J.E.M LIVE REVIEW: BLACK STAR - 'SCIENCE OF SPEECH' MANCHESTER

There is an unspoken assumption that in terms of hip hop in the UK, London is the epicentre. Having ventured almost two hundred miles north to the Manchester Academy on 11 May, as I scanned the queue and headed in, I could have been at any number of London's archetypal hip hop venues. Emering urban music talent such as R.I.O are certainly putting Manchester on map, and as the only other city that the 'Science of Speech' hip hop showcase travelled to other than the capital, that is saying something still.

The last minute change of venue from the 02 Apollo to the Academy, which is in fact Manchester University's student union, did not at all dampen the proceedings, and as a venue, was a far cry from the average student union. During my years at uni, particularly a cultural hub such as Goldsmiths, I never recall seeing the likes of Rakim, Mos Def and Talib Kweli in my SU bar. If that is how they get down in Manchester, perhaps the prospects of student halls and super noodles would not have been such a nightmare after all.

If you know anything about hip hop, or more accurately, real hip hop, then you'll know the story of hip hop to date would not be complete without 'The Master' aka Rakim, one of the most acclaimed and influential emcees of all time. Not a fan of taking planes, he had travelled five days on the Queen Mary to cross the ocean from his native New York. I am not sure if there was a parting of the sea, but 'the god' had arrived and was about to tear s*** up.

Like Ra's epic journey back to the UK, we were taken through his discography going way back in the day to '86 with joints such as 'Eric B is President', and 'I know I got Soul', through to 'When I B on tha Mic' and 'Europhia', 'Guess who's Back' and even more recent projects with Swizz Beatz. The night would not have been complete without of course 'Paid in Pull' and the anthem to my all time favourite film 'Juice (know the legend)'. 'The master' came and blessed the mic and left us in no doubt that the real hip hop was 'over here'.

Momentarily, I has forgotten that we were still awaiting the main event, and was only reminded by Talib Kweli letting Manchester know that, "Black Star is in the place". They promised a Black Star extravaganza and that is exactly what they delivered and then some. There are a number of original albums, some even signed, which take pride of place on my makeshift technics decks case mantelpiece, of which Black Star's 1998 album is the centrepiece. Since then both Mos Def and Talib Kweli have had numerous solo hits, as well as their acclaimed collaborations, therefore the night was a fusion of their collective and individual music catalogues. They might both be acclaimed in their own right, but Black Star still paid homage to the likes of Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick and gave shout outs to Rakim and B.I.G.

There were far too many highlights to single them out, but if I had to pick three they would be performances of 'Definition', Talib Kweli's 'Never been in Love' and surprise guest to the line up Hi-Tek, guaranteeing that every hand in the place was raised. Much has been made of Mos Def's UK performances during 2010, and in answer to the most asked question following the show "how was Mos Def?", he certainly redeemed himself from his appearances of the previous year. The only perceived disappointment was the absence of De La Soul who were dropped from the Manchester line up due to "unforeseen circumstances". if the group's tweets are anything to go by, there might in fact be more to those "circumstances" than meets the eye.

'Science of Speech' and the arrival of Black Star had been one of the most talked about events in the 2011 UK hip hop calender, with the London show selling out weeks prior to their arrival, and after the show, the UK will still be talking about it for some time to come.

All photography: (c) Michael Antoniou