When it comes to listing rap groups who are dominating the UK music scene, you can’t go without mentioning D Block Europe, with the charismatic talents Young Adz and Dirtbike LB at the forefront of the collective.
Hailing from South London, the duo’s success may seem like it came about overnight, but if you’ve been following DBE’s journey from the start, you’ll know the catalogue of music and freestyles that were present in establishing themselves long before selling out the London O2 on Thursday; an achievement that was translated into the crowd’s infectious energy.
Like all good things that take time, the creatives involved in making DBE flourish have put in an effort that doesn’t go unnoticed and is here to stay for the long-term, which was more than evident when witnessing 20,000 people at the O2 go wild throughout their set for their The Blue Print Tour.
The show doors opened at 6:30pm, leaving time for the crowd to build up towards the endless hits they were about to hear and the acts they were about to see perform live, as DBE repaid fans selling out the arena with an array of homegrown UK talents, including fellow collective member Lil Pino, as well as the likes of M1llionz, Chip, LD (67), Raye and M Huncho. When the lights dimmed at 9:30pm, the crowd was undeniably ready to recite DBE’s impressive catalogue of music, with each song as crowd-pleasing as the last.
The group’s set-list began with joints from their 2019 28-track project, PTSD, allowing 20,000 people to sing along to crowd-favourite, “Darling”, which echoed throughout the O2 and set the tone for how the rest of their songs would go down with fans. It didn’t take long to warm up the crowd at all, as DBE dived into one of their most recent drops, “Overseas” featuring Central Cee, which was only released two weeks prior as part of their new album, Home Alone 2. The new seal on the song didn’t stop everyone in the room knowing the words, however, as thousands of fans sang back the lyrics to Young Adz and Dirtbike LB, proving the DBE effect is securing the collective in their current top-spot.
We then heard some classic hits of nostalgia from the duo, including “Large Amounts” (2017), “The Shard” (2018), “nAASty” (2018) and of course, the iconic 2019 hits, “Home P*ssy” and “Kitchen Kings”. With each performance, it became more clear that DBE’s current path was always inevitable as the group weren’t capable of becoming a one-hit wonder at any stage of their careers.
The crowd’s atmospheric energy during the evening was reciprocated by the duo who they came to see, as Young Adz and Dirtbike LB made sure to check on fans throughout the night for safety reasons as well as the casual reminder of love they had for their hometown and the loyalty fans had shown them over the years. The night ended with thousands of flashes on the crowd’s phones lighting up the North Greenwich venue as Young Adz promised a round two in future with “until next time,” being followed by Dirtbike LB’s final words to the sold-out show: “London, we love you.”
Although the show couldn’t have been a bigger hit with fans, we’re sure this is just the beginning of the BRIT nominees’ non-stop journey to continue soaring with their success. If the O2 didn’t make their achievements real enough, fans online are always there to give DBE their well-deserved flowers, especially following the success of the artists producing five top 10 albums in under four years, and their tour album The Blue Print – Us Vs. Them becoming their first to live in the Official Charts for 52 weeks, which firmly reasserts their value in the music scene. We look forward to the growth we’ll see from D Block Europe, who have shown nothing but humble gratitude towards every form of contribution to their success.
(Image credit: D Block Europe)