Pete Rock & CL Smooth at O2 Academy in Bristol review

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Having so far brought over two seminal hip hop acts from the 90’s - Camp Lo and Smif-N-Wessun - for shows this year, Bristol’s Sip the Juice crew went all out for their bank holiday shindig at the O2 Academy.

Seemingly in pursuit of New York’s most iconic hip hop duos of the 90s, the promoters pulled off quite some feat in booking Pete Rock & CL Smooth - one of the most influential hip hop acts from this era, not least of the classic one DJ/producer, one rapper formation.

Hailing from Mount Vernon, New York, the legendary double act first came into prominence during the early 90’s with their two classic albums Mecca & the Soul Brother and its respective follow up The Main Ingredient.

The compatible pairing of C.L Smooth’s philosophical rhymes and Pete Rock’s gritty, soul and jazz-inflected beats garnered widespread attention; and through their work together conceived a staple track of the Golden Era entitled ‘They Reminisce over You’ (T.R.O.Y) - which is widely considered as one of the greatest rap records of all time.

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Following their split over “creative differences” in 1995, Pete Rock expanded on his prolific career as an in demand producer and remixer – with the likes of Run DMC, Nas, Wu Tang Clan members, Jay Z & Kanye West, featured on his extensive resume. 

While C.L Smooth had remained relatively low key, recording just a handful of guest appearances and dropping two solo LP’s in the mid noughties.

The two artists have taken their fair share of verbal shots at each other over the years in interviews, but as of 2010 they decided to bury the hatchet for the sake of hip hop and its culture.

Last Sunday night the reunited duo played an outstanding show in Bristol for the first time ever, as part of their UK tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut EP ‘All Souled Out’.

With that in mind, the gig attracted a fair bulk of Bristol’s old school hip hop devotees - ranging from the older hard core heads, to the younger generation of kids who have more recently discovered the vintage sounds of the genre.

With the crowd fully geared up for the live presence of the iconic twosome, Pete Rock took his position behind the 1’s and 2’s around midnight, and laid down a short prelude of funk and soul jams. Before C.L Smooth rocked up on stage and launched right into the appropriate opener ‘Return of the Mecca’.

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Surging with energy and still sounding lyrically fresh on the mic, it was as if the Mecca Don and his partner had never really been away from us in all these years.

The crowd were thrilled from the off, as they raptly nodded their heads and swayed their arms up and down in the air. The pair ran through a set that clocked in at just over an hour, which surprisingly was enough time to cram in well over a dozen of their tracks.

This covered material from Mecca & the Soul Brother and The Main Ingredient, not to mention the All Souled Out EP, and even guest verses from other artists songs.  

For all the raw and competitive rhymes tightly delivered by C.L on the likes of ‘I Get Physical’ and Mecca & the Soul Brother, there were also several opportunities for him to enter into his smooth ladies’ man mode, on tracks like the sultry ‘Lots of Lovin’, ‘Searching’ and ‘I Got A Love’.

‘Lots of Lovin’ especially proved to be a favorite among the fans, and saw C.L direct the microphone to the crowd during the choruses; who then chanted back the soulful hook with pure gusto.

All of which appeared to be a semi-tactic on the rappers part to avoid making any awkward attempts at singing the hook himself, while allowing the crowd to vocally share their enthusiasm. 

Pete Rock also had plenty of moments to shine on the mic too, with ‘The Creator’ being one particular highlight during the show. It saw the self-proclaimed, yet justified Soul Brother 1# strut from behind the decks to spit his verses over funk-driven, rugged beats, which went down a storm with the crowd.

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Although a little coarse-throated on the night when rapping, Rock was on top form as a DJ, and demonstrated his supreme turntable skills through deft cuts and scratches, whilst laying down instrumentals for himself and C.L to rhyme over.

It came as no surprise that their world renowned hip hop anthem ‘They Reminisce over You’ (T.R.O.Y) was saved until the very end of the night, and as you could probably imagine the crowd reception was absolute chaos.

Before PR dropped the horn-laden beat though, he teased the crowd, while at the same educated them by playing Tom Scott’s cover of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Today’ in all its glory - which is the original track that the producer sampled to create ‘T.R.O.Y’.

Then once the anticipation had hit its peak, unleashed the full instrumental, which prompted C.L to rip into his quotable bars. And this of course had the O2 Academy in raptures.

Inspired by the death of the pairs close friend Troy “Trouble T Roy” Dixon, it’s incredible to see how the songs catchy sax riff and such poignant lyrics has the enduring power to elate an audience so positively, as it clearly did so on the night.

It’s this vital record alone that firmly cemented Pete Rock’s status as one of the all-time greatest hip hop producers, alongside the likes of DJ Premier, RZA, and Rock’s successor the late J Dilla. And together with C.L Smooth they have secured their position as giants in the hip hop hall of fame.

Judging by the untouchable chemistry witnessed between the pair on stage, plus the overall great show, it would appear that the story of Pete Rock & CL Smooth is far from finished. Let’s hope that the rumoured and long awaited third album comes to light very soon.

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Oxford - O2 Academy, Thursday 8th September

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Newcastle - O2 Academy, Friday 9th September 

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