Pioneer Unit

Cape Town was blessed with a typically massive performance by Lyricist Lounge all-star Wordsworth. The night, which also featured Pioneer Unit artists, Ben Sharpa and Rattex, was organised by Dominique from Unlearn Agency who cleverly took advantage of the fact that Words was in South Africa to judge the finals of the Sprite Emcee Africa battle competition.

Rah sets it off (click for larger image).

Rattex kicked off the live performances at The Assembly with his kasi anthem, Township Storm, from the Planetary Assault compilation. He then gave the crowd a taste of his forthcoming album Bread and Butter by performing Da Real Shit (produced by Planet Earth) and Welcome to Khaltsha (produced by Hipe). As usual, Rattex had the crowd going crazy with his punchlines and energetic performance.

Welcome to Khaltsha! (click for larger image).

Fire burn! (click for larger image).

Next up was Ben Sharpa and you know he always goes hard. He started his set with his classic, The Eye Seen, that always gets heads chanting “Ben Sharpa! Ben Sharpa!”. Ben’s 40 minute set also included crowd favourites, Into the Black (Remix), Hegemony, The Sick n Tired and Five Fingers. Ben also premiered two new tracks from his forthcoming album B. Sharpa, the dark and heavy, Off the Rails (produced by myself) and the fresh to death, B to the E produced by Sibot. Needless to say, the crowd was rocked.

Crowd goes wild for Sharpa (click for larger image).

Sharpa holds it down (click for larger image).

Why do we need a police protection service! (click for larger image).

Off the rails! (click for larger image).

Last, but definitely not least, Words took to the stage to huge applause. DJ Raiko cued him up and he went straight into his freestyle routine. I say ‘routine’ but there’s nothing routine about a Wordsworth freestyle - he has got to be one of the finest freestylers in the game today. The crowd were going bananas with every punchline - and they were coming thick and fast.

Words get busy (click for larger image).

Words then performed a selection of tracks from Mirror Music before driving the crowd wild with some of his older joints. He then freestyled again for what seemed like 30 minutes, almost non-stop. One of the highlights of any Wordsworth performance is when he gets in amongst the crowd and vibes with everyone. The energy is amazing.

Getting up close and personal with the crowd (click for larger image).

Feelin’ it (click for larger image).

Mic controller (click for larger image).

To round off the show, Words invited anyone who wanted to cypher with him, on stage to show off their skills. It was sad to see that too many cats seemed to want to take the oppotrtunity to diss, or battle, Words instead of taking their opportunity to shine. Either way, watching the ease with which Words dismantled anyone who tried to test him made for great entertainment.

Words (click for larger image).

All in all it was a great night. The Assembly is one of my favourite venues but because the event was organised at the last minute, there wasn’t enough promotion and therefore the venue wasn’t full to capacity. This was a real shame as we don’t get the opportunity to see artists of the calibre of Wordsworth up close and personal very often and he is a true master at work.

Words and Dplanet backstage (click for larger image).

Rumour has it that Words will be coming back to SA with his group EMC. Let’s hope this comes off and it gets the promotion it deserves. In the mean time, big up to Unlearn Agency for making this night happen.

Master of ceremonies (click for larger image).

Check out the full set of photos here.

That’s how we rrrrrrrrrroll!!