Earlier this year, after working in the US, collaborating with artists for their debut album, Krept and Konan remarked that they were keen to return to their home turf. Tonight, at their sold-out show, you can see why. From the opening roar of “London, we are fucking home!” the crowd is ecstatic.
The rappers started out as part of the underground “road rap” scene, grime’s fiercer, more aggressive older brother. Their Mobo performance, which featured choreographed riot police, is just one of many playful references to the life they’ve left behind. Now, some years later, Krept and Konan have a chart-topping album and Top 10 single with the DJ Mustard-produced summer hit, Freak of the Week. Fans have stayed, despite their foray into a more sanitised world of pop hooks and catchy choruses.
Tonight, nobody is seated as they play hits from both their 2013 mixtape Young Kingz and album The Long Way Home. They play their standout track, My Story, a sombre reflection on the murder of Konan’s stepfather. Meanwhile, Fell Apart, which discusses Konan’s time in prison, is performed proudly, with his arm round his mum (who also provides a few notes).
However, it’s their guests that really make tonight electric, who emerge from the smoky sliding doors of the fake tube carriage on stage. They’ve enlisted the best of the scene, including grime upstart Yungen, Section Boyz, Fekky, J Hus and JME among others, all playing their hits, with the biggest cheers going to J Hus’s Dem Boy Paigon and JME’s Man Don’t Care.
Krept and Konan have almost entirely lost the thrilling roughness of mic-passing and pokey venues that have long defined the grime and rap world, but that’s not to say they haven’t got love for the scenes they originated from. Their mainstream popularity hasn’t diluted any of their initial appeal, either. The duo are both chart heavy-hitters with an album full of tracks that translate live, and also use their status to promote the best new talent on the scene. Home, it seems, was ready and waiting for them.
- At Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, 27 November.
