Greatest Super Bowl halftime show, Forget about Dre

‘Now all I get is hate mail all day sayin’ Dre fell off’

THE Super Bowl LVI half time show is being hailed as the greatest ever but the ultimate Super Bowl Sunday performance remains that given by Prince in a wild and wet Miami in 2007.

Amid all the stars to have played the 12 minutes between the second and third quarters of America’s biggest game Prince is still probably the most unlikely one to have agreed to it.

Few at Super Bowl XLI (41) however would have predicted that in 15 years time Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg would be the headline act.

King Dem (Ty, Blak Twang & Rodney P) @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

“On road doing shows/ And we picking up nice cheques”

“Fuckin’ hell, Cardiff’s alright you know,” states Rodney P as he enters the stage, the third and final member of this trinity of UK Hip Hop royalty.

Rodney P

The King Dem tour has brought together the supreme lyricist Ty, the energetic Tony Rotton aka Blak Twang, and the original UK Hip Hop Don Dada, the Riddim Killa, Rodney P.

Children of Zeus @ Portland House, Cardiff

“I only know slow rapping over soul samples”

SIX months on from their last visit Manchester’s hip hop soul duo Children of Zeus returned to Cardiff for the penultimate date of their headline UK tour.

Record of the year: The Story of O.J. – Jay-Z

“O.J like ‘I’m not black, I’m O.J’…okay”

THE seeds of the record of the year 2017 can be found in the seven months leading up to last January.

In May 2016 US cable sports channel ESPN released its five-part documentary O.J: Made in America. That August American football player Colin Kaepernick, while a member of the San Francisco 49ers – OJ’s hometown team where he brought his famed playing career to an end – remained seated on the bench as his teammates stood for the US national anthem ahead of a pre-season game.

Record of the year: Europe, The Final Countdown

IF the year was 1986 then perhaps the synth rock of The Final Countdown by Europe, the Swedes with big hair, would be the record of the year. When trying to decide the record that captures what 2016 was all about it is those songs inspired by big European dreams that make the final countdown.

2016 has been a year of political shocks and upheavals and it also took one of the greatest artists of all time when Prince died in April. Other icons, from music, sport and politics, have all passed away throughout the past 12 months, seemingly abnormally so, leading to some to claim the past year has been one of the worst ever.

Kano @ Tramshed, Cardiff

“This the motherfucking thanks I get from this scene?/Ten years deep, a thousand 16s”

IS any rapper ever satisfied their position in hip hop has been properly recognised and respected? Striving for acceptance, and resentment at any perceived lack of acknowledgment, still fuels so many MCs.

Kano is already recognised as one of the central figures in the emergence of the UK grime scene but that yearning for props is still evident.

2016 has however delivered a Mercury Music Prize nomination for Kano’s fifth LP, Made in the Manor, and a nationwide tour which brought him to Cardiff – and left the 31-year-old veteran in no doubt as to the esteem he is held in the capital.

Lowkey @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

“I’m an anarchist and an angry academic activist”

THIS July marked the return of UK MC Lowkey from his apparent retirement with the surprise release of hard-hitting single Ahmed.

Within weeks the rapper, who in 2012 said he was hanging up his mic for good, announced a tour including a September 17 date in Cardiff.

De La Soul @ Newport Centre

“Most crews are post-current while we’re forever”

“We go by the name of De La Soul and we’ve been doing this for quite some time,” explains Dave, aka Trugoy, unnecessarily as everyone in the Newport Centre appears familiar with the Long Island trio and their contribution to hip hop.

Dave, aka Trugoy, of De La Soul

2016 marks 20 years since De La released ‘Stakes Is High’ – their response to the ghetto fabulous state of hip hop at the time and considered a re-introduction from some of the game’s elder statesmen. “Man every word I say should be a hip hop quotable,” raps Pos during that title track – and the crowd do know every line.

Saul Williams @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

“Chop my neck a million times, I still burn bright and stand, yo“

“I’M inspired by people, you all have your own stories and thankyou for being part of mine,” is how poet and performer Saul Williams thanks a sold out Friday night crowd in Cardiff.

The story Williams, whose music is perhaps best described as alternative hip hop, has come to tell is that of Martyr Loser King – a hacker in Burundi using the west’s easily discarded technology to spread chaos through the internet; “Hacker, I’m a hacker, I’m a hacker in your hard drive… I’m a virus in your system”.

The Jungle Brothers @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

“As the sun do shine/JBeez rock well”

“It’s a pleasure to be back in Cardiff,” says Afrika Baby Bam as the Jungle Brothers move through the thank yous at the end of their quick-fire 50 minute set.

The JBeez returned to the Welsh capital just two weeks short of a year from their last show in the city and a UK tour that seemingly convinced them of the enduring popularity of Hip Hop’s golden age this side of the Atlantic.