12 Acklam Rd
Ladbroke Grove
London
W10
If you don't know, get to know!
General Rules (seen on site)
No under 16s.
No readmittance.
No dress code.
Smoking is permitted in this venue.
Pretty cool right?
But I think you have to be 18+ for raves.
Take the Metropolitan line (pink), the number 7, drive, walk or dance to Ladbroke Grove. Walk down the alley off Ladbroke Grove, opposite Ion. Cross Portobello continue up Acklam Road and find tucked under the Westway, next door to a skateboard ramp and alongside some other community businesses my little mecca. Lamp posts, ticket machines, walls are tagged up, postered down, plastered with street team's latest proclamations. Stickers on the pavement read Talib Kweli in a pattern. Opposite the housing estate (which I never notice) There it is.
Sub, sweeet subbbbbb.. u be calling out my name. I feel no pain, I'm in love!
this is it! dah dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! doesn't look like much but inside is a wonderment of delights..!?
I hear there is a website by the name of www.ilovesub.com. I couldn't find it (trust me I searched). Well, that person needs to get in contact with me and I will arrange a duel. I don't know who this impostor is but I know they cannot possibly love sub more than me. Could they?
Maybe, it has that effect on people. I don't know what I'd do without it. I've been to so many events there it's sick! I did one of those weird calculations it would probably work out that I'd spent at least a year of my life in Sub and I'm not done yet!
This is the home of Hip Hop in London. My 3rd home (2nd is pushing it). If I have to go to a show alone I don't mind if it's there. I own that club! (well) I feel a warm glow whenever I step foot in there, so many memories!
I have seen so many shows there it's not right. I've had some of the best raves of my life there and the worst. I've seen men and women half-sexing, fighting and rave in there. I've seen my mates from school rock the stage there! I've (indirectly) had my heartbroken there (repeatedly!), I've had mad crushes bloom there then wither into nothingness (repeatedly!) I have caught so much fucking joke there. It's a good place, a wondrous place.
Bang at the front, holding onto the bar, jumping up and down to a tune.. You can't beat that feeling!
I have never been on that stage though. hmm have to try and achieve that before the year is out! (I don't mean performing) My other dream (well not dream) is to sleep there. Get a double bed in there and a TV. It might be a bit scary though.
Apparently it can take up to 1000 people, but don't quote me on that.
Go down some steps to reach the entrance (hence the sub...) through the double doors (keep them SHUT or the bouncers will fuck u up!) into the venue proper. I imagine it must be a bit like The Cavern in Liverpool. The decor is very unobtrusive. The walls are black brick but there are splashes of colour here and there (purple, orange) like the fittings and the tiger print (is it?) seats.
It is small and dark but not in a grim, horrible way. There are a few beautiful shiny things that sometimes appear at Rotation. J
It's always clean. U can go to the toilets without fear. It scrubs up nicely! It has chameleon ability, for Sub they like to project funky, pornographic (if u ask me) and retro images on the screens they have on the left right and back of stage. On a Hip Hop night they might have some graf or something, nuff posters. At the Portobello film festival I could barely recognise the place. Have you seen Iceberg Slim's video for Fairy Tales? That is sub looking jiggy!
It has an upstairs, a big balcony type thing. There's a sign saying no dancing, which is ignored. It has 3 bars (well 2 but one is long), 2 sets of loos up and down. If you look down you can see a big circle that signifies the dancefloor -U can have a lot of fun with that circle if u are the first in the place and music is playing! The dancefloor is basically everywhere though.
The stage is low. Eye level for the audience is the performer's groin. Should I make my tasteless joke I made after the ATCQ show? I probably already have!
It's got a deep community history (but I don't know it) and is deep in the carnival zone but I never notice it when I'm at carnival. Westwood used to play under that tent thing down the road. Those were the days (of getting squashed and seeing nothing!)
It's in West London, which is marvellous for me. The N23 goes straight to my house. Go to Sub on a Friday night before a Bank Holiday or seasonal event and without fail you will see the 20-something black population of the Wessyde, especially the ex- Twyford crew! I blame T-Money. Still those bloody south Londoners always seem to make the most noise every time!
It's perfect for underground hip hop shows cos it's edgy and intimate.. That's what I like it's cosy and vibes can run (!) Perfect examples being the ATCQ show, The Liks, De La Soul and Gravediggaz. The atmosphere was just electric then.
As I said, there's no gap between artist and audience. When Phife Dawg was chatting lyrics spit went in my eye and everything! I was like THIS is Hip Hop!!!!!!!
The closeness does have its ups and downs though. An artist can hear or lip-read all the shit u are talking. Bad example: at a Slum Village show Baatin was scaring us! He would call people out. We couldn't comment on the show at all!
Good example: Rza at Gravediggaz. He turned and replied to a comment B made, no I'm not tired baby, I'm chillin J
I wonder what goes through an artist like Bone Thug's head when they play a venue like Sub. It may be small but it is esteemed. Sub has status. To grace that stage is an honour! To a degree ALL Hip Hop in the UK is underground, apart from the odd freak Top Ten occurrence (Jay-Z, Busta) but the size of the venue can also be indicative of your popularity.
