Artist: De La Soul’s Plug 1 & Plug 2 Present First Serve
Venue: Maida Vale, London (BBC6Music 10th Birthday)
Date: 14th March 2012
De La Soul are undeniably one of hip hop’s biggest names, with ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ constantly lauded (and rightly so) as one of the best hip hop albums ever recorded.
So what happens when two of their number team up with some serious french producers, don a mixture of Andre 3000 swag, carnival masks and mad nineties street wear and make a concept album based on the story of two rappers coming up from the underground?
We went to BBC Madia Vale Studios for the BB6 Music 10th Birthday celebrations to find out.
First off, I’m a huge De La fan, so the idea of hearing new material was super exciting, but I wasn’t really prepared for what I found in Studio Three of those historic BBC buildings.
The set began with two massive hip hop classics in the guise of De La Soul – ‘Me, Myself and I’ and ‘Ring , Ring, Ring’. Both tunes got the crowd on a hype and it was a really cool way to start what turned out to be a fantastic live preview of the guys new album. After their reminiscing about the days of Jordans, Spike Lee and high tops, they left the stage to ‘transform’ and transform they did. The group who returned to the stage were a mixture of old school suave, masked up maniacs and 90’s gangsta rap. Plug 1 & Plug 2 were joined by their live touring band, and the two other members of First Serve, french producers 2 and 4.
The first tune that the guys dropped was ‘We Made It’, a chilled funky beat with with the two sparring each other, telling a tale of their respective characters rise to fame. The next tune ‘Must Be The Music’ is the first single from the new album and the guys also dropped another sneak peek off the album called ‘The Work’
Whilst I was listening to First Serve live I was getting the distinct feeling that somebody had been listening to Madlib, Peanut Butter Wolf and a few other Stones Throw alumni. But that’s no bad thing, with French Producers 2 and 4 at the helm, the beats sound original, fresh and really really enjoyable to the ears. It harks back to the best parts of old school hip hop with a new fresh twist and loads of banging hooks, and shout along choruses. The feel good, energetic bars and summery beats are a nice alternative to the hip hop reining the charts at the moment. Yes we all have soft spots for one or two BIG name chart rappers (By the laws of averages probably one of YMCMB‘s products, with the amount of music they put out) but it was so nice to listen to a few tracks in which no one spoke about how they’d ‘Smack a bitch’ or ‘F**k a Ho’. So yes. I’m loving First Serve, and if the set they put on for BBC6Music is anything to go by this could be the album of the summer.
As I left the studios I only wanted to do one of two things –
1. Buy some beers, sit in the sun and blast hip hop
2. Get my hands on the First Serve album.
I always need one hip hop album to rinse in the summer, and unless the contenders (and there are a few in the coming months) go hard, it may well be First Serve that I take home.
Photos by Mark Allan/BBC
