Live: Scorzayzee

The cover of Scor-Zay-Zee’s album sees the Nottingham rapper decked out as the cartoon embodiment of his ‘Scorzilla’ nickname. Mic in hand, Robin Hood hat on bonce, rampaging through the Notts skyline. It’s a fitting metaphor as, just like the reptilian king, Scorz doesn’t surface that often for releases or performances, but when he does, it’s with skyscraper-shattering force.

Despite being on the rap scene for nigh on twenty years, Aeon: Peace to the Puzzle is actually Scorz’s debut album, funded by smashing its Kickstarter target. Singles, mixtapes, feature films and the like have cemented his status as one of our city’s most loved music icons, but a long player? Nada. So it was only right that he mark the occasion with a big old blowout of an album launch at Rescue Rooms, recruiting a hip-hop lineup of monstrous proportions. But thankfully leaving all nearby buildings intact… 

On superb hosting duties was Karizma, the affable Notts MC and former Out Da Ville colleague of Scorz’s, linking and freestyling throughout the night with the energy, charm and rap skills of Ant and Dec crossed with Wiley. Then if you like good old school, fun time rap, look no further than show openers, Lincoln’s own Heavy Links boys. With perhaps the finest pun of a group name ever, these dudes brought some proper boom bap to get things warmed up. Heavy beats, heavy bars, very heavy beards. 

Also in support was Chester P: ex-Taskforce, Low Life and all-round UK hip hop legend. While tracks off his solo album From the Ashes like Oh No!!! (He Loves A Hoe) went down a storm, it was really the pre-Music from the Corner material that got things heated. Wha Blow and Grafdabusup in particular, the latter seeing the Chessmonster challenge the Nottingham crowd to a mosh-off to rival his current mosh champions, Penzance. From my traditional middle-aged perch at the back of the crowd, it certainly looked like the Notts heads gave those Cornish pretenders a thrashing. This was the second time I’d seen Chester P since his brother Farma G hung up his mic, but the dude can really hold his own as an entertainer. Even eighteen months sober, his weeded out politics and standup routine make him a captivating presence.

But as he kept reminding us, this was very much Scor-Zay-Zee’s night. Aeon: Peace to the Puzzle is a 28-track opus, and Scorz wanted to showcase as much of it as possible, starting with tracks like Gangsta Wraps – a jolly, fast food-referencing tune that shows off Scorz’s fun side. It’s hard not to love a rapper spitting through a three foot long foam microphone, or indeed taking the opportunity to wedge some Partridge references into a set, with a skit involving DJ Dan Rattomatic (“Dan! Dan!” etc).

 

For the second part of the set, Scorz invited his band on to join him, made up of some of the city’s finest singers and instrumentalists, including Nina Smith’s lush vocals (she appears on a couple of tracks on A:PTTP). A full live band always adds an interesting dynamic to a hip hop performance rather than purely rapping over the produced beats, and it was very welcome here. Scorz's biggest tunes like Want What’s Yours, the absolutely huge Great Britain and (what’s personally his greatest tune) Luv Me all sounded fantastic with live bass, keys, backing vocals, MPC and the like. Ditto covers of Sky’s the Limit and Changes – always good to get some Biggie and Pac into a set. We then got to hear some more from the new album, Scorz ending the night by getting Chester P back on stage to spit on the excellent Double Dragon. More on the ferocious reptile theme there.

The last time I saw Scor-Zay-Zee was in the same room at Rescue Rooms, just after the Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee film, and promoting his Raging Bull mixtape. Not only has the room changed a bit since then, the rapper has really evolved into a headline act since then, and it’s great to see him brimming with confidence after a career of ups and downs. Kudos must be given to Dealmaker for putting the night on too – with Redman, Method Man and MOP a few months ago, and now this, they’ve been killing it recently. More power to you, Scorzilla! 

Scor-Zay-Zee played Rescue Rooms on Saturday 28 March.

Scorzayzee website