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Well.... What can I say... Our shadow dream came true last night at The Jazz Cafe in Camden.. Jeff played a blinder of a set with a load of new stuff I've not seen him do plus I got the chance to see Mystro and Blak Twang do their thing live... I think Tim and Kev will agree that the highlight of the evening was the chat we all had with Jeff backstage.. It truly felt like we were all old friends catching up!! Well worth me missing the last train and having to spend £80 on a taxi home! I'll post up our picture when I get home from work!

A fantastic night of music, insight and friendship. See I been doing this site for some 16 odd years, and I've seen many people come and go, but there are a few who stick with us. That don't need a heap of news, or a new Will Smith or Jazzy Jeff album to roll on by. Y'all know who that is, and that's a family. When I've seen Kev, or Brakes or Jim go see Jeff and have an awesome time nothing puts a bigger smile on my face. Over the years though, as I've seen these photos I've thought, wow wouldn't it be great if we saw Jeff together. So when a trip planned 8 months ago, and a rare UK tour coincide in life, you know it's meant to be. We all met up early, around 4:00. It is funny that other people have commented how natural our conversation, back and forth and obvious friendship shines through. Sure we've known each other on this site for years, but this was the first time we'd ever met in real life. My cousin Lawrence, Kev's mate Alan, all got the same vibe. My cousin Alison came along, and she suggested a Japanese restaurant right near the Jazz Cafe for dinner. So we made our way over their about 5:30 and Kev & Alan got to have some food they'd never tried before. Bernie joined us which was great. It was Jeff's tour of Australia in 2006 when we first met, and she'd first met Darnell. It was definitely strange not having Darnell there, Skillz, Darnell & Jeff had been touring together for 8 years, you just never imagined him not being there. He always took good care of the fans on this site and you know he will kill the next project or event he's running. As we had a great dinner-- the food was incredible, we made some unsuccessful attempts to organise the interviews with Cris, Jeff's video guy. Eventually we headed into the Jazz Cafe. When we got there it was 3/4 full, but within half an hour this show was a sellout and they opened up the balcony as the club's small space soon filled out. The vibe was good people, here to have fun with some good music. The opening DJ's played some classic hip hop records, then we were treated to some UK rap legends who performed a few tracks each. Just after 10, Jeff finally took the stage. It really was a great mix of music from Jeff, current rap hits, back to west coast & east coast anthems, reggae records-- there really was no boundaries in this set. Yeah it even included cheesy 80s hits like Toto's Africa, alongside Touch of Jazz gems like Floetry's Floetic, smells like teen spirit, and classic 80s soul jams. Skillz had the crowd jumping as Jeff went from one music classic to the next. For the JJFP fans we got some old school routines, "I Wanna Rock" & "Live at Union Square." The surprise of the night was he's the greatest dancer into Getting Jiggy Wit It. A pretty easy track for Brakes, Kev & I to rap along to. The two hours of music flew by, the crowd left sweating, and they slowly left knowing they'd seen one of the worlds best DJ's and had one hell of a party. After the show we made our way backstage to see Jeff. He hadn't slept in 4 days and was feeling pretty sick but was kind enough to spend a little time chatting. What ensued was a fantastic conversation. See in this room we had Kev, Brakes & myself, our combined knowledge of all things JJFP clicked into gear. Jeff was able to shed some light on many things we'd never known, and the conversation that flowed like THE DJ, was magnificent. For instance when Jeff first saw his son Amir jump in the booth and spit some amazing rhymes, Jeff was forced to look away so his son couldn't see the tears flowing from the amazingly proud father. Or that on the back of 4 months work in the studio on Willennium, how the rap duo was all set to do a world tour before the movie business and Ali, quickly took priority. Little tid bits of information flowed out that filled in the gaps of an amazing career, and gave these longtime fans some amazing knowledge. We were all lucky to be there. As 20 minutes flew by as if it was 20 seconds, we were told Jeff's car was ready, and the club was ready to close. Kev, Brakes & I headed downstairs to complete our interviews for Cris. Cris had the cameras set up, while DJ Spinone asked us some questions. Interesting questions, like how does Jeff inspire you, or what is so unique about you being a fan. I think we had some good answers so it will be interesting to see how the video turns out. I think it shows the positive effect Jeff & Will's music had on our lives, and we make good cases for going out to see a Jazzy Jeff show. And that was it. As we hustled out of the club into the nightime drizzle, the time closer to 2am, the trains now closed and few options for Brakes to get back home we all knew we'd had a great night. A great experience, that was a long time coming. Brakes, Kev, I know we are gonna be friends for life. What a great way to hang out and finally see Jeff after all these years. It was all meant to be.

One of the best nights ever. That long convo with Jeff will last a lifetime. Just felt natural.