The Rapper's Joke Has Not Worn Thin

The rappers’ joke has not worn thin

Jan 19 2008 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail

RESILIENCE is a useful weapon in the fickle world of pop music.

Just when it looked as though the joke had worn thin, Goldie Lookin’ Chain have bounced back with even more hilarious takes on the British vernacular experience.

When Atlantic dropped the purveyors of anarchic hip-hop from their label after their second album, the GLC split in several directions – some choosing to explore new musical projects, others turning the airwaves blue on XFM South Wales.

But the Newport collective’s return to the musical fold hasn’t been overlooked, with this sell-out show at Clwb Ifor Bach to promote their new album, Under The Counter. Support came from Adam Hussain, easily the GLC’s most adept rapper.

The GLC bounded onto the stage in the only way they can, forking out in various directions to the sounds of House Party, a straightforward rap-off between any member that could force their lyric in.

The daft banter between tracks was inevitable, with P Xain making light of Maggot’s appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, saying, “He’s come back from his holiday with Bryan Adams just to play this show.”

Of course, the crowd were immersed in every minute of the show, and were suitably attired in their sleek leisure wear and oversized novelty jewellery.

A huge amount of new material threatened to flood the set list until Half Man/Half Machine flexed it’s electro-pop muscles. Inevitably, the new material hardly broke any new ground for the GLC, but their sampling knows no bounds, with Dusty Springfield’s Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart smattered all over the syrupy ballad Mary-Jane.

The crowd became a little static towards the end of show, seemingly unfamiliar with the rehashed tales about smoking cannabis and chasing girls around Newport.

The GLC flourished at the finale though, with Your Missus Is A Nutter lifting Serge Gainsbourg’s spectacular guitar riff on the Parisian-inflected track Cannabis. And the gender reversal of Your Mother’s Got A Penis initiated a huge stage invasion from half the crowd.

The GLC’s supposed time limit in the industry shows no signs of expiring. It’s the same joke, but it’s still funny.

Michael Took

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