Wednesday 02/04/08 Akala, Black Cherry, Sincere, Marvin @ Islington Bar Academy, London

It’s Champions League quarter finals night. Islington, North London is Arsenal territory and there are Gooners as far as the eye can see. The pubs are rammed, all eyes are on the game and not even Islington’s Bar Academy can escape the footy, but it does provide a welcome respite, if only for a brief period, from the match. It might not be running at full capacity like the Emirates Stadium, but that doesn’t stop tonight’s acts from playing like Premiership sides.

First up is grime mascot for the indie contingent Marvin, formerly of Martian fame. It’s early doors so numbers are thin on the ground, but Marvin, wearing a Billionaires Boys Club shirt, doesn’t appear fazed.  Instead he’s more than happy to banter with the crowd, practise his stage craft and share his amusing South London observations as he knocks out the likes of ‘Superhero’, ‘Get By (Be Good)’ and ‘Devil In The Distance’ as well as a remix of Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Superstar’. At just 25 minutes, it’s a short set but pure enjoyment for the duration and Marvin, despite his unflinching facial, has set up the evening nicely.

It’s a quick turnaround and as the Academy starts to fill with varying sizes of gold hoop ear-rings, baseball caps and ASBO’s, established UK rapper with grand designs Sincere is next to hit the tiny stage. Drawing from his American influences such as Jay Z and Nas, it’s a much more formulaic performance than Marvin’s, but none the less, hands are thrown in the air to ‘That’s Not Gangsta’, ‘Round and Round’, ‘Same Old Same Old’ and his new release ‘Never Say’. The crowd are lapping it up; we’re two acts and two very different performances in, with neither outshining the other, but mirroring the football with the scores level at 1-1 and setting a high benchmark for the next act, Black Cherry, to match.