Jehst - Live @ The Jazz Cafe London (28.02.24)
Jehst’s UK Tour ‘24, a night of real hip-hop: Jehst’s tour, Wednesday night at the iconic Jazz Cafe, where do we start?!
The warm-up acts, Karl Sage, Sindysman, and Sleazy F Baby, showcased diverse styles, reminiscent of a '90s hip-hop night where individuality thrived yet seamlessly mixed together. Also gotta add a shout out to China Lilly (Sindysman’s girlfriend) who came up to perform too - the most angelic jazz voice - I honestly just stood there smiling at the stage! And we can’t forget to mention the crazy talented DJ Jazz T.
Jehst came onto the stage and the energy in the room increased. He did a mix of old and new tracks, even played, in the words of Jehst: “the one your nan would know from BBC Radio 6” - ‘One Horse Town’. Jehst’s stage presence was lively, taking up the whole stage and interacting with the crowd. It was lush to hear the crowd rapping back to Jehst, at one point taking over and Jehst allowing the crowd to just do his part for a bit. ‘England’ sounded poignant, even more relevant than ever, even though it was released in 2011, every word still resonates today, “There ain't nothing great about Britain”.
The unique thing about Jehst is that he performs some of his tracks without a drumbeat, so he’s rapping acapella but still fully engaging the crowd's attention, we feel like he’s always pushing boundaries. Jehst also brought out Confucius MC for the second half of the night, these two together are next level! Their energy and the crowds' energy still increasing, it really was a special night to be a part of.
The show ran over time which personally we loved, Jehst and Confucius gave us three extra tracks - to be fair, I think everyone wanted more still! Jehst's gesture of displaying the Palestine flag onstage and encouraging peace signs from the crowd at the end, reflected the unity and positivity of the evening, it was all love in the room.
After the show Jehst jumped down off the stage and said he’d be over at the merch stand to chat to people and sign vinyls etc. Obviously there was a huge queue forming, it was lush to see everyone wanting to chat to Jehst and the tour team, congratulating them on the night - showing a true genuine connection between fans and artist. The vinyls were super popular, Jehst and Confucius were taking their time to sign them all personally - of course we had to cop one too - shout out to Jehst and Confucius for taking the time to do this for everyone!
Overall, a sick, high energy night with real hip-hop!! Jehst asked me to be kind in the write up but this is all genuine - we honestly loved it.
Words + Pictures: Emily Jayne Nolan