Chiddy Bang are an East Coast rap/rock/samples combo whose star is rising, so I’m surprised this is not completely rammed, but anyway…
The audience are mainly in mid teens, certainly no scene poseurs at this one, except Betty, obviously, got some strange looks but maybe it was the heels, or the skirt was a bit racy I suppose…
Live, the core recording duo of vocalist and samples/keys guys Chiddy and (presumably Bang) are augmented by a very effective drummer and a Tina Weymouth-esque woman with a bass who looks very posh, probably there to keep them all in order, and yes, I would (in case you were asking) – anyway it’s a pretty effective unit and they do rock, and rap.
In the power garage rap league (ITM’s or Betty’s specialist subject really but it’s all over the charts, in fact often the only thing in the charts, so influences radio agenda but see later comments on paying for music) they are more credible than Talio Cruz, less cheesy than Guetta and have some good tunes. The rapping is not exactly Chuck D but it’s pretty strong and very skilled. After chucking out a few initial numbers (audience started with traditional “Here We F___ing Go” then later started a “CB, CB, CB” to tune of well known anthem – neds these days really can be quite expressive, and the band were impressed) there is an audience participation section where Chiddy is given a number of random words to incorporate into a freestyle rap. He takes in the info like a boxer going into a fight and then absolutely slays it, each item on the list (a couple of things the audience has shouted out plus the tour manager’s suggestions, total of 5 or 6) getting a huge cheer as he ticks it off the list.
Other stupid things happen, like someone chucks their mobile on stage, Chiddy catches out and then reads out the latest text on the phone, also incorporated into the freestyle.
This combo came to Betty’s attention mainly due to their MGMT-sampling ‘Kids’ track, a very effective melding of a killer hook with Chiddy’s killer rapping. Other tracks are maybe not quite as memorable but the “kids” lapped it up, at one point around 78% of the audience were filming the thing on their mobiles (this % is usually in directly negative correlation to the average age of the audience).
After one encore it was all over, less than an hour, but a pretty high octane hour at that. They did play ‘Ray Charles’, lead track from their next offering, out soon, and Betty would predict that a few Radio 1 plays will ensure they go top 10, not that any of that stuff matters any more, (SERIOUS ISSUE ALERT HERE) the stats say something like 95% of people between 14 and 20 have never paid for music in their lives – a sobering thought, as Betty staggers, sorry totters provocatively, leading to wolf whistles from young bucks, sorry, neds, never mind, I’m out of your league “mate”, out into the night under the Hielanman’s jockstrap (I wish). It’s also a reason why everyone needs to tour to make any money; sorry these comments for another day and possible ITM SERIOUS ISSUE ALERT music fan debate… does anyone actually read this stuff? Certainly not the “Kids”.