It’s been a big couple of weeks for double header shows: Atmosphere and Evidence last week, the forthcoming DOOM and Ghostface tour and this week saw Danny Brown and M.E.D headlining sideshows for the Sydney Winter festival Vivid. Not sure what the connection is when it comes to these two artists. All that springs to mind is that both come endorsed by legendary Detroit DJ and Twitter don House Shoes . Tonight’s show was preceded by a signing at Wax Musuem which saw Cambell’s Arcade hot boxed and the still busy Degreaves St having a distinct ‘Dutch’ vibe. Naturally they were all heading off to Nando’s which seems to be a fixture for all rappers, let’s hope the tour managers are getting their value cards stamped.

M.E.D or Medaphoar as he was formally known comes from Oxnard, California and rose to fame along with his associates Lootpack featuring heavily on their 1999 release ‘Da Antidote’.  Tonight performing he certainly held his own and delivered his lyrics clearly on the Prince Bandroom sound system, which he told me earlier at the signing he was impressed by. Note to promoters, more hip-hop shows here and less at a certain venue around the corner… Like all rappers he shouted out Dilla and played a couple of his signature tracks, but unlike most, he had beats made for him including Push in particular going down a treat as did The Raid off 2004’s Madvillainy that he featured on.

Danny Brown is a tough character to define, anyone who watched his recent short doco put together by Pitchfork witnessed the honesty and modest approach to making music. That may sound conflicting when you compare that to his lyrical content, but his performance tonight reflects that of a very focused individual with a lot of demons to exorcise. That sounds a little intense but his live show is a non-stop flow, no chants, no holding the mic to the audience and very little interaction. Some tracks were even performed acapella with more intensity than most rappers could deliver in the booth. I think both artists might have been affected by the fact that they shared a tour DJ who they weren’t as familiar with and perhaps with their usual DJ there would be more interaction. In conclusion it was a good night with two of the strongest independent MCs from two not so different ends of the game, both with plenty left in them.

Special thanks to Craig Johnstone for the photography.