NYC gave birth to the world famous Wu-Tang Clan. The group that held it down for years in the '90s, with Billboard 100 legendary hits like “C.R.E.A.M” and “Bring the Ruckus” which will forever be influential in hip-hop culture.

However, the group that caught fire around the world, was taught and nurtured from the underground hip hop scene.  

Los Angeles has been known for its underground music scene for quite a while. The Black Knights, made up of Crisis (The Sharp Shooter) and The Rugged Monk, are two products of Los Angeles’s underground scene.

In 1997, the group from Compton and Long Beach Teamed up with Wu-Tang’s RZA making their first debut on the Wu-Tang Killa Bees: The Swarm Compilation. Since then the group has been on 3 national tours and have appeared on 3 platinum and gold selling albums. Their self-funded album "Every Night is a Black Knight" sold over 10,000 copies independently. 

Tuesday night was definitely a "Black Knight" as the group headlined “Bananas.” The underground event was hosted at Koas Network in Leimert Park. The venue staff pulled the stage back to allow more people to enter the pint sized venue doused in abstract graffiti paintings.

As the audience packed in, the Black Knights shuffled through the crowd making their way to the stage. Bass hit and heads began to mimic the beat. The Wu-Tang influence in the "Black Knights" performance was very alive. Their set was a west coast spin to an east coast legend. The music took the listener back to an early '90s hip-hop scene. The audience, composed mostly of young L.A. underground music enthusiasts and connoisseurs, were very in tune with the performance which was the first live set of their new album Medieval Chamber.

 

 

Before their performance, L.A. artist Bobby Blunders delighted the audience with live band instrumentals, Oakland’s Tareema shocked the audience with Trap influenced lyrics, and a variety of others delivered sets, including L.A.’s Verbs, who has also performed at Low End Theory in Lincoln Heights. 

What’s so great about the underground scene is the amount of talent that comes through and how well the intimacy of the venues are kept. You won’t find these events plastered over commercials on MTV or shouted out on the hour every hour on Power 106.

Just through word of mouth, and maybe a few flyers, these events spread like an airborne virus throughout the city, attracting hundreds of souls aching to catch that underground disease.

The disease, meaning the music of course, is one of L.A.’s best kept secrets, and venues like these keep their doors open to the people that can find them. 

The Black Knights are busy promoting their new album Medieval Chamber which was released earlier this month.

Read more of NT's show reviews here.