A Love 'The Main Ingredient' Tour @ Revolver, Melbourne (29/03/08)
A Love closed her album launch tour in her home town of Melbourne; her new album Ace of Hearts has achieved a lot of recognition and airplay on Triple J, and I was quite excited about attending this gig. From what I’d heard of A Love, she is a super talented rapper with loads of attitude, and I have been catching Class A sets around Melbourne for the past twelve months, and it’s obvious she’s a rising young talent in the hip hop community. So this gig had me keen to see whether the ladies could hold it down with an all-female bill.
I’d like to bring up the gender issue right now, just fior the sake of getting it out of the way; as ladies such as A Love are making it less of an issue, just by doing what they do. Initially when I first started going to hip hop shows there was hardly any female MCs out there, and for a while, it did seem that there was a bit of a novelty factor going on when the girls did get up on stage. These days there’s quite a few more female MCs, to the point where the prefix ‘female’ before MC is becoming more and more irrelevant. But on that same note,
I’m not inclined to give credit to the ladies just on the fact that they’re female; I don’t subscribe to the “pretty good for a girl” theory, and I will not just automatically give props due purely to what equipment an MC is rocking between their legs.
So arrived at the venue to watch Class A, an MC originally based in Geelong and now living in Melbourne, who’s been having quite some success recently with doing shows around the place, and has released both a mix tape Class in Session and EP Class with Parker. I’ve watched Class A grow and blossom throughout the last twelve months; initially, I wasn’t 100 percent convinced by her live shows, I was looking for more conviction. It felt as if she was a little scared to really get out there and give it her all. But after last Saturday, I was truly blown away by how she’s lifted her game and is hitting her stride. Rather then resting on her laurels of being an attractive girl who can rock a mic well with the support of a professional DJ and guest MCs, Class A gave it the full conviction that I have been looking for, and threw her heart and soul into it to grace the stage with a heartfelt and energetic set. And Bouges is truly an awesome DJ as well as a superb showman, and onstage the affinity between the two is smooth and slick. Class A interacts well with the crowd and really owned the stage, altogether a dynamic set filled with dexterous cuts and snappy rhymes.
Next it was time for A Love, and what a saucy little thing she was; the first thing I noticed was how little she was. I’d visualized someone taller to be able to pack such larger-than-life rhymes with a gigantic punch. Onstage with Jim Blah and BVA, they rocked out together with an infectious sense of fun; they have an awesome kinetic energy between them. And she’s one of the more talented MCs I’ve ever had the opportunity to witness; a vivacious bundle of high powered full octane raps, laden with cheeky killer punch lines and thoughtful verses, tied in with catchy hooks.
And this girl certainly knows how to work a crowd; the response was awesome, and at one point the spotlight was nearly stolen for a moment when A Love invited her mother onstage to support for a track. It was really beautiful to see them together, a truly lovely moment.
The other guest MCs to share the mic were all fit perfectly within a tight synchronicity; it was hard though not to be totally captivated by the outstanding verve and gusto that is A Love. The fiery Italian worked her way through such a hot set and we didn’t need any of the rumored chili-eating contests. I’m also digging the Latin dance moves A Love pulls out all naturally, it’s all so effortless and innate the way she performs and she brought the house down.
It was a formidable line up, an immense amount of talent, and an all round fun night. A Love plus A Class, I give it an A+ without hesitation.
Ms Von D says...
realised i forgot about tassie.. well it's not on the mainland.. so the east coast tour was finished!!
Kat_in_Japan says...
great review hon!