soul Broth­er” an album on which every tune is lov­able,  CL came on stage burst­ing with enthu­si­asm and pas­sion. He main­tained this high energy through­out. (sip­ping a cup of tea in between tunes!)
Watch­ing the crowd remin­isce in unity (no pun inten­ded) of our young­er years, warm in the know­ledge of how it made us all feel back then was sweet!

CL did his grace­ful hip hop moves along with the crowd’s cheers, show­ing us that he was still feel­ing the music as deeply as we were. Pete join­ing the front stage to per­form “The Cre­at­or” hyped us up, that track is just jump up speed­boat mater­i­al!!  of course “Remin­isce” had to go on the PULL-UP list!

A show like theirs reminds you of the work put in, if you’ve been to gigs, you know that not all artists can per­form well, they lack energy, enthu­si­asm and char­ac­ter…. Or they just don’t have the pas­sion any­more. Pete and CL were a shin­ing example of a per­form­ance done in appre­ci­ation of the fans who still support.

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Bonus was, I met CL after­wards and revealed his piece of art in a chocol­ate box!  He then gave the fans time by com­ing out into the arena to take pics, give hugs, and appre­ci­ate those who appre­ci­ate him!

Respect due!

 

In case you missed it — Catch our inter­view with CL Smooth Here.

Photo cred­it: Sally Mur­row aka @sal_freckles

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Salfreckles

Sally Mur­row aka Sal­freckles is a Lon­don­er who works in early edu­ca­tion, she has a back­ground in graph­ic design and finds inspir­a­tion for her art from hip hop rhymes and culture.

About Salfreckles

Sally Murrow aka Salfreckles is a Londoner who works in early education, she has a background in graphic design and finds inspiration for her art from hip hop rhymes and culture.