Supa Dupa Fly, 14th June

I have loved R n B my whole life but these days I don't tend to go out to clubs that play it. Mostly for want of a fellow RnB lover, but now that my friend Alison is in the country, I thought I would take advantage of it and get down to a night that promised 90s and early 00s hip hop and RnB. With the flyer listing all the artists I love, I was pretty sure ahead of time it was going to be an awesome night.

We didn't get there until almost midnight but there wasn't a queue to get in. We were charged £10 as opposed to the advertised £8 entrance fee but not wishing to start the night on a bum note (or be refused entry) I kept that to myself.

As you walked in it was still fairly empty, this being because everyone was already on the other side of the bar getting down, hands in the air, smiles a plenty as the DJ played all the songs you want on a night like this. While we were waiting at the bar to get served (by a very friendly girl bartender) we missed several songs in a row that I wanted to dance to - Beenie Man's Dude, Mr Vegas's Heads High. And then they launched into some 2Pac as we were sipping on our vodka cranberries.

And then it was time to dance like the rest of the crowd were. Everyone was clearly having such a good time - it was like a house party in full swing. It was joyful.The DJ Emily Rawson from Rock the Belles - female, white - was up on stage with the MC doing his bit, random girls were getting up on stage to dance along. It looked like a whole host of fun. On each side was a screen with crazy visuals in neon colours letting you know you were at 'Supa Dupa Fly' and interspersing that with Missy Elliot images. It was very busy on the dance floor, but after a couple of hours the crowd started to thin somewhat - which me and my friend just loved because we are not shy about eating up any extra space on the dance floor. We have very little shame. 

I wish I could remember more of the songs that were played, I just know there wasn't a dud among them. I think Usher featured. Sunshine Anderson definitely, earlier on in the night. There was some Justin Timberlake and Ginuwine... the list goes on. And so nice, after YoYo at Notting Hill and the random night at the Social we went to ages ago, not to have them cut off after thirty or seconds or so! And yes, Moonlighting plays similar music every Saturday and I did have a good time there, but it was a little skeevy if memory serves whereas the Jazz Cafe was a classier venue. 

We stayed until the end and, proof if proof were needed of how friendly and lovely everyone was, the emcee ended up giving us a lift home!

They do a night in Brixton at Plan B as well, which I may check out, although it's a little more out of the way than the Jazz Cafe is for me, and various events - they're making an appearance at Lovebox, and the Rivington Street festival soon - which I just managed to get tickets to yesterday. Can't wait.