Surely one of the best things in the world for a teenager to do is go to a Lil Wayne concert, right? Wrong, as I found out on the 7th October 2009. I watched hundreds of fans barge their way into the standing area of the Hammersmith Apollo. American rapper Lil Wayne, CEO of Young Money Entertainment, and soon-to-be father of his forth child, appeared on stage in what looked like a bullet proof vest (that turned out to be a puffer jacket) and some silver trainers with wings on (I kid thee not) that probably cost about two pence to make in an Indian sweatshop but $1000 where-ever Wayne purchased them from. Either way, he didn't look that great. Although in saying that, I'm sure that rumours in the tabloids surrounding Wayne's addiction to codeine cough syrup would probably leave your anyone in such a way.

So he comes on stage, performs a back-in-the-day tune to get the crowd hyped and then brings out a Lil Kim look-a-like to sing whilst he looks into the crowd with amusement and awe breathing the word "London" into the mic.

Then, with the assistance from the electronic device also known as auto-tune, Wayne performed the hits from his sixth solo album Tha Carter 3, and low and behold, out steps Wayne's rapping daddy Birdman, to assist him. Except he's not really his daddy, but he calls him that anyway. Unfortunately it got worse as three rappers singed to Young Money, (who are completely irrelevant in the UK)  Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz and Mack Maine set upon doing freestyles.

For the duration of the concert, above the stage, there was a low resolution screen flashing up Google images in an attempt to make the £30 (or more in some cases) ticket price seem justified. Zero points for originality though - you said "winter" and a crap picture cropped up of snow. Maybe you need to travel to some developing countries and see the effects of climate change before coming back to the UK with such below-par, uninspiring art.

Words: Sian Anderson

Video: Below, Tropical TV's Luke Monaghar aka GK interviews Birdman. For more of his stuff, check out www.tropicaltv.co.uk
 

TropicalTV: with Birdman from TropicalTV on Vimeo.