Electric Brixton, London
The 21-year-old Bronx rapper incites moshpits and stage diving with a battery of earworm hooks – and gets a cameo from Stefflon Don
At 21 years old, rising Bronx rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie draws his influences less from the NYC hip-hop pioneers working with two turntables and a microphone, and far more from the megastar MCs of the noughties. Over the course of a self-released mixtape (2016’s Artist) and a major label album (this year’s A Bigger Artist), he has skilfully referenced contemporary icons, taking in the Auto-Tuned self-reflection of Future, the sing-song humblebrags of Drake, and Kanye’s penchant for electronic experimentation. But tonight in Brixton, it becomes apparent that at least one familiar, welcome remnant of Bronx boom-bap culture remains: he knows how to put on a proper live show.
Bounding on stage with a huge grin as his DJ scratches up current club hip-hop hits, A Boogie is a spindly, hyperactive performer, springing from one speaker stack to the other as the DJ gamely runs through rap shoutout 101 (“put your hands in the air London”, etc). A Boogie is dressed unobtrusively in a beanie hat, sports sweater, ripped jeans and – by hip-hop standards – an extremely modest gold chain, looking more like the rap scene’s latest art director than its breakout star. All of this adds to his likability, a good-times everyman who’s there to enjoy himself, as he swiftly kicks into a party-starting rendition of Wild Thots – a mischievous remix of Rihanna’s Wild Thoughts.
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