KRS-One @ The Liquid Room, 7 Oct

“Waste no time,” KRS-One pleads of his DJ in-between classics. Aware that this boom-bap battle mass falls at the mercy of The Liquid Room's infamous curfew, the ever urgent "Teacha" bounds the stage in a t-shirt emblazoned with the face of fallen comrade Scott La Rock, doling out vivid lyrical snapshots of a life immersed in street culture, tonight inflamed by the hype of freestyle champion Supernatural.

An early flash of his calling card (Sound of Da Police) incites a few from the crowd to throw vinyl copies of Criminal Minded – an album Ice Cube recently told us was a profound inspiration to Eazy-E – and their own demos up on stage in equal shows of respect and desperation. Then, as if two legends for the price of one wasn’t quite enough, Supernatural deftly channels the voice and spirit of Busta Rhymes, Slick Rick and Biggie Smalls as ‘The Three MC's’. So when KRS leaves us with a rebuttal to Nas's claim that Hip Hop is Dead, it speaks loudly for the last 75 minutes: "Real hip-hop is over...here." [Alex J. Murphy]