Live Review: Lockdown x Shutdown at SXSW 2024

The VIP Experience

We started things off in the VIP area but that’s not where the vibes are. I do think the whole VIP thing is quite cool and exclusive and don’t get me wrong we are so proud to be here this year but I gotta say the action is on the ground with everyone, feeling the fizz, people proper excited to see Skepta.

As you can imagine, there are so many people around who are familiar with Skepta and love the grime genre but there are also plenty of House Music lovers in attendance. Americans show up in droves to not only support Skepta as an artist and DJ but to support the short film screening that’s happening tonight – Tribal Mark. It’s wonderful to see the UK scene and one of its innovative og artists receive such love and respect from a global audience. Give them flowers whilst people are still here, right?

Soundsphere is here covering the first international show of The Lockdown Boys (headed up by Chiedu Oraka and Deezkid), and it cannot be understated that this landmark show had them opening up for Skepta, one of the UK’s most important voices in black music and culture for decades.

The venue is this old abandoned hotel, with twigs and leaves in its pool – South By have literally just erected a stage…and well, a full-functioning venue and bar here for the artists. It really is something to behold! It has this cool DIY energy to it, and I for one can’t get enough. I’ve been quite impressed at the overall energy of the place, and this space seems like an appropriate fit – not to polished, but not too “punk” either!

Tribal Mark

The whole time, I was thinking about Skepta’s thought process, here he has built this film – is it going to be a telling of a Black Superhero to inspire black actors through the ages? Or or cautionary tale to guide us on our way through life? But here at the international screening, putting something out like this, art like this, is a relatively nre venture for him. I could’nt help but think “Do visionaries get nervous? Of course, we are looking at a renowned multi-platinum artist who has sold too many records to count, but this is a film, a different type of media altogether…

The film itself was really well done. We follow the main character, Mark, a young kid who moves from Nigeria over to London and he has an “interesting” time. It’s the age-old story of a young boy from a different country just trying to fit in, build friendships and connect with people. The questions that overruns the film is simply, how far are you willing to go to feel like you fit in, what crowds and networks will you join? Do you care? Even if those people that you want so desperately to connect with can endanger your friends and family?

Fundamentally, the production showcases the experience of a young black person in the UK, when you are dealing with how the world sees you, how your family sees you and how you see yourself. Here, you really get to see that. There are the sweet family moments where Mark gets to experience that peace and tranquility as a character, but then, these are punctuated by the drama and action that eventually leads to Mark’s overall character development.

What’s fantastic about this film is the animated elements that take inspiration from The Creed Films, but also Black Panther too. There’s also a hint of anime influence to this work – there are some awesome action moments featuring some of that anime influence within the challenging and claustrophobic angles used, and I’m buzzed for people to see it. If I was to think of a few comparisons, I’d say think Tarantino’s Kill Bill, the first one when Lucy Liu’s character is introduced. There was just a different type of pace, and a really interesting fantastical element to the action, and all that made it entertaining in the way that Marvel movies are, for example, but with an element of realness. Not necessarily as Mark hones his skills, but more so his family, and the overall struggle of being a young black man in the UK, and indeed, around the world.

Producer, Adam Strawford (1Plus1 Productions) spoke afterward about how the film is inspired by the conflicts that young black men go through in this country of getting sucked into the wrong situations due to various social, political, financial reasons and the conflict that can bring within their communities, how they are seen within them and by communities outside of their own spaces, who don’t understand, know or let’s be honest, care. From my experience, if you’re black in Britain there is the “expected path” (violence, drugs, jail, crime….) and if you take a “different path” you’re a rare panther. Still an animal. Still a threat. Or at it’s most base, weird or not really black.

Adam, spoke about how 90% of the cast and crew were non-white. Looking at the film industry and how there are so very few opportunities for non-white people, they really wanted to strive to give access and give options to people who want to see themselves in new spaces and industries so they can go forth  and tell their unique stories.

Quite often Black stories are acquired and told through a white lens and things get missed out. Things can get misunderstood, chopped and screwed. Fetishised and fucked up via translation and ignorance. And it has to stop. It was an interesting story told in the right hands, both stylistically and visually. Props to the cast though, especially the lead Jude Carmichael, who plays teenage Mark. Some scenes he didn’t even have to say anything, you could just get what he was feeling: the joy, the anger, the frustration. He gets all that across with one look. As the audience you feel for him, you cannot NOT feel for him, unless you’re a monster or someone who feels it’s ok to lay down 2 pick up +4 cards in a game of UNO. With Mark you feel that he is someone who has a lot of potential. He is someone who has experienced a lot of loss, a lot of trauma and a lot of displacement and he needs guidance. Looking back now writing this review, I think he needed the right people around him to steer in the right direction, but unfortunately, he just didn’t have that around him to steer him and I think the message came across loud and clear. Sad to say the film ends in a way too many young black boys stories do and without giving it away, I’m gonna let you piece that all together yourself.

Hull’s The Lockdown Boys live in Texas for SXSW 2024

Here we are then, Hull’s gone international! Following the Q/A, Chiedu and his team absolutely nail it on the stage – from upbeat hits like ‘Darcy’ and ‘Men Behaving Badly’ to newer, more reflective and introspective tunes like ‘Counselling’ and ‘Rhythm of My Pain’, everything went off, and the US crowd love it. There is an unrivalled energy and grit to Chiedu’s music that I think translates so well to so many on an emotional level, and that is evidenced here perfectly.

Indeed, Chiedu Oraka is a natural storyteller by nature, weaving those fine details of what it’s like to grow up on the North Hull Estate and what that meant been the only black kid in with those aforementioned party bangers, but thankfully the crowd not only embraced, and vibed with the larger than life black lad from Hull, but completely lost it to Deezkid’s beats, Deez’s incredible ability as a hypeman, alongside Chiedu’s infectious and powerful energy. So any tasty bangers you hear when listening to Chiedu Oraka are all coming from the mind of DeezKid, blending rhythms and harmonies with the finesse of a gourmet chef crafting 3 Musical Michelin Star Meals. And then there’s the conductor, the purveyor of the process DJ Joe The Third. Situated on the decks, elevated by the raised platform, signature headbob, rising and falling with the beat, keeping the boys in line, keeping the boys lockdown with a flick of a wrist, they ignite the decks and the crowds alike. Bringing us together on a shared journey through music.

Looking out at the crowd while the performance was really kicking off, some people just allowed themselves to be taken in by the great production, Chiedu’s unmistakable Yorkshire tone, and effortless skill on the mic. It has been sick to see this crew from the North of the UK be so welcomed at such a world-renowned music showcase. Of course, people came for Skepta, and of course they came to find out more about Tribal Mark, but mark my words as I type them out, people stayed for 30 minutes of pure Lockdown vibes, mayne!