Thou Shalt Be Good Live

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip live at the Koko

(support Producers with Computers, Gideon Connn)

by D J Collacott

'Conscious Hip Hop' was a term banded around in recent years, largely attributed to US artists like Kanye West amongst others and intent on proving you can rap about things other than guns, stereotypes, sex, money and ego. Not that anyone is claiming that such subject matter hasn't provided the back-bone to some of the best hip-hop escapism ever! But in Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip you have a duo pioneering a poetic style of intelligent hip-hop that is the antithesis of gangsta rap and the current UK grime scene. Both artists existed in isolation before forming an inspired partnership and having their demo picked up and heavily endorsed by XFM. Sac plays the DJ/Producer role, mixing largely electro beats and clever sampling over a tongue in cheek morally conscious web of lyrics and irony delivered by the bearded prophet of Scroobius Pip (taking his name from Edward Lear poem The Scroobious Pip).

The support tonight was provided by young duo Producers with Computers and the five piece backed musings of Gideon Conn. Important to note then that grime/garage rap done well can of course be good, but after great promise the set from openers Producers With Computers dipped dramatically when their sound morphed into a predictable implosion of garage hip-hop. Don't get me wrong the youthful looking duo at times blew the audience away with their high-energy, high tempo hip hop style featuring a disco break beat and old school electro sound. Yet if grimey single 'Girlies' is anything to go by they are still relying too heavily on the Kiss/Channel U crowd to sell records.

No such cliché could be afforded to second support act Gideon Conn, the geek sheek hip-hop artist gently caressed the audience with his soulful hip-hop laid over live blues and funk. At times his marched scat acapella interludes were a little too bizarre and yet simultaneously strangely endearing. The guy has some serious talent and a rebellious sense of anti-cool, his weedy between song banter made him sound like he had wandered straight off the set of Napoleon Dynamite! But if you like live horns and keyboards and a live vibe comparable to Tribe Called Quest and Beck (imagine if Hot Chip were doing Hip Hop) then Conn is someone who has to be experienced.

For the main act the Koko stage was decked out like an old fashioned living room, complete with armchair, radio, coat-stand, television and numerous other props and objects. A mashed up version of the antiques road show theme announced the dynamic duo's arrival with Scroobius Pip dressed in trademark cap, black shirt and tie. The high-tempo crunching beats and big sound of The Beat That My Heart Skipped kicked the set off with the whole song building in intensity as the throbbing baseline shook the venues foundations. Next up was the looped guitar and arcade bleeping of Development, a track that is pretty much a statement of intent, with the highlight middle section featuring Pip rapping the Periodic Table (demonstrated live by a picture frame flipped round to show the table itself on the back).

Pip supped wine, put on his slippers and drifted through seamless spoken word interludes, sprawling through several sharp social commentaries. Sac then belted out the wistful choral vocals of the almost love ballad-esque new single 'Look for the Woman,' a beautifully flowing but sombre piece of hip-hop.

Returning to the subject of the elaborate set, during one track Pip performed a graceful and yet strange piece of physical theatre utilising a white glove, ladies coat (on stand) and his arm to give the impression the coat were a real woman. Prior to this he rapped into a table lamp mounted camera displaying on the TV, all the while delivering a track that lyrically mocked the notion of celebrity, the mis-use of the word beauty and playing tribute to the late great 'Tommy Cooper!?'

The crowd were soon jumping as Dan le Sac fired the starting pistol to the verbal sprint through Dizzy Rascal inspired p*ss take Fixed, a sublimely ironic deconstruction of commercial UK grime and garage hip-hop. Then onto darker material with the brooding backing track and biting moral commentary of Angles, featuring Pip adopting the personas of several different characters and lyrically presenting one tragic narrative through the eyes of four different people. The songs haunting message delivered never more succinctly with the chorus of ''Things in life aren't quite what they seem, there's more than one given angle in any one given scene, so bare that in mind before you try to intervene on any one give angle on any one given scene.'

The disturbingly brilliant A Letter from God to Man was perhaps the only track where the vocals were lost in the wall of sound provided by the Radiohead Planet telex sample. Still, the Koko crowd were soon pushed into rapture as Sac dropped the beat for infectious signature track 'Thou Shalt Not Kill,' with the audience shouting 'Just a band' back at the eclectic duo as prompted. Pip even delivered the song from behind a book and altar; rasping and shouting louder and louder as the song snowballed in intensity, culminating in them being joined on stage by Producers with Computers. The encore featured two odd and slightly forgettable electro karaoke versions of Prince's Kiss and Nightclub by the Specials, with Pip disappearing into the crowd and saluting his dad in the audience.

Some people might claim they don't want to experience music that sounds like a sermon on the dangers of modern life, but Sac and Pip manage to avoid such critcism by never taking themselves to seriously. That's not to say that they don't have a point to make, but as long as they keep making infectiously progressive hip-hop then there will always be a growing audience willing to listen to that point.

New single Look for the Woman is released on the 28th April. Debut album Angles is released 12 May. To find out more go to http://www.myspace.com/lesacvspip