Bishop Nehru’s set was preceded by a grime duo trying far too hard to sound like Dizzee Rascal, and unfortunately, they failed to get the crowd of about 25 people sufficiently hyped for Nehru’s entrance.

Nehru’s actual entrance was announced by the DJ making the audience half-heartedly chant ‘Nehru’, until the Nanuet-based rapper was, himself, hyped enough to get on stage. This was met with great applause from the audience, which luckily had begun to grow exponentially after the opening act left the stage.

Despite the awkward start, Nehru’s performance was on point that evening. Known for letting his beats take a backseat in his music, Nehru made sure that the set predominately focused on his signature style of rapid-fire lyricism, and flows smooth enough to slide on.

As an artist acclaimed for being able to mix old-school rap techniques into a modern context, his set was a unique and refreshing experience. For a genre which seems to have given innovation in rapping a backseat in favour of innovation in production, Nehru’s never-ending creativity is a breath of fresh air in modern hip hop. Almost as if to prove that point, there was a fantastic section of the gig where the music cut out, and Nehru proceeded to do a remarkably long freestyle with no beat behind him, which actually got the loudest applause of the evening.

Simply put, Bishop Nehru is a fantastic artist, and seeing him live has only reinforced my opinion of him as being miles ahead of other contemporaries in the game.

Zack Moore

(Image: Manifesto)