After causing havoc in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol bringing on stage UK and US heavyweights such as Labrinth, Maverick Sabre, Nero and J Cole, it was only right the 1Xtra Live tour came to an end in south London under the roof of Brixton O2 Academy on Thursday December 1st. After grabbing a couple of “beverages” during the industry get-together, Bea Alessio got herself comfortable in her balcony seat ready to rock the night away…

With a bunch of brave girls camping in the rain since 4pm, the house was fully packed by the time CJ Beatz jumped on the decks. Dropping banger after banger, the 1Xtra DJ had the Brixton crowd in full party mode before Jessie J was introduced on stage.

Wearing a Versace inspired body suit, the singer opened up with ‘Who’s Laughing Now’ expressly dedicating it to “few people” and stressing how good it felt to be there. Describing 2011 as a mad year, Jessie caught jokes with the crowd over ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ recalling when last year she wasn’t even allowed in as she wasn’t on the guestlist. On Thursday, she let the crowd know what time it was saying “I didn’t need a guestlist tonight” (we hear you Jessie don). Doing it like a dude, she was definitely “on one” as she teased the photographers to put her on the papers front page and left the crowd with their mouths open closing up with ‘Domino’.

Still thrilled by the energy of Jessie’s performance, Trevor Nelson and Mistajam, our hosts for the night, “bigged up” the Essex artist and welcomed on stage the king of dancehall and reggae Robbo Banx, who had my fellow press colleagues almost dutty wining on their seats. With Vybz Kartel apparently backstage (LOLZ), Robbo kept the hype levels growing until Mz Bratt came on stage, kicking off the UK Female Allstars performance with ‘Tear It All Down’. Yeah, right. Bratt called out for Leshurr to come on stage and the pint sized MC from Birmingham got the crowd back on lock with her latest single ‘Lego’, setting the levels for the group performance. Ready to ‘Rock The Mic’ Baby Blue, RoxXxan (pumping swag out of her ovaries. No Kreayshawn), Lioness and Amplify Dot joined Leshurr and Bratt waving the flag for the female MCs in the UK.

On that same vibe and supporting fresh homegrown talent, Trevor Nelson and Mistajam announced Kaleem Taylor as London’s act for 1Xtra ‘Time To Shine’. Looking pretty nervous (honestly who wouldn’t be in front of such a big crowd?), the r’n’b singer still managed to mesmerise everybody with his blues/jazzy vocals over his track ‘Blow Out’. Definitely one to watch.

Wobbling wobbling! It was time for G.O.O.D. Music’s “macho” Big Sean to get the crowd bouncing and no better track than ‘Dance (A$$)’ to start with. Schooling the Brixton audience on his cooking dance, he got into his other hit ‘Marvin Gaye & Chardonnay’ sticking his tongue out and ending up on the floor for a good minute. Taking his top off and dropping some next sexual moves on, I’m sure Big Sean got few panties wet before leaving the stage.

Ronnie Herel took over getting us into a more laidback vibe dropping some r’n’b classics, while the stage was set up for the last act of the night Kelly Rowland.

Trying to pull a “Beyonce”, Kelly came on stage with a questionable outfit and an even less convincing wig (I don’t know if she was in a rush and grabbed the first one in a hair shop in Brixton, but it looked bad). Anyway. She got my thumbs up for the dancers who escorted her on stage, taking us back to the good old days with ‘Dilemma’. Working out the stage with some energetic dance routines, Kelly only managed to sing hooks and short verses of Destiny Child’s repertoire, but still gassed me up when she dropped ‘Survivor’ and ‘Bootylicious’. Inviting Big Sean on stage to back her on ‘Lay It On Me’, the X Factor judge wrapped up the night with her last single ‘Down For Whatever’.

Apart from having “wastemen” like Ashley Cole sitting a couple of seats away from me, the night was overall a success. Thumbs up to 1Xtra. 

Listen back to 1Xtra Live in Brixton here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017k8fr/BBC_Radio_1Xtra_Live_2011_Brixton/

In the midst of the PR madness, Bea Alessio had the chance to quickly catch up with G.O.O.D. Music’s act Big Sean before he shut down the stage of Brixton O2 Academy. The A$$ artist talks bum implants and his deal with Adidas… 

Your track ‘Dance (A$$)’ featuring Nicki Minaj is all about back-offs. How do you feel about bum implants?

Bum implants? [Laughs] As long as it’s real enough to touch that’s all that matters. As long as it’s 3D [laughs out loud].

Let’s talk about style. Are you going to follow Kanye’s [Kanye West] footsteps and design your own clothing line?

Actually I’ve just signed a deal with Adidas and it involves me being a designer, so I’ll be designing my own line of Adidas sneakers and apparel. It will be out next year. I might take it into my own line as well, but we are still talking about getting it together. For now the main focus is music and getting it to a certain level.

I hear that. What is your favourite pair of sneakers?

My favourite pair? That’s a hard question. Probably the custom Adidas I’ve made for myself and I’ve worn on my tour. The snake skin ones. Most definitely.

You need to get your own pair when they come out in stores.

Well, you can send me a pair this way.

[Laughs]

[PR person cuts off Bea Alessio as 120 seconds are gone]

WORDS: Beatrice Alessio