Akil The MC

Akil? From Jurassic 5? One of the best hip-hop groups ever? In my town? Holy shit! I'm there!
This was my response when I was first informed who was headlining the next Rapsploitation Session.
I'm a big Jurassic 5 fan so getting the opportunity to photograph Akil is a big deal for me to say the least.
As much of a fan I am, I was a little worried that people may not have been fussed about seeing "just" one member of J5, but Ipswich responded by making this a sold out night, all the tickets went which is a tough thing to do and hasn't happened in a little while. A tip of the hat is in order for that.
I arrived to find people queuing up which was great to see, Akil arrived shortly after me to sound check and get prepared for his performance. Having seen J5 before, knowing they put on a show nothing short of killer, I was excited to see what the now solo Akil had up his sleeve for the sold out Swan.

The support act was supposed to be Sonny Jim, an MC from Birmingham. Unfortunately he got a flat tyre on the way there so couldn't make it. But waiting in the wings ready to jump in was our favorite local rap super star, Truth.
He got the already pumped crowd warmed up with songs from his Procrastinate(k)ing album.
The excitement was slowly building for the headline act, you could see it on every single persons face as the pub started to really fill up.
Akil came out to an already roaring audience cheering him to the stage, I've never heard anybody get that much of a cheer for saying "Hello Ipswich"!
He asked the packed out pub "do you mind if I try out some of my own solo stuff?" of course nobody objected. Akil's solo material went down extremely well, he got the response he wanted. You could see he was relieved that people were into it. It's a completely different ball game being on your own to doing shows with 4 other guys which he has been doing for years so you can understand if he was a little nervous to start out. But the positive crowd got him going and vice versa.
He also performed a few J5 classics like "What's Golden", "A Day At The Races" & possibly Jurassic 5's best know track "Concrete Schoolyard" which I know all of the J5 fans in there were 100% loving. He really got the audience involved to, he beckoned all the mc's in the pub to the stage to join him for a song or two. Truth and Jamie Dyer got up there so fast! What kind of mc misses a chance like this right?!!
Once all the testosterone was out of everyone's system, he invited all the women to the stage to join him for a dance on his last couple of songs. The sly devil. This turned into maybe four or five more songs, the sold out crowd wanted more and more, and Akil was soaking up every second of the good vibes the audience were giving him.
Overall this night was possibly a front runner for the best Rapsploitation Session to date. Sold out, amazing positive atmosphere & outstanding performances from Akil & Truth. A complete success by anyone's standard. He says he will DEFINITELY be back. Well done Ipswich!

Who's that boy who keeps it loose? They call him the Truth

Some pictures from the shoot on Monday with Scott French aka Truth.
Taken on top of the Orwell Bridge, below it and an abandoned warehouse.
You can download his album "Procrastinate(k)ing" FOR FREE at... http://www.sendspace.com/file/juh6m2

Also don't forget tonights Rapsploitation Session which Scott is putting on, headlined by Akil the mc from Jurassic 5. Doors at 8pm, Get on it! I'll be there photographing the event, expect photos soon.

Under The Bridge

No trolls here, just beautiful Suffolk.
I took this photo today whilst on a shoot with somebody doing portraits, which will be on my next post. Hold tight for those.

Something New Again

I only started playing guitar about 11 weeks ago, and it's quickly becoming a new addiction of mine along with photography & riding my skateboard. Playing guitar is undoubtedly going to become a big part of me. I have not felt this much satisfaction since my early days on a skateboard. Its so good to have something new again.
Here is a little shot of my beaut.

Pistols & Vultures

Here are some photographs I got of new band Pistols & Vultures playing in Colchester on saturday. The four piece band has Alex Green on guitar, Nick Woodham on bass, Freddie Cant behind the drums & the final piece is Carnell Cook fronting the band.
These guys havn't been together long or recorded anything as yet, so I didn't really know what to expect from them. I was smiling within 15 seconds of the first song they played which was a Jimi Hendrix cover that many bands would have probably murdered, P&V did it right. They also played a John Mayer cover amongst a handful of their own songs. Although their original tracks were few, they were very impressive and the entire band really came to life during them bringing ample amounts of energy to the stage which was great to see. I genuinely don't have a bad word to say about anything. I hope they have a EP or something recorded in the near future.
I'm predicting good things for Pistols & Vultures. Go see them, you wont regret it.

Check the band out at www.myspace.com/pistolsandvultures