Rahzel @ FabricLive

Fabric, London, UK, 3 May 2002

With a hip-hop line-up that included the Scratch Perverts and Rahzel, FabricLive was destined to be a mother of nights. The Perverts lived up to their reputation and ripped up the dance floor with a wax busting set of hip-hop and drum'n'bass.

Before the self-professed, "undisputed beatbox champion of the world" graced the stage I was interested to see two roadies checking the wiring of a BOSS compact effects pedal before tucking it out of sight under the decks. Rahzel with an effects pedal, surely not? However, for you purists out there, it looked like a DD5 digital delay pedal and was probably nothing to do with the great man himself.

Contrasting Rahzel on stage was the humble DJ JS1 who displayed effortless and awe-inspiring turntablism. He took pity on the over-heated masses at the front and tossed us one of Rahzel's un-opened bottles of water. Respect is due.

Rahzel performed much of his usual set but one-or-two pieces stood out from the rest. The classic "Oh my Gosh" supplied the vehicle with which Rahzel drove home his impressive vocal scratching skills as he squared off with JS1 in a mock man-vs-machine battle. His vocal scratching was achieved using the traditional falsetto throat method favoured by most beatboxers, mixed with words such as 'yippity' to achieve speed. In terms of sound, there was little difference between the voice and the vinyl. Oh my gosh.

Rahzel primarily used two snare sounds, the traditional 'pff' and a TR606-style click snare. The latter sound, like Kela's is particularly tyte. I watched closely to see if he created this sound by pushing or sucking air. Bearing in mind the short, crisp timbre of the sound and that he took regular small breaths in every bar, it seems likely that he creates this sound by pushing air out forcefully through each side of his tongue.

Other features of Rahzel's set included a constant modulating hum with kick drum, over which he pronounced a delayed version of each letter of his name. Even at close range, I couldn't figure how he did that one! Of course, no Rahzel gig would be complete without the obligatory 'If Your Mother Only Knew'. Rahzel confessed that the competition had caught up so he ploughed ahead by doing the chorus, the beat and the bassline at the same time. That should keep newbies on the forum busy for a while!

Rahzel seemed to be obsessed with winning a won crowd and he left himself open by continually claiming to be the best. During one such ego-boosting session, several crowd members shouted out "Kela". Rahzel stopped the show, turned to the Kela contingent and with a wry smile said, "Killa Kela? S'like bringing a tank to a fist fight." I think he meant that he'd be like the tank but never mind eh?

The big man finished his set with the awesome hip-hop crowd-pleaser 'All I Know' and it dropped heavier than a second-hand Soviet space station. Let's hope there are tracks this good on Rahzel's soon to be released second album.

In terms of a stage show, Rahzel's got it down to a fine art and with JS1 on the decks, they make a formidable team. In my last review I said that I wouldn't get drawn into the Kela vs Rahzel debate but I'll simply say that somewhere, someday they'll be on stage together to share their skills, and when they do, I want to be there.

Review by TyTe