Marius Listhrop aka SCARLXRD (pronounced Scarlord) is a trap rap artist hailing from the UK. Formerly a YouTube blogger known as Mazzi Maz, Listhrop had over 600,000 subscribers when he transitioned into his SCARLXRD alter ego. With three albums released this year already and with such a massive online following (he's also ranked up more than 50,000 followers on SoundCloud) there is an inevitably large amount of hype surrounding the young 23 year old.
The Camden Assembly show was a sell out, which is an incredible feat considering it was a Monday and also his first solo London show under the SCARLXRD name. The young, diverse crowd arrived in droves and there was an air of excitement around the room as SCARLXRD's DJ and hype man took to the decks. From here on in, the crowd were bouncing and the anticipation was growing. When SCARLXRD finally arrived on stage, the audience literally lost their minds. With seriously heavy trap influenced beats and distorted, warped production throughout, SCARLXRD's music is refreshingly original. His flow is odd, and sometimes he sounds like a young Oli Sykes (never a bad thing) but the passion SCARLXRD shows on stage is breathtaking. His energy throughout the extensive 90 minute set never dropped and this clearly infected the audience. With mosh-pits, crowd surfing and the metal genre stalwart, the wall of death, there was barely time for anyone to take a breather. At times you could have been forgiven for thinking you had walked into the wrong gig, especially when SCARLXRD tore through 'Lies Yxu Tell' with its heavy guitar riffs and screaming vocals, not too dissimilar to a Ho99o9 track. On break out track 'Heart Attack' the ex-YouTuber's rapping prowess really came to the forefront. The speed of his delivery on parts of the tune were fantastic and without taking a breath, he showed real control. The biggest highlight of the night came when SCARLXRD played '6 Feet'. The crowd went crazy as soon as the opening bars blasted through the speakers. This went down so well, SCARLXRD played it twice.
There were moments on the night that left a little to be desired. Unfortunately SCARLXRD performed along to the main recordings of his original tracks, which felt a little lazy at times. There were times when he was putting all his energy into his stage presence and sometimes this meant SCARLXRD's actual musical performance suffered - occasionally he seemed like a hype man for his own tracks. Focusing on how to distribute energy to both his vocal performance and stage presence is a must, and this will definitely come in time.
For a debut London performance, this was one of a kind and with a little more attention to detail when it comes to the live instrumentation, the young rapper's performances will have people queuing up to see him in droves. Watch out 2018.
Listen to 'Lies Yxu Tell' here
There were moments on the night that left a little to be desired. Unfortunately SCARLXRD performed along to the main recordings of his original tracks, which felt a little lazy at times. There were times when he was putting all his energy into his stage presence and sometimes this meant SCARLXRD's actual musical performance suffered - occasionally he seemed like a hype man for his own tracks. Focusing on how to distribute energy to both his vocal performance and stage presence is a must, and this will definitely come in time.
For a debut London performance, this was one of a kind and with a little more attention to detail when it comes to the live instrumentation, the young rapper's performances will have people queuing up to see him in droves. Watch out 2018.
Listen to 'Lies Yxu Tell' here
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