Vauxall Tribes - Hip Hop Event

The week before a Grandmother had been murdered on the way to the train station in Vauxhall but we weren’t about to let that stop us from going to a free Hip Hop event in Vauxhall were we. Admittedly we chose the long route to and from the venue to avoid all council flates and dodgey alleyways and even then we stuck to our NY Brooklyn policy of ‘don’t make eye contact and walk fast’. The event was held in a large tent with a main stage and several areas on the outside of the tent which were meant to be workshops where you could try Mcing, breakdancing, scratching, body popping etc but most of the time these were empty as everyone was watching what was on the stage.

It was beatboxing which impressed us the most. They had 3 guys, one of who was the 2005 beat boxing champ. We were cracking up at the other guy – he was the most unlikely looking b’boxer I’ve ever seen! A weedy white guy with glasses and an air of akwardness him. But when he grabbed that mic he was in his element and the crowd roared. You could almost hear him thinking ‘haha all you jocks that beat me up in school – just look at me now!’.

The 2005 champ was awesome- neither of us had heard anything near this level in NZ. He could sing and b’box at the same time. He was like a human drum set. To say we were impressed would be an understatement.

On the main stage was also a teenage dance crew who had performed for the Queen. They were good dancers but some of their moves were a bit clichéd and the standard of dance wasn’t any higher than what we’d seen in NZ. A bonus of the event was the free sports drinks and Red Bulls available. Needless to stay that Warren was so wired at the end of the night that he wasn’t going to sleep in any hurry.