JME, The Plug, Sheffield
Saturday 25 June 2009

JME (Jamie Adenuga) is an English MC hailing from London. Whilst not having a major solo hit to his name, members of JME’s collective known as ‘Boy Better Know’ have released a few singles that have been dancefloor hits. JME, however, has been successful in staying in the background and mainly producing the beats whilst releasing a few mix-tapes and his only commercial album to date ‘Famous?’.

The 14+ age restriction meant that the vast majority of the audience did seem to consist mainly of young screaming girls and boys who seem to enjoy the usual tussle for a t-shirt thrown into the crowd a little too much! When JME did finally emerge he did not seem overly impressed with the audience and perhaps the length of his 25 minutes set reflected this. The tunes from his album such as ‘Awoh’ and ‘Standard’ would have pleased fans of the album, but did not seem to have much of an effect on the audience there. The biggest cheer (or scream) of the night was for Boy Better Know’s mainstream release ‘Too Many Men’, which was disappointing as it is far from being one of his better songs.

JME did, as usual, put on a good performance but not quite up to the Standard (hoho!) of his album tour last year, which was impressive. He does know how to work an audience and his lyrics are impressively quick witted and do flow well. Similarly, his beats are well put together and are different from a lot of the other MC’s and producers that are involved in the scene nowadays.

If JME can improve his marketing and attract an audience who appreciate his music and his more classic tunes then his gigs would have a truly impressive feel to them. But whilst he continues to attract groups of young girls and boys who know of his dancefloor tunes only, then his performances will continue to disappoint his more dedicated fans who do attend. Whilst it is good to see an artist like JME willing to travel and perform this far from his hometown, there is a need for him to promote his gigs better as I know for a fact there were many more fans who were not at the gig because of the 14+ age restriction and many did not even know it was taking place.

John Stanley

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