Black Milk and Elzhi at Cargo

Black Milk and Elzhi at Cargo

24 March, 2009
by: SpecialK

'Elzhi will not be performing tonight. We apologise for any inconvenience. Full refunds will be given at the box office.' Can’t say fairer than that can you? Although in his own right, Black Milk is clearly an underground crowd puller, with the back room crammed to the arches and eager beavers clinging, white knuckled to the stage; for the first time in a long time on a Saturday night at Cargo, the bar was empty and there was no queue outside.

It was an eagerly anticipated double bill date for this years hip hop calendar, most of the faces in the crowd fresh from seeing Q Tip at the Roundhouse last weekend. Black music blog Put Me On It listed the event under the simple heading of 'Black Milk and Elzhi at Cargo…Yes, you heard me. Book your tickets here.' Which attests to the level of excitement surrounding Saturday night, Timeout was clearly so excited that they listed it as 'Elzhi of Slumdog Village.' Ahem.  (Perhaps this is a Danny Boyle and Elzhi collaboration set in the slums of Shoreditch being kept under wraps for the moment).

Now, the UK hiphop crowd is nothing if not forgiving.  Lets face it we have to be, some of our best talent is still quite regularly guilty of tremendous failure in the face of recording, releasing or performing more than a record bag full of decent tunes.  So when musicians come all the way from Detroit, people tend to get very excited. Even if half the duo meant to perform has been lost along the way. This is not to say that people were not a little disappointed, with Elzhi's Black Milk produced album The Preface having been commended as one of hip hop's best offerings of 2008, they were bound to be. But all in all I would say the crowd took it on the chin and with a stiff upper lip developed from persevering through the most trying of performances. Having said that, Black Milk's performance was anything but trying. He is energetic, a seasoned performer at just twenty five years old, and, sorry to lower the tone, but the finest specimen of a man seen in London since the 23rd of November 2008 (Mos Def, Shepherds Bush Empire).

The plaid shirt brigade were treated to a medley of Milk classics, mostly from Popular Demand, the album the majority bought first and then worked backwards, pretending to have owned Sound of the City before it was even made. As an MC, Black Milk has neither the verbosity nor acclaim of Elzhi, but he held his own, delivering hits like Give The Drummer Some and So Gone with style, even kicking a well received acapella verse on Shut It Down. Having been tentatively hailed as a beat maker with enough talent to fill the conspicuously empty shoes of the late, great J Dilla, he had a lot to live up to, especially in front of a crowd who only need to hear the letter ‘J’ to start flapping their ‘J Dilla saved my life’ t-shirts in competitive frenzy whilst jumping up and down and smacking each other in the face with backpacks full of Japanese toys and rare 12inches. Which is what happened when Black Milk raised the subject, obviously alerted to the clause in all performers contracts hired for shows at Cargo ('You must at some point during the evening, mention Jay Dee and his contribution to hip hop and/ or your life').

That’s how it feels sometimes, but the fact is, J Dilla inspired and affected a lot of people and his remembrance has brought a certain unity and atmosphere of affection to the scene (we’ve all witnessed grown men shed a little tear of joy when their favourite Dilla track comes on). Obviously thrilled to be there and giving back as much energy and adoration as he got, Black Milk was charming and humble to the end, saying, 'People be hatin' on my raps, sayin I should stick to makin' beats, but then I wouldn't get to come out here and see y'all…'

The crowd was clearly touched by this statement, roaring their approval and chanting 'Sound the Alarm,' a call for another favourite from Popular Demand. He obliged and then left the stage to rapturous applause. The crowd dispersed early and most made their way to Plastic People, the second best club in Shoreditch for the after party.

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SpecialK