Akala @ Cabaret Voltaire, 2006.10.15
Fresh rating ✩✩✩✩
Apparently the hype surrounding Akala after his Mobo success this year hasn’t yet reached Edinburgh. The size of the crowd doesn’t do anything to drain his enthusiasm, however, and soon enough it rubs off on us. It’s not just his on-stage charisma that makes this a great performance though – he’s a genuinely gifted MC.
Live a cappella raps are often worthy and underwhelming, but his verse is impressive. His political lyrics have a lightness of touch that keeps him from whining like his older sister, Ms Dynamite, and he has remarkable rhythmic sensibility, equally comfortable within hip hop and drum’n'bass. “Roll Wid Us” and “Bullshit” both go down well, and he manages to get most of the crowd involved in a call-and-response, but the biggest reaction by far comes with his signature tune “Shakespeare” (I’m similar to William, but a little different / I do it for the kids that’s illiterate, not Elizabeth).
It’s a short set but, given that it’s the third of the night (two decent warm-up acts, Profisee + Simba and Marvin the Martian have already been on stage), it’d be churlish to feel hard done by.
Joe Lickens