Eminem played at Sub first (ram and should have been a classic performance), then he was at The Astoria (an extra date had to be added). His last show was at Brixton Academy, filled to the brink (with pub men, schoolgirls and Hip Hop heads). He does due to be at London Arena next month. He could probably fill the millennium dome with all his fans now. Snoop started out appearing at Equinox (quite a big club), then graduated to Brixton Academy (proper concert venue, small to an American but big 4 hip hop in the UK, plus it's in The Brix!) Then did Wembley Arena (bigger still, a pop music venue) but he was part of a line up (Case, SWV, Blackstreet) Then after his 2nd album, he was at Sub with his die hard fans. Fall from grace or keeping it real? Neither, a return to the source! Most fans prefer shows at Sub anyway. It's like being in a secret gang, sharing a special secret. Pyrotechnics and costumes are fantastic but nothing beats a bit of sweat, some jokes and plenty of mike rocking.
I think it goes like this for size:
Subterania, Jazz cafe and clubs like la palais and equinox LA2
Astoria
Scala
Forum
Stratford Rex
Brixton Academy
Wembley Arena
Wembley Stadium.. never no fucking hip hop shows there anyway (currently under reconstruction)!
That was pure guesswork but Sub isn't THAT much smaller than the other venues but it is by far the cosiest and coolest. Fuck a Jazz Cafe!
Scala. I see you baby, trying to battle my Sub for Hip Hop venue of London. You look gorgeous, you're spacious, you have Scratch and now you have Lyrical Lounge but you just stepped in the game, slow your roll! It's about longevity.
I think the first time I went there to see a show was when I went to see Domino that was 1994. I'm no old school sub head but I'm 10 times as devoted! Before that I went to a rave there on a Thursday night and not much people were there. We were all stood around the circle eyeing each other.
I think Sunday is for the reggae people- David Rodigan has a night there? Saturday is Soulsonic! In 1998 I raved there a hell of lot on Fridays @ Rotation. Rotation, Rotation hahahaha Rotation. I could write a (moronic) book on the shenanigans and seinfeld-esque twists and turns that have happened to us at Rotation, but I won't (or maybe I will!). In 95 I used to curse my brother for going to that trendy non-hip hop rave, but then I tried it myself and managed to block those people out of my mind and rave. Besides, they played a lot more hip hop then I thought! Alex Baby used to tear down them decks with his selections (still does) as do residents Manny Norte and T-Money (he went to my school he did. HE was the kid dancing in the video for Pump up The Jam he was, he also danced for Dr Alban but we won't go into that). Dodge, Matt White, DJ Swing, Rock and Roll guy (I don't know his real name) are the cats on ROTATION (get it) with special guests on the odd.
The emcees are humorous in their ish talking, JP and comme ci comme ca, the artist presently known as Lonyo (it's the summer of love is actually about me and my friends. hahahah i kill myself sometimes)
Femi, Gus and Guestlist man are the team behind it (I know I'm missing the man with the dreads and the hat but I have no name for him) and they deservedly won a MOBO for best nightclub in Ladbroke grove on a Friday night in 1998!
(I wrote this when my love 4 rotation was strong)
The (infamous) bouncers, miserable gits (!) knew us from the hip hop shows but when we started to rave there on the Friday club night (Rotation) it got a bit crazy. We aren't on a first name basis yet (we have our own names for them) One sad (happy) week I went there 3 days in a row: Apricot Jam, Hip Hop Show, Rave. The bouncer (Muffin Man) said, see you next week and I'm like I don't think so. He's like, no, see u next week and he did! Why fight the feeling if it feels that good?
If you can be arsed to read some of my `reviews' u will see how much fun I have had, so much. I also like it cos sometimes instead of going off and having a separate afterparty the artist will just come and mingle in the crowd and rave there it's a joy to see!
Aww I love sub come here ****squeeze****
I was horrified to hear that sub might be getting locked off.. I am not sure whether it is Subterania itself or Rotation but they are appealing against the ruling against their license. This is not good news. I pray to God that they win. That place is IMPORTANT! Mean Fiddler. Represent. It isn't THAT much of a residential area. It's down the road from Portobello market and a skateboard park and the A40/westway runs above it. One little club can't cause THAT much disruption. How biased am I?
Boom. Vibes was running.
Gravediggaz. J5, ATCQ, Kweli, Mos Def (but I wasn't there)The Roots (ditto) Rakim, Pharcyde, De La Soul, Quannum, Dead Prez, The Liks, Xzibit, The Fugees
Bombed. Someone better start running!
Domino, Killah Priest (well it wasn't that bad) Eminem.
See? Statistically it has been proven that is very hard to have a crap show at sub! (Am I lying? No I'm quite right)
They have a lot of showcases there.
Lots of community people do stuff there, bands do gigs.
Apricot Jam has been there on occasion.
Flavour of the Month resides there now.
Sub memories: sitting on the wall with Clef, watching my friends rhyming with Lauryn Hill in a cypha, Bobby Dig checking B! Hearing the crowd do the oooooooh ooooh ooohs from diary of a mad man! Priceless. Grinning watching Dru Hill raving tough from the balcony and Sisqo telling us to come down and rave with him (C I will tell this story how I choose!), watching the Pharcyde surrounded by white women, The Liks show.
Sites I wish I'd seen: the wazzzap men in sub, DMX @ Rotation!? GZA cussing an apathetic Rotation crowd ("I get 20 grand to do a show").
xxxx