Rollo Jackson can do no wrong at present. After the success of Tape Crackers last year, he’s kicked it up a notch and returned with a recording of a show which united three generations of emcees on the same stage. Teaming up with famed London system, The Heatwave (more on them later) for the event and production of Showtime!, the cast features the heavyweight pioneers of the London bashment scene; even just having Wiley and General Levy on the same bill is crazy enough, and both individually deliver enough “Holy Shit!” moments for a lifetime caught on film from the one night.
Sometimes, we admit, it’s a struggle to sit and watch live performances on a television but the pace of the performances and natural flow of the interviews steeped in underground music history makes it impossible to look away. Throughout the DVD, there’s a feeling of jump-up empathy balanced perfectly with the impact this culture and music has had on people and scenes that are often taken for granted before their story can be properly told. Imagine the bass equivalent of Scorsese and The Band’s legendary Last Stand – it has the same natural feel throughout.
Check the preview and press release below.
via The Heatwave
The Heatwave are known for throwing mad parties, and Showtime on 15th June 2011 was madder than most. But Showtime was more than just a party. It was an explosion of UK dancehall history, bringing together legends from every era of UK rave music to share the mic and spit lyrics over classic dancehall riddims.
In the feature length Showtime film, Rollo Jackson (Tape Crackers, Toddla T, Hot Chip) captures the magical live performances and takes us behind the bright lights and onstage hype, conducting in-depth interviews with pioneers of the UK bashment scene like Glamma Kid, Stush, Skibadee and Riko Dan. The result is an epic document of UK music culture and a vital piece of oral history, telling a story which is often forgotten or misrepresented by the mainstream.