bethnal green, carnaby street & the likes of london - part 7

vomit stinks. really

and you cant help but smell it swirling up your nostrils when walking down the street to attend the hip hop night at deal real records.

let me back up...

we woke late. i got back from the dental hospital with a new and improved root canal for an old and rundown tooth. nice for free. even nicer.

by the time we awoke, it was 6pm, we had to be at the venue for the spoken soul show @ 6pm, so needless to say we are running a bit late. ;)

take a cab to the spot which is somewhere around bethnal green. that's all we know from the flyer. we have to walk down a block or so before we even see the damn spot. did i say - there wasnt even an address on the flyer (or the time) but somehow we managed between jive navigating via london map and the cab drivers vast knowledge in the 1960 gangsters that once ruled the same streets we were in search of.

make it to the spot. have 20 minutes before starting time, when we realized we were starving. so we run to the kfc, grab a bag to go - eat upstairs the stage in the cafe and run down to a show already in progress. the attendance is small. but fills up towards the end of the show. we finish early enough and make our way to real deal records where the party has only begun for most londoners.

this area is NYC's 34th street. fashion and all. we take a turn down carnaby street, made famous by the beatles and hear the noise pouring out of deal real records small storefront. the bodies are mad thick and the space is entirely too small.

but we rep'n nyc tonite (ainsley, faro-z, boogie, jive and myself) so we roll thru, i see my peep's and house dj seth, so i get the directions to get on the mic and its on a popping. we get to close out the night, which is a good look. because by the look of things - the talent pool was quite shallow. one cat was freestylin about stabing someone's ovaries. too much of a bite off my man immortal technique, so im ready to boo ole boy. fa real.

afterwards, they have a cypher. before we split ways. jive and i are headed to central london, only a few stops away and the rest of the gang are headed to brixton. we will see them tomorrow morning, as we have to board the theatre van for a performance in manchester (different theatre & production).

jive and i walk up and down looking for a newsagent with bodega hours. no such luck. so we settle on a burger spot and order to 1/2 pound cheeseburgers and sodas. nice

next stop: manchester... yes again.