Vince Staples

After the crowd has endured a trio of support acts, Long Beach rapper Vince Staples emerges for his post-10pm stage time with a muttered joke about the “bobbies”, reminding us of the sense of humour that’s often masked by the 22-year-old’s stony exterior.

With politicised gangsta rap lyricism and trunk-rattling bass, Staples’ recent album Summertime ’06 is full of thought-provoking bangers, and by the time he launches into Norf Norf, the formerly tame crowd feels no shame joining in as he exclaims “I ain’t never ran from nothin’ but the police”, which possibly isn’t true on the behalf of the crowd who’ve assembled here. The consuming bass that fills Cargo’s low-ceilinged room seems to ensue a sort of frenzy in which the entire crowd end up losing their shit, and regardless of the fact that Staples’ lyrics often describe troubling details, his energy as a performer has people beaming as they bop their heads and crash into each other when each track drops.

While the set feels incredibly brief, the crowd seems to be satisfied. And it was good, for once, to see a weeknight London crowd descend into oblivion in exchange for a general feeling of genuine anger and ecstasy.