Invisible by Nikhil Parmar
The Bush Theatre 27th of June - 16th of July
Review by Ben Quashie
Oldie - Odd future
The production being part of a festival in the Bush’s studio has championed a high quality yet DIY feel to the set through Georgia Willmot’s vision, in the same manner the classic Oldie does both in the audio of the song put also in combination with the iconic video where they hijack their XXL photoshoot.
Georgia, Laura Howard & OddFuture find fun and creative pockets to uplift the production as a whole whilst not detracting from underlying restrictions on the production & instead, having fun with them.
Lemme Freak - Lil Dicky
Whilst Lil Dicky is probably the best example of current comedy rap, I’ve chosen Lemme Freak specifically as Nikhil Parmar’s writing does just as good of a job as Lil Dicky’s bars in keeping the comedy high whilst jumping between 1st and 3rd person consistently. This humour is used to take us to a place of comfort which culminates in an environment being able to talk about a more serious phenomenon of being invisible to the wider world & the industry, but also your friends and family.
Roman’s Revenge (ft. Lil Wayne) - Nicki Minaj
Nikhil’s performance sees him jump into the bodies of, what seems like a revolving door of characters throughout the play. Embodying a variety of accents, voices & physicalities to help paint the picture of each new scene the lead character Zayan finds himself in. I think the only unfair comparison in the selection of this song is that Nikhil doesn’t need support in the telling of this story, unlike Nicki Minaj who enlists Lil Wayne (or Eminem) to support her on this 2012 classic.
The Actor (Ben de Vries Remix) - Alt-J
I’ve gone for this one as the pace and beat dictated by Georgia Green’s direction emulate the story pretty well. The lyrics (for this remix) are also pretty 1 to 1 for the storyline that follows Zayan struggling with desire and expectation around his career.
Honourable mentions
The Heart pt5 - Kendrick Lamar
War Outside (ft. Lex Amor) - Kojey Radical
SHIT DON’T STOP - Wale
You to Me Are Everything - The Real Thing
A Bar About A Bar - Chance the Rapper
Dyslexia freestyle - JME
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