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“This has got considerably larger.”
Native James has brought grime metal to Glastonbury, and Glasto is lapping it up. The Ipswich-born rapper’s irresistible blend of beats, bars and groove-laden nu metal swagger is going down a storm with a fast-growing crowd on the Greenpeace stage. It’s James’ second set of the day having popped up on the BBC Introducing stage a few hours ago, and his stock has seemingly doubled already.
From the second he and his three bandmates bounce out on stage, that rarest of Glasto unicorns is spotted - there’s a mosh pit booting off! “They told us we can’t do a wall of death,” James teases a few songs later. To be fair, the wall of death that follows is one of the cuddliest you’ll see, but they all count, and it’s not the last one that erupts today.
Musically, James draws heavily from millennial metal giants like Korn, Limp Bizkit and System Of A Down - he even throws in a welcome burst of early System classic War? to spark a bit of bonus bedlam. There’s also a classic, Slipknot-style ‘jumpdafuckup’ and, to mix things up, a cameo from UK hip hop veteran Professor Green, who pops up during the duo’s recent collab Block.
It goes down so well that when a packed-out Greenpeace field demands an encore, they play it again, Green and all. For a first time at Glastonbury (OK, technically this one was his second), Native James has made a hell of an impact. He’ll be back here on bigger stages, guaranteed. Don’t sleep on this lad.
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