Live Review: Pete Rock & DJ Premier, M-Phazes, DJ Zimmie

A line of kids forms outside the venue hours before Pete Rock and DJ Premier are due to take the stage. Once inside, it's evident that the predominately teenage male crowd would call themselves true hip hop fans. As DJ Zimmie keeps things classic, bumping hip hop heavyweights such as A Tribe Called Quest and OutKast, said crowd members recite every lyric.

M-Phazes is next to play, and he does his best to keep the crowded venue entertained. Starting out with more hip hop anthems, he slowly migrates toward playing some of his own beats, which are mind-blowing. M-Phazes' tribute to J Dilla is a nice touch and he cites the late producer as one of his major influences. Around the 12.30am mark, crowd chants for “Premo” and “Pete Rock” begin and M-Phazes drops What's Golden? by Jurassic 5 in an attempt to pacify the audience, as DJ Premier and Pete Rock finally make their way to the stage. “How many of you motherfuckers love hip hop?” Premo shouts in his distinctive tone. Hyping the audience to no end, the duo begin their battle set with a James Brown tribute, serving as a nod to “old school hip hop”. As they move on to “newer” hip hop, we hear from Jay Z and Notorious BIG. As Pete Rock and Premo power through this portion of their set, we also hear Wu-Tang Clan, Busta Rhymes and Tupac. Premo then goes on to shout out the 20-year anniversary of Illmatic, which the duo follow by playing back-to-back Nas.

As they move on to the soul portion of their set, a substantial amount of Curtis Mayfield is played. Including Sting and The Police does well to amp up the crowd before Premo drops Big L and kids try to rush the stage (as in, literally jump onstage). As the pair begin their Pete Rock & CL Smooth/Gang Starr/their own productions portion of the set, the audience goes apeshit. As Run DMC's Down With The King anthem drops, Pete Rock decides to rap his verse live, once again to the audience's delight. Premo then drops Gang Starr's Full Clip, calling for the audience to chant, “Big L, Guru”. We obey. As Premo throws his hat into the crowd, the duo prepare to wrap their set. The audience goes mental as Pete Rock finally drops They Reminisce Over You (TROY). The pair seemingly don't want to leave the stage as Pete Rock requests that punters “light up any weed in the audience” before smoking himself. As they finally conclude their set around the 3.30am mark, DJ Premier and Pete Rock take the time to shake hands with and talk to fans while DJ Zimmie jumps back onstage to play out.