Rap the News

Last Sunday at Writers Connect I came with a warmup idea. I showed everyone the MSN News app on my phone and we looked through the top stories of the day. I asked people to pick out a story and use this as inspiration for a rap verse.

I chose one about the escalating nuclear threats going back and forth between USA, Trump and Pence on the one hand, and North Korea and Jong-Il on the other.

Concerns grow over the Korean peninsula

A US president so unstable and insular

a chaotic situation, that's enough said

when neither leader we believe can be trusted.

How can we say we can't be harmed

by the guy in the East who's own father was embalmed

who's threats to the West no country will defend

and who ordered the murder of his own girlfriend?

How long will we tolerate Jong Il over there

when they haven't released Otto Warmbier?

It's hard to write at the same speed as you would if you were writing prose. It takes more time to think up how to match your vowels and still make your point. Warmbier, if you were wondering, is an American living in the DPRK who was recently given a fifteen-year hard labour sentence for drunkenly stealing a poster.

April is National Poetry Writing Month in the States. I've been checking the prompts but haven't been particularly inspired by them, but wanted to do something poetry-based at the writers' group. I should have been writing more rap verses, and plan to do this henceforth!

Come party this bank holiday, as suggested by this rap verse.

Thinking up couplets that hardly rhyme

just so I can yell IT'S PARTY TIME!

If you're still in Manchester and haven't gone away

for the second April bank holiday

Then just remember that the world keeps revolvin'

And life is short, and there's lots to get involved in

So what you gonna do, well, first you might

venture into town on Thursday night

Get yourself a ticket and pay on Visa

For Miss Swimsuit UK in Viva!

Loads of celebs, no you don't want to miss them,

Like Real Cheshire Housewives' Ampika Pickston!

I'm serious, the celeb lineup is awesome,

It even has Ex On The Beach's Charlotte Dawson!

If you're a girl and wondering if you should bother,

Do you really wanna miss out on Rogan O'Connor?

The frontman for The Dream Boys is one of the guests

And there's more Ex on the Beach people coming up next,

A celebrity couple is always a good thing

Chet Johnson and Helen Briggs are going to be judging!

The party will be great and the DJ will be jammin'

And you might also spot Love Island's Katie Salmon.

So if you want to come out and party with me,

Sign up to the meetup and RSVP!

Saturday night is one not to miss, yo,

Anthony Joshua versus Vladimir Klitschko!

So you tell me, what is there preventing

You from attending the viewing at Genting?

Next Monday, are you working? Nah!

Sunday night sees the Cirque le Soir!

Here's an invitation, come with the perfect group

and see the spectacular circus troupe

'a spectacular ambience and enchanting atmosphere'

from the suburbs of Paris, and now they party here!

So step right up, ladies and gents

the hosts The Milton Club always put on great events.

Pharaohs, fire breathers, and an axle grinder

Don't stay in, as if you need a reminder.

Filth

Artwork in Nexus, #northernquarter #Manchester

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Apr 23, 2017 at 12:39pm PDT

Hello.

John Bradley West, who plays Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones, was spotted in Guilty by Association last night- not by me, mind. By a mate. I was asleep. Also Jason Momoa-
Khal Drogo in the same HBO show- was spotted by another mate in Revolution on Oxford Road.

I was in Manchester early Saturday morning, some hours earlier, where my mate pointed out Georgi Kinladze, 90's Manchester City player, in Harvey Nichols.

Never heard of any of them, personally.

Only other thing to report: I finished reading Filth by Irvine Welsh. An enjoyable tale of a corrupt policeman doing everything he can to secure a promotion, including doing over his colleagues whilst hoovering a ton of cocaine and obsessing over his ex-wife. It looks like his backstabbing ways are actually getting himself somewhere, only there's one problem- he's got a tapeworm inside of him, and it might kill him. Fun, but I felt ripped off by the big twist at the end. I preferred a lot of Welsh's other stuff over this.

A very busy Bank Holiday next weekend, in contrast to this one. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.

Big Narstie in The Milton Club

At 1am on Saturday morning Big Narstie bounces onto The Milton Club's stage and encourages people to sing The Spice Girls' 1997 hit 'Wannabe.' I wasn't sure what to expect of the London grime artist's performance, but it wasn't this.

