Music > Live Reviews

Boom Bap Festival 2016

05/08/16

I find myself back in Mildenhall Stadium a year on from the last Boom Bap; after a long day of delivering Outline’s new issue I was finally ready, tent up, Kronenburg in hand..I was ready for the weekend.

As soon as I arrived on site it was clear to see the amount of work and effort that had gone in to putting the festival together - within seconds of being there it was clear that this year’s Boom Bap was going to be a big one.

Friday night was brilliant, with a Tropico takeover on the Sika stage (which by the way is a half-pipe. Cool, eh?!) with local lads Bunk Collective and  Cabrakid. The Tropico takeover certainly didn’t disappoint - with Elf Kid and AJ Tracey, Friday night was off to a banging start.

Over on the main stage we had Split Prophets & Jman, who as always absolutely smashed it. I love seeing these guys live as they always deliver a brilliant show! Later that evening Dirty Dike graced the main stage with his presence. The last time I saw Dike live I was genuinely disappointed at the lack of effort he put in. However his performance at Boom Bap was excellent, full of energy and the crowd fucking loved it. The last act on the main stage Friday night was Task Force, who I was incredibly excited about seeing! They were amazing, some of that real UK hip hop. It was exactly what I expected, amazing.

Saturday morning, after a baby wipe wash, some food and a solid amount of glittering I was ready for another day of it. To kick off the day Twizzy & Jinxta MC tore up the Sika Stage but really what stole the show for me that morning was the RLD Showcase. As soon as NLP dropped Heavyweight everybody simultaneously lost their shit, it was brilliant. After that came Leaf Dog & BVA who as always, killed it. Over on the main stage we had Fliptrix & Verb T which was the perfect music to jam in the sunshine to. The sun was clearly loving it as he stayed for the entire weekend and I got incredibly sunburned! After that we had Skitz b2b with Sammy B Side which was amazing, they played a lot of tunes I was not expecting to hear that weekend, including LDZ’s Lips To The Floooooooooor!!!!

Saturday’s headliner was RA The Rugged Man & A.F.R.O, who were really good. They plucked a lad out of the crowd to spit some bars with them which was wicked to see, and he was also sick! Towards the end of the set there was a mad stage invasion, so much so that they turned the music off (‘elf & safety ‘n all that) but that didn’t stop them - they kept performing until they turned the mic back on!

Now, after all the stage invaders had dispersed it was time. D Double E was here and it was time for grime. IT WAS AMAZING. I saw D Double a year or two ago in Norwich and it wasn’t great, but he was one of the highlights of this weekend. Real party vibes in the air, and he even treated us to a brand new tune (and filmed the video!).  Now after this it was straight to the Square One Stage for Problem Child vs Dead Players, two acts who are renowned for getting the crowd rowdy! Problem Child are one of my favourite acts at the moment, Illaman absolutely killed it with his ridiculous paced rapping and Dubbledge played Colourblind which I wasn’t expecting to hear at all which was amazing!

Come Sunday morning everyone was feeling a bit bleary-eyed, so please do forgive me if this last day's report is a tad blurry, but after a cheeky bfacon sandwich it was back to it! Sunday had some serious Norwich vibes in the air, kicking the day of with a dub set from Raygolian at Mowgli’s Yard.  Then to the Sika stage for Music Lessons, I think it was possibly one of the best sets I’ve seen them do yet, Music Lesson’s First Lady Hannah was amazing and she absolutely destroyed it with that beautiful voice! And what was really nice is that Skinnyman came and showed some love for the Norwich boys.

The first act I saw on the main stage that day was Benaddict, who I was really excited about seeing as I’ve never seen him live and I really couldn’t imagine what kind of show he would put on. It was a lush sunny day and he came out and played some beautifully chilled hip hop. At some point in the afternoon Sleazy F Baby & Black Josh came on stage which was wicked and also at some point I remember being rather impressed by Bailey’s Brown & Datkid on the main stage! Ocean Wisdom smashed it, he pulled a massive audience and everyone was loving it, with his ridiculousy impressively paced lyrics he gave the crowd what they wanted!

After this was Pharoahe Monch & DJ Boogie Blind which was brilliant. He played loads of lovely nice hip hop then right at the end if his set he finally played Simon Says and it all got very silly,very quickly. I literally witnessed, in front of my very eyes, a crown of chilled swaying hip hop heads ALL jump into each other. If you’d have taken away the music from that situation it would have looked like an actual three minute long riot.

And then what we’d all been waiting for… the Boombap Finale!

The vibes onstage were crazy, so may acts played. I remember Rodney P absolutely smashing it out the park, Blak Twang, Skinnyman, Mystro and soooo many more! It was fantastic. After all of that madness it was time for the SMB takeover and a last dance in Mowgli’s Yard before it was time to get some sleep and we all had to return back to reality.

It was a brilliant weekend, definitely the best Boom Bap so far. Thanks Ivan and everybody involved for making it happen! I hope this isn’t the last we see of Boom Bap. BIG LOVE x