What is The Listening Party?
The Listening Party launched in May 2019 as a music reaction show hosted on Link Up TV’s YouTube channel. The series ran until November 2020 and featured a panel of UK personalities reacting to new Black British music projects shortly after they were released.
The show reviewed music upon first listen between a group of people who already had a familiarity with the artists in question. The Listening Party focused on landmark releases from Rap, Drill, Grime and R&B artists in the UK, including Stormzy’s Heavy is the Head, Dave’s Psychodrama and J Hus’ Big Conspiracy.
The Listening Party Format
The Listening Party is recorded in a house party environment, with drinks and a crowded room of men and women listening to music. Each of the episodes begin with the host stating the name of the project the (album, mixtape or EP) before playing it track by track.
The cast then respond to the music as they hear it – often asking for reloads or to pause the songs so they can reflect on what they’ve heard. At various points through each episode a handful of the people listening to the music will be pulled to the side to personally reflect on the music away from the rest of the party.
At the end of each episode all of the members of The Listening Party individually give a summary and rate the project out of 10.
The Listening Party Cast
The Listening Party cast consisted of a group of personalities of varying ages (between early 20s and late 30s) and varying proximities to the Black British music industry. For example Margs was an active rapper when the series began and had a strong understanding of music recording and marketing, whereas his fellow former Mashtown member Tricky was far less in-tune with contemporary tastes.
Each episode featured a slightly different line-up, but a core seven members were present in most of the recordings while a range of other people made occasional or one-off appearances too.
Core Listening Party Cast
Lippy
Lippy is a content creator. At the time The Listening Party began he was most known for his role on For the Culture Podcast, along with Tricky. On The Listening Party he is known to contribute the most shareable reactions to music and has contributed to a number of viral moments for the show. He later went on to make regular appearances on Filthy Fellas.
Maláika
Maláika is a presenter and voice over actor. She went on to create other content with Link Up TV.
Margs
At the time The Listening Party began Margs was known as a rapper from the east London music collective Mashtown. He had also appeared as a guest on podcasts such as 3 Shots of Tequila. Shortly before The Listening Party came to an end he started the No Behaviour Podcast with Loons and became a regular on Filthy Fellas.
Hemah K
Hemah K is a presenter who has featured on Radar Radio and other Link Up TV content including The Joints Podcast with Big Zuu. After The Listening Party she became more prominent as a comedy-based content creator.
Tricky
Tricky is a former rapper from east London and was part of Mashtown with Margs, along with Asco, J Spades and Hypo. When The Listening Party launched Tricky was known for his role in For the Culture Podcast with Lippy.
Nashavelli
Nashavelli is a content creator and former model associated with Face4Music. Prior to The Listening Party she had appeared on another Link Up TV show entitled In the Bag with Big Tobz.
Nada Allali
Nada Allali is a presenter from Reading. She has appeared on a number of online and offline platforms as a host, and has gone on to gain a role as an Apple Music presenter.
Infrequent Cast Members
The Listening Party used support cast members to experiment with the numbers, dynamics and to fill-in when some of the main individuals were not able to attend the recording. These people include a number of similar personalities with varying profiles, including other rappers, cultural commentator and music reaction content creators.
The list of less frequent or one-off members of The Listening Party cast includes:
- Mr Montgomery – Content creator and journalist most known for self-produced YouTube documentary videos.
- Lee to the VI – Content creator most known for music reaction videos.
- Marvin Abbey – Podcaster and event promoter most known for being a part of 3 Shots of Tequila.
- Denz & Renz – DJs and content creators most known for music reaction videos.
- J Gang – Rapper from south London known for featuring as a media personality on a number of channels, including Grime Report TV.
- Youngs Teflon – Popular rapper from south London.
- Mimi the Music Blogger – Content creator and journalist.
- Mr Reload It – Content creator most known for a meme video.
The Listening Party Hosts
The Listening Party doesn’t have a consistent host. A number of different people have taken on the role of host – introducing the episode and pushing the party on to listen to the next song, before urging everyone to give a rating at the end. On occasions, the core cast members have played the role of host.
The list of The Listening Party Hosts can be found below:
- Arnold Jorge
- Henrie Kwushue
- Qoy
- Aaron Bridgeman
- Mosique Lavontelle (MLavontelle)
- Robert Bruce
The Listening Party Example Episode
Below is an example episode of The Listening Party. In this instalment the team discuss Blade Brown’s Bags X Boxes 4 mixtape.
The Listening Party Projects
The Listening Party has covered a range of significant releases by UK Rap acts. This includes albums, mixtapes and EP by both major label signed acts and independent artists. The projects include:
- Digga D – Double Tap Diaries
- Dave – Psychodrama
- M Huncho – Utopia
- MoStack – Stacko
- Skepta – Ignorance is Bliss
- Nafe Smallz – Good Love
- Blade Brown – Bags x Boxes 4
- Headie One and RV – Drillers x Trappers 2
- Headie One – Music X Road
- WSTRN – WSTRN Season Vol. 2
- Aitch – Aitch2O
- JAY1 – One Wave
- J Hus – Big Conspiracy
- M Huncho – Huncholini the 1st
- Krept & Konan – Revenge is Sweet
- Stormzy – Heavy is the Head
- Headie One – Edna
- D-Block Europe – The Blueprint
- K-Trap – Street Side Effects
- Loski – Music, Trial & Trauma: A Drill Story
- Nines – Crabs in a Bucket
The Listening Party Sponsors
From October 2020 until its final episode in November 2020, The Listening Party was exclusively sponsored by the German Donor Kebab eatery chain.
The Listening Party FAQs
Who is the host of The Listening Party?
Arnold Jorge was host of the first episode of The Listening Party. However, the placement was temporary as a number of different individuals took on that role in instalments following, including Qoy, Aaron Bridgeman and Henrie Kwushue. Robert Bruce acted as the permanent host on all of the later 2020 episodes before the show came to a close.
What happened to the JAY1 episode of The Listening Party?
In August 2019 The Listening Party reviewed JAY1’s One Wave EP. Early into the recording the cast (which included Lippy, Lee to the VI, Hemah K, Maláika and Tricky) erupted into laughter about the use of pauses in his music. Overall the comments weren’t favourable towards the EP.
Despite the negative response from most of the team, Lippy went on to defend him, but undermined it by saying: “Big up JAY1, man – nah brudda I’m joking” (as a nod to a notable JAY1’s lyric) at the end of the episode. The pair engaged in online discussions in the aftermath.
Ultimately the episode was removed from YouTube and The Listening Party temporarily stopped production due to the situation. Lippy disagreed with Rashid Kasirye’s (Link Up TV’s owner) decision to side with musicians rather than the show’s cast by deleting the video and halting further instalments of the show.
Shortly after Lippy’s public outburst, the show returned. JAY1 and Lippy later reconciled their differences when they met at Stormzy’s birthday event in August 2022.
Although Link Up TV removed the video from YouTube, it has been reuploaded on an unrelated channel.
