Meet: Big Dada!

For over 10 years, Big Dada has been one of the main strongholds of "alternative" or "intelligent" hip-hop, distancing itself from Hollywood's glossy chic: it is friends with Ninja Tune and is developing a parallel history of hip-hop music, orbiting not Timbaland with Pharrell Williams, but Roots Manuva, New Flesh, Ty and Spank Rock.

British group New Flesh has been releasing on Big Dada since the early 2000s. Their music is a typically London blend of hip-hop, dancehall, garage, soul, and funk music. Their biography seems like it's from a textbook on street culture: British provinces, football hooligans, graffiti, balancing on the edge of crime, music, record label contract, worldwide fame. "Hip-hop saved me," confessed a member of this trio, performing under the pseudonym Part 2. Currently, New Flesh, not counting veterans like Roots Manuva or Ty, is one of the main attractions of "Dada."

American Kail could easily become the hero of Larry Clark's latest film "So, What's Up, Rockers?" which recently screened in Moscow: he was born in Hollywood, but far from Beverly Hills 90210, in poor and much lesser-known neighborhoods where, it turns out, equally talented people reside. His signature style is to mimic heavy gangsta rap while seasoning it—with whipped cream-like irony, making it a complete pleasure to listen to the performances of Kail's team.

Dee J A La Fu has traveled extensively around the world as the tour DJ for Roots Manuva, Mike Ladd, and Rob Sonic, competed with Scratch Perverts in the finals of the first DMC Championship, and accomplished many other remarkable feats, proven by his participation in the epoch-making MTV film about the art of DJing alongside JZA and DJ Kool Herc.

February 15, 2008, 11:00 PM, Gazgolder Gallery
Live: New Flesh (UK), Kail (US)
DJ’s: DEE J A’ LA FU (UK)
Entry: 300 rubles, face control