#xoyo london

[moendoftheworld]

London! Thanks to everyone who came out to the XOYO show. I luv u! ✨💖✨

[newinja]

Shamir at XOYO

XOYO, London, May 2015

Olympus OM-D E-M5

All photos by James Nguyen, 2015

[moendoftheworld]

XOYO 📸 Eva J. Gala

[thenbhd-blackwhite]

Jesse @ XOYO London

[wildfire7]

skream 2001-05 set at xoyo

[moendoftheworld]

WEDNESDAY WAS SO EMOTIONAL AND MAGICAL ✨💖✨ I LITERALLY LOVED EVERYONE IN THAT ROOM 🎶🌺🎶 THANK U FOREVER 📷: rissarissaaa

[oni0n-rings]

is anyone going to bugged out at XOYO in london nov 22nd?

pls respond

[thepotionmusic]

Can't wait to see this geezer next weekend #SoundCloud

[moendoftheworld]

Heeeeeeeey - Any photographers out there? u wanna come take pix at my XOYO gig in London? Send me your stuff!!! 💚💚💚momomocrew@gmail.com

[wallohapp]

Freddie Gibbs: Man Out Of Time

By his own admission, Freddie Gibbs is a rare breed. In a world of emoji-based Drakeisms and the sheep-in-several-wolves'-clothing that  is Officer Ricky, the authenticity of gangster rap is something of an anachronism. In the same way that Fifty Cent is satisfied resting on Vitamin Water laurels, the influence of the real hit-em-hard hip-hop of the 90’s lingers around the rap scene like the ghost at the proverbial feast. Just as trap rap haunts a post-crunk world, and Pusha is trying to forge a Malice-less existence, the paradigm shift is not one of quality, but of legitimacy. And Freddie Gibbs watches on; a man out of time.

Once, rappers relied on their authenticity and their infamy to garner attention. Whether it was Snoop’s murder charges or the weight Jay moved, the themes and tropes of the genre only held water when they tumbled off the tongue of those who had lived through such tribulations. Any arguments or insults zeroed in on a rapper’s realness; there’s only so long fake thugs can pretend.

Freddie Gibbs hails from Gary, Indiana, a nothing much, no-coast outpost. In 2006 he signed to Interscope, bringing technical prowess and a raw edge to the record label’s roster. Without a single release, however, he was dropped. Rather than becoming another struggling artist or returning to selling drugs, Gibbs collected his studio efforts and released them for free online. While traditional mixtape material is designed to build hype ahead of an album release, The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs welcomed the world to the life of a man who the recording industry had passed by, thematically and financially.

Being dropped from a major label equipped Gibbs with the one thing he had been lacking: pathos. There are few artists who can make rapping sound so effortless, who can arrange complex syllables across complicated structures and still sound like they could keep going forever and ever. While the subjects may still have stuck to the gangster rap mainstays, this was a new perspective. As interesting and fresh as this perspective may have been, it was still not commercially viable. 

Gibbs retreated to the sprawling sphere of underground hip-hop. It was here he would team with an unlikely partner. The non-quantised chronic of Madlib’s beats are a regular feature for the more backpack inclined, but when coupled with Gibb’s storytelling – as on their 2014 album Piñata – the strung-out soul eked an effervescent effortlessness from the amputated ambitions and the growing, growling self-awareness. When warm beats meet a cold world, the typical result is lukewarm. Here, however, Madlib manages to bottle the pure pathos of Gibb’s world; the instrumentals crafting a sonic subtext to the collapsing world of gangster rap. While the industry might have passed Freddie Gibbs by, he has finally managed to carve his own niche. In Madlib, the man out of time has found his partner in crime.  Catch Freddie Gibbs on 31st August at XOYO.  For tickets, check out their website. 

   Huw Thomas