Culture
VICTORY LAP RADIO LIVE @ UrlfreezeShops MANCHESTER
22 May 2024Celebrating the release of the Air Jordan 4 “Industrial Blue”, UrlfreezeShops teamed up with Victory Lap Radio for another in-store cypher at UrlfreezeShops Manchester.
Moving through Manchester on a surprisingly sunny Thursday afternoon — the city’s characteristic rain nowhere to be seen — there was a collective sense of energy and positivity in the air. It was a palpable feeling of excitement that, unsurprisingly, continued as we headed towards UrlfreezeShops Manchester for the evening’s festivities. The agenda for the evening was the second instalment of in-store cyphers led by Victory Lap Radio, celebrating the release of the Air Jordan 4 “Industrial Blue”.
Since its inception in 2019, Victory Lap Radio has broadcast from Peckham-based radio station, Balamii, serving as a platform for spotlighting the best of UK rap’s underground. “Victory Lap Radio is a platform that I founded myself with a bunch of friends while on holiday in New York. Since we’ve come back to London, we’ve tried to establish ourselves as like the new platform for underground and emerging rap to come together”, said Joe, when discussing the origins of Victory Lap. When discussing how it feels to be bringing this on the road to Manchester, Joe said “It feels really good, man. It feels great to be able to take what we’re doing in London and transport it to wherever”.
As the anticipation for the evening grew, Joe quickly took to the decks and invited the crowd forward, right before announcing the evening’s first act, Manchester’s own RJFromDaBlocc, to a rapturous uproar. RJ quickly jumped on the mic and performed two heavy hitting tracks, "Motion" and the unreleased track "Rugrats", kickstarting the cypher with his energetic flow and punchy instrumentals. Following this, Manchester’s Kas took the mic to further ignite the crowd with a flawless delivery of "Why?" and "Packed In".
Just Banco then graced us with his presence, taking over the mic and further energising the crowd with a sneak peak at an unreleased track and also the newly released "IKEA". Much to the crowd’s surprise and delight, Joe then invited the evening’s guest performer, Manchester luminary Nemzzz, to the stage, who closed the evening with razor-sharp performances of his breakout track “8am In Manny” and “L’s” from his debut full-length project, “DO NOT DISTURB”.
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