Last Sunday night some of Hip Hop’s most revered and respected artists touched down in Sydney, turning The Forum at the Entertainment Quarter into Rap City. Alongside a raft of local talent, we witnessed the legendary Masta Ace , The Beatnuts and DJ Premier who gave us beats so phat they could do with a spot on next season’s biggest loser.

Following on from the local artists, Daily Meds , Brethren and DJ Victor Lopez . Total Eclipse of the X-Ecutioners was the jump off point for most punters as the Forum started to fill to capacity. He announced his arrival at Rap City with some heavy juggling and scratching before cutting up the beginning of Daft Punk’s Robot Rock. During his powerful display behind the wheels he also dropped Krs-One’s Step into a world along with many other classic joints. A great set which set a high standard for the rest who had to follow.

Something that definitely should be mentioned here is the effort Slingshot Touring went to in regards to the production for this gig. A lot of what we have seen from similar tours of this ilk is, promoters thinking they can bring out an artist stick them on a stage and BAM, instant show. It was refreshing to finally see a production company put some real effort in, providing props which made the stage look like a city skyline and three big TV screens which also helped with the visual aspects, this is especially important for sets that don’t have an emcee.

Marco Polo then took to the decks to announce, “Make some fucking noise!!! I got two legends in the building, first up from Boston Mass’ make some noise for Edo G !!!! Next up, reppin’ the Juice Crew All Stars, straight from Brooklyn New York, make some noise for Masta Ace!!!!!”.

Both emcees hit the stage and after the usual fan-fare and applause, started spitting hard. Both Edo and Masta Ace are very respected lyricists in their own right, so it was going to be interesting to see what their connection together was like when it came to being live on stage. Their track Ei8ht Enuff was enuff to expel any doubts and silence any haters, as they wrapped verses around each other with the same deft touch as other duos like Dilated Peoples or Red and Meth who have been working together a lot longer than these two have been.

Hands High which is produced by our very own M-Phazes dropped early in the set and was followed by a bit of a surprise inclusion, which for me was the track of the night, it was short and sweet as Masta Ace dropped his verses from the classic Crooklyn Dodgers . He then paid some dues to Marco Polo dropping their joint Nostalgia. Before finishing up with their first single from the Arts and Entertainment record Little Young (also produced by M-Phazes) to bring the excellent set to a close.

The Beatnuts didn’t hit the stage to as much fanfare as the previous act but by the time they had finished their opening track Pendelo all corners of the Forum were on board. Last time Beatnuts were out here they stole the show, one they co-headlined with Jeru The Damaja , and when Beatnuts dropped Stone Crazy it felt as if they were going to steal this night as well. Contact kept the crowd moving next before they turned that joint (no pun intended) into Cypress Hill’s I want to get high to close it out.

A staple at seemingly all Hip Hop shows is the section where the crew bring any willing females onstage to show off the moves they have been practising in front of the mirror all week in preparation for the gig. And although this gimmick is becoming more and more played out it never fails to bring the lol’s as the girl’s battle for the attention of the rappers and the applause from the fans. Beatnuts again provided an amazing performance, one of those crews that often get overlooked, but a force that can only be reckoned with when they are kickin’ like they did at Rap City.

DJ Premier had the headline spot and got the Gang Starr and Guru love underway from the beginning, opening with Full Clip to a huge response before dropping Mass Appeal . Preemo let most of the songs in the set play out without doing too much to the beats in the way of tricks or scratching, considering this was a tribute I think this was the right way to go about the set. During Right where you stand he got the audience to participate “Guru’s goin’ to say, usually I’m dolo but I got a crazy team. Then I want you to make a lot of fucking noise!!!!” and the crowd did just that. Obviously this was a predominantly Gang Starr set but Premier also dropped in some tracks from his extensive catalogue from the likes of Group Home among many others.

Nick Javas is one of the latest signings to Premier’s own label Year Round Records . He came out towards the end of Premier’s set to help bring the huge night to a close. Unfortunately finishing like this didn’t work so well as everyone was so pumped after listening to classic after classic, having new and relatively unknown tracks seemed to lose the vibe in the venue. A few audience members started to vocalise their disappointment, much to the obvious displeasure of Javas, who at one stage almost climbed down to have it out with one of the more vocal people in the crowd.

Slingshot Touring seem to be kicking a lot of goals lately, this line up was unbelievable and as I mentioned before the production and running of the whole night was excellent. How will Slingshot ever top this line up?...I’d say bringing Tribe Called Quest out here in August is damn good start.