By Nooreen Kara

16 April 2005

Let’s be truthful, Jay-Z, as live entertainment, cannot be topped. He’s exploited the market to score successes in every corner possible, he’s a hustler – and he almost single-handedly sold out the Urban Music Festival last year. How could the promoters better him this time around? Well, they couldn’t. With Lil’ Jon pulling out, Ludacris having to rush off to South Africa, and a headline act of Xzibit (better known for ‘Pimp My Ride’ than his ‘street-hardened’ West Coast rhymes), the promoters were left with no choice but to slash ticket prices to £10 and to cut the event to just one day. Things did get improve, though, when Will Smith was added; while he may lack hard rhymes and lyrics, there are few people who can argue against his position as an entertainer – but it remained to be seen just how the day would go.

As the evening kicked in, there were some definite US highlights – Akon received an amazing reception and smiled adorably as he yelled out to the sold-out crowd that it was his birthday, and performed flawlessly to ‘Ghetto’, ‘Locked Up’ and ‘Lonely’. Common, alongside skill-filled DJ Dumi, proved that real hip-hop still exists with a clean set of ‘The Light’ and powerful new Kanye-produced tracks ‘Go’ and ‘The Corner’. Faith Evans sang beautifully live, and De La Soul’s excellent stage presence matched their high status as pioneers in the hip-hop game.

The focus of the night was definitely Will Smith, who was on stage together once again with life-long partner and friend DJ Jazzy Jeff. With an odd-16,000 teenage-plus onlookers holding up camera phones in an attempt to gain a lasting memory of the rapper/actor, Big Will definitely put the swagger in his performance. He gave us renditions of the energetic ‘Switch’, the 1991 all-time classic ‘Summertime’, and the catchy theme tune to ‘The Fresh Prince’. He also allowed Jazzy Jeff the chance to show off his turntable skills and brought out his hype man – aka his 15-year-old nephew, who bared an uncanny resemblance to Akon. When Will let everyone know that the youngster didn’t have a girlfriend, it was inevitable that some audience members would start singing ‘Lonely’…

In contrast, it was disappointing to see ‘X to the Z’ Xzibit only get a half-hearted reception. But to be honest, his performance was off-key. First of all, he was scheduled to be on for 45 minutes, but presumably because the night had already overran by 15 minutes, he only came on for three songs. He did well on ‘X’, but ‘Criminal Set’ and ‘Hey Now’ both lacked the energy you would expect from the usually dynamic MTV host.

However, discounting Will Smith, Xzibit, Common and the rest for a minute, the UMF was also a chance for the UK acts to shine, gain recognition, and develop. Taking to the stage were homegrown talents including Estelle, Craig David, the Choong Family and beatboxer Killa Kela. The Mitchell Brothers – who are signed to Mike Skinner’s label – proved to show their inexperience on the stage by giving a relatively mediocre performance until a little help from Kano arrived. Kano also got a rapturous response from the crowd when he came out to perform ‘P’s & Q’s’ and ‘Typical Me’ with Demon and Ghetto. And while Blak Twang and Sway felt the effects of the bad engineering, they both did well to hold the attention of the crowd.

Outside the main arena were areas for a RWD stage where artists including SLK, Akala and Roll Deep performed, a Nokia Streetball cage and the Jump Off stage for battles. The Jump Off crew were also on hand to entertain the crowd on the battle stage in the main auditorium between acts with MC, production and street dance battles. The street dance battles were good enough, a lot more than what can be said about the rap battles. It was Professor Green and Chalk in the final, and it’s somewhat discouraging to think of UK hip-hop and then recall that one of the contestants rhymed “mum” and “bum” in the final.

Overall, it was a decent day filled with hip-hop, grime, R&B and garage. While most of the acts were second best to the likes of Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Alicia Keys, the majority of the performers on stage held their own and proved they had as much right to be on the UMF stage as Jigga. However, it remains to be seen whether the Urban Music Festival goes ahead next year. With this one being cut down to just one day, can the organisers secure enough artists for even that next time round? We’ll just have to see…

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