The crowd, which I wouldn't imagine to be fans of the girl band, are still happy to oblige and it's undeniable fun. He dishes out CDs to the front row (presumably of his own music, not the Spice Girls') while his DJ plays a remix of R Kelly's 1993 hit Bump 'n' Grind with an up-tempo beat and an electronic backing track. The clientele are a lot younger than usual tonight.

Big Narstie's performance is, as you might expect, loud, brash, occasionally vulgar but consistently entertaining. I've since listened to some of his tracks- they sounded better live. I was previously only familiar with When the Bassline Drops, his duet with Craig David.

Another good live event put on by the Deansgate venue as part of their weekly Truth lineup. I went with Manchester Cool Bars.

Amerie and Kid Ink in The Milton Club

The Milton Club offered up two artists in one night last Saturday- one huge a decade ago, one huge right now.

Manchester Cool Bars started in Sakana for this although I double booked and made it to them just before midnight, the cut-off point for our entry tickets at the club. Close call.

The club was heaving- good looking people, RnB music blasting out, and two hours to get to know the group before the first singer jumped on stage.

Amerie, who's number 1 2005 hit One Thing peaked at number four and who's album Touch went gold the same year, still knows how to engage a crowd. She'd just flown in from LA, she told us, before starting with her hit Why Don't We Fall in Love.

The 36-year-old worked trough a few of her hits before dropping her new single on us, Paper. She got the crowd involved for this one, teaching us the chorus.

Keep your ears peeled for that one. She polished her set off with her biggest hit.

A great nostalgic performance. Music and singer have aged well.

 

 

 

Following this hip hop singer Kid Ink took to the mic. I'd not heard of him 'til I saw the club advertise him earlier in the week, but when he started singing I recognised the songs. A more popular performer, the club filled further between the two artist appearances. The heavily-tattood and appropriately-named singer served up his contemporary hits Body Language, Hotel and Show Me, backed up by a lengthy entourage.

He polished off with a cover of Ayo Jay's Your Number, on which Kid Ink featured alongside Chris Brown. Bigger audience for smaller talent, compared to Amerie if you ask me. But maybe I'm getting old. Still entertaining.

After his performance he grabbed a big-boobed blonde girl out of the front row and disappeared into VIP with her. Fair play.

Good crowd in Milton and of course within the meetup group itself. 

Snapshots of Life

Blinded by the lights, dizzy new heights #Manchester #architecture #streets

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Apr 19, 2017 at 1:00pm PDT

A surreal warm-up exercise from Writers Connect. I compiled it from looking through the pictures saved on my phone.

Trip hop music in an art cafe

ten megapixel photos of club promoter's arses

a former UFC fighter with a t-shirt suggesting,

'Different chokes for different folks'

cloakroom ticket 480.

Standing next to a luminous hashtag

vacancies for singers at a Manchester pub

woman smiling with a sign:

'Queef on the patriachy'

Expensive apartments at dusk

cloakroom ticket 118

calves full of lactic bulging in the mirror

snapshots of my life.

A pineapple cocktail,

a worm's eye view of an office block

a smiley face cut into the temporary

dust on a glass door

graffiti bee next to my new broadband box.

A culmination,

a pretentious description...

The contents of my camera roll.

Snapshots of my life.

Prospective Nocturne

Day 17 of NaPoWriMo, and today's prompt is a nocturne, a poem to be read at night. To get the full effect, come back to my blog after sundown.

PDF E-tickets and ripped jeans

Mirror selfies and free parking

Manchester after dusk.

The city changes, colder still,

But the events of the night

fuel the city's economy,

and this blog.

To come: a post about a fading singer,

her hits conjuring images of being 22

Bar work and the dole my occupation then.

But great music.

A rapper also,

Tattooed like a walking 'hood tapestry

possibly flash-in-the-pan,

after so many sleeps, we'll find out.

Last night- Bank holiday madness

arrests, fights, a woman sobbing in handcuffs,

a stupid way to end a weekend.

But hey, Printworks. What do you expect.

Trade in your in for out-

don't sleep when you could party.

Come out Friday to see Big Narstie,

Rapper, in The Milton Club.

Starting in Sakana.

Early night Saturday, soaking up sleep

More poetry Sunday at Writers Connect 

or fiction, art on the walls and

words in our heads. Get your feedback here.

Flex your cerebral cortex.

For now, though, repair yourself

with REM, prepare yourself,

Make melatonin and avoid this screen.