Shakewell & Ramirez
2nd October 2019
Whammy! Bar, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Richard Myburgh.
What’s better than seeing your favourite rapper? Watching him drop bars as you stand toe to toe and eye to eye. Which was exactly the experience that fans of Shakewell and Ramirez got last night in the up close and personal confines of Auckland’s best little dive bar Whammy!.
Amping to check out the San Fernando Valley native and affiliate of none other than Pouya – who recently destroyed a sold out Auckland crowd, check out the review here – and Fat Nick, the crowd packed out the venue early; local artist Rich James in his first international support slot, laying down an entirely new, self-produced set, featuring tracks from his latest killer EP Rose Gold to entertain the masses.
Turning the show into a triple header, none other than Mikey the Magician had come along for the ride; appearing on stage and heading straight for the decks, he immediately hyped the crowd with a little ‘Take A Step Back’ from Ski Mask the Slump God feat. Xxxtentacion, the fans proceeding to lose their collective shit as Shakewell stepped out halfway through the track.
Giving everyone exactly what they came for, Shakewell dove straight into ‘Virginia Tech’ and ‘Sleeping Bag’ – the latter produced by Mikey himself – before letting the crowd simmer for a sec during the more west coast flavoured ‘Way Back’; Shakewell’s dream being to one day collab with Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre. or any other of the west coast greats.
When examining his body of work, it’s hard to believe that Shakewell only started recording tracks in 2016; a recommendation from Don Krez to check out Fat Nick and Pouya live, resulting in a friendship developing between Fat Nick and Shakewell over drank, which soon led to collaborations between all three. Opening for many of Pouya’s shows, Shakewell now has a solid following, allowing him to headline his own gigs; much of his work done with Mikey the Magician, because as Shakewell stated, “his best” music is made with him. However, fans should stay on the lookout for some upcoming tracks involving Lifer and Crystal Meth…
Introducing the original Grey Gorrila and G*59 Record$ artist Ramirez [RVMIRXZ] to the stage, an avalanche of human beings soon occurred as bodies surged forward during ‘Mosh Pit Killa’ and ‘Midnight Marauder’, both Shakewell and Ramirez taking it in their stride as the organic chaos swirled around them; hands held out were acknowledged in return, Shakewell occasionally accepting a proffered phone with which to record himself rapping, a more priceless souvenir never to be found.
‘Leglock’, ‘Pemex’, the sing along aspect of ‘Na Na Na Na Na (Caught Slippin), and the old school flavour of ‘P.O.P’ (full set list below) kept the fans at peak levels; ‘Terminal Sex’ going out to all the ladies before Ramirez dropped ‘Nine Shots (Hitler Diss)’. By this point a good portion of the audience were on stage with the artists, everyone taking it in their stride and bonding over their shared love of music that is written from real-life experiences.
Shout outs to everyone from Fat Nick to regular visitors $Uicideboy$, resulted in some ‘Kill Your$elf Part XIV The Vulture’ following a particularly sick version of ‘Don’t Test Me (Pussy Boi)’ from Ramirez; the popular ‘100 Bars & Gunnin’ seeing the San Fran local who started his career years back after making a connection with $crim (aka $licky $loth) over Twitter bow out to let Shakewell take it home.
Asking the crowd if they fucked with his homie Ghostemane, who played Auckland back in May – hit up review here – Shakewell delivered the epic ‘Death by Dishonor’ feat Erick the Architect before a cappella spittin the entire first half of Pouya’s ‘Scrubs’ in record time.
Conquered.
Were you there at Whammy! Bar for this high energy hip-hop gig? Or have you seen Shakewell & Ramirez perform somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Virginia Tech – Shakewell
- Sleeping Bag – Shakewell (Prod. Mikey The Magician)
- Way Back – Shakewell
- Be A Witness – Ramirez feat. Shakewell
- Mosh Pit Killa – Ramirez
- Midnight Marauder – Ramirez
- Leglock – Shakewell
- Pemex – Shakewell & Fat Nick
- Na Na Na Na Na (Caught Slippin) – Ramirez
- P.O.P – Ramirez
- Voodoo Walk – Shakewell
- Terminal Sex – Pouya & Shakewell
- The Mystical Warlock – Ramirez
- Nine Shots (Hitler Diss) – Ramirez
- 10 Homies – Shakewell
- Sobriety – Shakewell
- Lil Motorola – Ramirez
- Don’t Test Me (Pussy Boi) – Ramirez
- Kill Your$elf Part XIV The Vulture – $Uicideboy$
- Relapse – Shakewell
- Son of Serpentine – Ramirez
- Boofpack – Fat Nick & Shakewell
- Greygods – Ramirez feat. $Uicideboy$
- 100 Bars & Gunnin – Ramirez
- Death by Dishonor – Ghostemane & Shakewell & Pouya & Erick The Architect
- Scrubs – Pouya
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