I Hung Out in Brighton With Pusha T, Knytro, Tempa T, and Chase & Status

This is Knytro

So Knytro, if you haven’t already heard of him, is a London born, Orlando-bred rapper who is currently signed to Chase & Status’s record label, MTA Records. His mixtape, Project Haarpoon, dropped back in September and his video “Still Standing” is a homage paying delight that stacks high in my personal tracks of the year. But he’s still a relative underdog, playing second fiddle to rap game behemoths who have dominated 2013 with high calibre releases that’ve propelled hip hop back into a new Golden Age.

The plus side of this means that Knytro gets to tour with some pretty rad people. He invited me to hangout with him, Pusha T, Tempz, Chase & Status and a bunch of other people at their show in Brighton. I said yes, packed my bags, and immediately pondered how I’d convince Pusha to take a duckface selfie with me at the end of the pier.

Upon arrival, I jumped straight onboard the tour bus and found Elli Ingram and Louis M ^ttrs wolfing down seafront Fish & Chips. In the corner sat Knytro, chuckling.

I’m easy to used to riding on the number 8 bus: it’s always late, someone always smells of wet dogs, and one time, a guy threw up all over my coat. This was the most pimped out tour bus that I’d ever been on, the seats looked like they belonged in a plush car on a driveway in Abu Dhabi. I wouldn’t mind living here for at least a week. I told Knytro this, but he was kinda ambivalent, “Yeah, it’s aight. It’s cool at first but eight people sleeping on a bus is a bit much. Anyway, you’re not supposed to do this, but come up stairs.”

We clambered up to the top deck, the smell of lemon haze doobies perfuming the entirety of the second floor like the entrance to a sixth former's garden shed. I catch Tempz lighting up and ask him if I can have a quick draw. He turns with a reluctant murmur, “Yeah, go on”. He wasn’t overjoyed, but fuck it, I hit a J with Tempz. Next hype.

Knytro wanted to head to the beach for a bit. I told him that British beaches are the same as American beaches, but cold, rainy, and made of stones. They’re not the best place to hang out on a rainy November night. But he was persistent, so we jumped off the tour bus. Here’s him in a tunnel looking all photogenic.

Finally, Knytro agreed that TBH, sitting on a beach at night in Britain is a really, really bad idea. You can’t feel your fingers, breathing is really hard, and the conversation always revolves around how cold it is and why aren’t we inside in the warm.

So, after ten minutes, we went back to the sanctuary of warmth and bumped into Chase & Status front man MC Rage. He told us that tour life has fucked him up. After the last show, he’ll be going offline, Twitter, Facebook, email and mobile phone all going into hibernation. The struggle is real out here.

But, although the struggle is real, it involves a lot of free food. The canteen here is sort of like a paper merchants in Slough, the tables are covered in plastic throws and the seats are made for schoolchildren. The only difference is that the baked potatoes are free, even though they still taste like the smell of a dinner ladies house.

After demolishing at least three people worth of free food, it was time to watch Pusha T. For some reason, despite making one of the best tracks of the year, he was opening the night. Here’s him busting some move that reminds me of a type of bird.

Pusha needed some of that Vitamin C, and post-show, immediately headed for a bowl of fruit salad. Real OG shit.

Knytro kept it old school and ordered a box of chicken for the after show, though. Healthy vibes.

Next up…. Chase & Status. Their team huddled outside in some sort of pre-show pep talk. It was like what happens at primary school football matches, but with grown-men, DJs and pure love.

They took to the stage, the crowd reacted, and I took some photos.

Tempz joined Chase & Status for “Next Hype”.

He threw more shapes than a projectile geometry textbook and the crowd temporarily lost their mind. “Yeah Yeah Yeah! Dun-knoe we got the dun-knoe gun! TEMPPPPZZZZZZZZ!” screamed a bunch of people who still live at home with their mothers.

With the crowd buzzing from Tempz and not coming down, it was Knytro’s turn to stoke the timber.

Knytro dropped a bomb with the VIP version of “Gangsta Boogie”, its orchestrated disarray of brain fuckery setting the arena on metaphorical fire. Afterwards, he ran off stage. “This is when the party gets started”, he tells me, while pouring out a glass of Jack Daniels.

As the show progressed and the bourbon disappeared, the waveyness increased.

Here’s Tempz, post-air guitaring to a remix of “Killing In The Name Of”.

The show finished, and you know what comes after the show? The after-party.

Even Pusha T turned up, which was a surprise to every Brighton head who’d arrived just to bomb a couple of jaegers.

I’d been asked to not shoot Pusha T. I didn’t have a gun with me, and I’m not planning on becoming a murderer, so I took this one picture instead.

The show ended with Tempz and Knytro back on stage. I don’t know where these guys get their stamina from, but I want it. Afterwards some fucked up dubstep and D’n’B took over. It was the end.

I stumbled into the smoking area and saw these two girls. I had to take a picture, because they’d clearly made a great effort with their attire. Have fun ladies, I’m going back to London where it’s always five degrees warmer.

Follow Jake on Twitter: @Jake_Photo

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