The Lower Third is an intimate, low-ceilinged basement set under London’s Denmark Street, a historically musical location. Putting on sunglasses, as a flurry of smartphone cameras flash him, Blanco, one of London’s finest MCs, addresses the roughly 200 fans shortly after taking to the stage for the launch party of his new mixtape, ReBourne.
“I’VE BEEN WAITING,” the rapper tells the crowd, signalling to the DJ with a glance and launching into a raucous rendition of ‘Londis’ — a single from the LP — followed by a slew of fresh tracks from the tape and a handful of unreleased exclusives. Those short three words, while simple and potentially meaningless, provide a glimpse into the double and sometimes triple meanings that have come to define the complex and singular style of lyricism that populates Blanco’s music — he’d been waiting to perform that night, waiting to drop his first tape in two years, and waiting to perform live in London for the first time in over two years.
“Yeah yeah, I enjoyed it — it was fun,” Blanco says the next day, while eating a bagel at a café in Kennington, South London, where he grew up. He’s performance-shy, having cancelled a tour following the release of 2021 LP City of God. A quiet and thoughtful character, Blanco doesn’t enjoy being the centre of attention,
