Music preview: Lowkey
Article published: Thursday, November 3rd 2011
On Monday 21 November hip-hop artist Lowkey will be launching his highly anticipated second album Soundtrack to the Struggle at the Manchester Academy 2 alongside Logic, DJ Awate, and Crazy Haze. Also present will be local talent from the Manchester Hip-Hop Society in the form of Dante, Bamo and Abdus. So who is this, and why should you care?
Lowkey. Photograph via Rasha Entertainment
Lowkey is a rising star in UK hip-hop, an achievement all the more remarkable due to his refusal to pander and the lack of mainstream support. He rejects the label ‘conscious hip-hop’, but whatever you want to call it his rhymes confront political issues and dismiss the music industry.
His audience is large and still growing, with YouTube videos that clock in over one million hits and a top five debut in iTunes hip-hop album chart in the UK, US and Canada for Soundtrack, despite no backing from any major label. This pays homage not only to years of relentless touring and sheer word of mouth, but the hunger for serious content among hip-hop fans.
Opening “Voice of the Voiceless”, his recent collaboration with Immortal Technique, he writes: “From West End to the West Bank, I write righteous rhymes with my right hand and battle the devil with my left hand. Never worked for a Zionist, never been a yes man, my art is like Rembrandt painting pictures of death camps.” The appeal isn’t just the effortless flow or the lyrical ability, but also the global focus, the sense of justice and personal struggle.
In addition to his musical output, Lowkey has been very active in a number of causes. In 2010 he joined Jody McIntyre and Norman Finkelstein on a speaking tour and donated the profits from the single ‘Long Live Palestine’ – which debuted at no.1 in the Amazon and iTunes hip-hop download charts – to aid victims of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. In 2009 and 2010 he travelled to the occupied territories to perform benefit concerts, being detained briefly by Israeli authorities on both trips. In 2008, he and Logic helped publicise the NSPCC’s Don’t Hide It campaign and donated a song to raise awareness.
Uncompromising
His lyrics are raw and uncompromising, whether it’s about the Obama administration and US Foreign Policy (“America has inflicted a million ground zeros”) the Israeli occupation of Palestine (“How many more Resolutions have to be violated/ How many more children have to be annihilated?”) or the state of British politics (“Never will there be a day when the cameras are turned off/ Who runs this country, Cameron or Murdoch?”).
It’s not just big, BBC Newsnight-style headline issues either: Soundtrack features a reflective, moving feminist track called “Something Wonderful” (“Some things are too deep to put into verse/ I want to apologise to every Women I’ve hurt.”) and a tearful, impassioned reflection on his older brother who committed suicide in “Haunted”. Similar issues inform the work of tour-mates Logic and Crazy Haze, MCs who, alongside Lowkey, are members of the People’s Army, a group of politically minded artists.
And it’s not just the message: dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah calls him “one of the best lyricists in the western hemisphere”. Whether it’s the high-octane lyricism of “Who Said I Can’t Do Grime?” or the masterful “Alphabet Assasion”, his style is eloquent, immaculate and 100 per cent his own. Similarly, Logic has a deep, rhythmic flow that informs and intrigues and Crazy Haze can’t help but impress with frenetic, intense and militant delivery.
Whether you’re a die-hard hip-hop fan, politically engaged or simply a connoisseur of good music, you should not miss this opportunity to hear one of Britain’s most interesting artists live on stage.
Joseph Ritchie
You can catch the gig at the Manchester Academy 2, Monday 21 September 8pm – midnight. Tickets cost £10 and you can get them here or at HMV or Pan Rythm. The event has been organised by the University of Manchester Hip-Hop Society
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[…] Lowkey is coming to Manchester on the 21st of November, organized by the hip-hop society of Manchester Uni. ‘Soundtrack to the Struggle’, if you haven’t heard it, is fantastic. You can read my preview of the show and introduction to Lowkey in the Manchester Mule here: […]
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