It was an event that was hyped for months and Friday night was when the time finally arrived for Dwayne Tryumf to gather a crowd at ULU to record his new album. It became a night with a busy line up and a set that didn’t disappoint.

When I first heard about the gig, the thing I was looking forward to most was seeing how Tryumf’s tracks translated to a live setting with a live band. I’ve seen him perform at loads of events over the years but this type of performance is something I haven’t seen in Christian hip hop before, let alone at at Tryumf concerts. So how did it sound? Well, put simply, it worked and worked well. It set a precedent for UK hip hop and there were plenty of rappers on stage to share the moment.

The names listed on the flyer were impressive but the number of artists on the night exceeded expectations. It was a who’s who of British holy hip hop and each added their own unique styles to add colour to the evening. The night started with a track from Panache and then Guvna B before the man of the moment Dwayne Tryumf took to the stage. Throughout the night, artists such as Reign of Fire, L Dubzy, Tru2DaName, Armour & Brandon, S.O, Jahaziel, E-Tizz, Matthew Allen and JayEss all performed and put on a great show. 

Dwayne Tryumf started the set with the 777 intro and made his way through tracks mainly taken from his 777 album including This is For You, I Don’t Pack a Matic, Roll Out and African Drum. The live band gave a new flavour to the tracks we were familiar with and already there will be many people looking forward to the release of the album in March/April next year.

The night was one that had the X-Factor in more ways than one. We heard the testimony of Ashley John-Baptise who quit X-Factor boy band The Risk because of his godly convictions. He gave us a few bars and I’m sure he will be able to continue in the industry if given the right avenues to use his talent.

All in all, the night was off the chart and was an entertaining and uplifting gig from one the biggest names in the UK holy hip hop game right now. And just so you know, five months ahead of release, my copy of the album is already preordered.