432 present - M.O.P. « 25th Anniversary of Warriorz »

M.O.P. bring the 25th Anniversary of Warriorz to Newcastle on Saturday 16th May 2026 at Newcastle University Students' Union. The Brownsville, Brooklyn duo — Billy Danze and Lil’ Fame — cut their teeth in the early 90s with a hard-edged East Coast sound: rugged voices, chant-driven hooks and heavy, sample-led beats. From How About Some Hardcore? and their debut To the Death to the Gang Starr circle and DJ Premier touchpoints, the path leads to Warriorz (2000), the album that carried them further with Ante Up, Cold As Ice and the title cut.

For this anniversary show, Warriorz takes center stage, delivered with the tight, percussive swing and call-and-response energy that define M.O.P. Expect those staples alongside selections from Firing Squad, First Family 4 Life and later chapters like Foundation or Sparta, with Lil’ Fame’s producer instinct and Billy Danze’s projection locked into boom-bap frameworks. On stage, the duo moves in short, high-impact bursts, clipped breaks and crowd exchanges that keep the pressure up. It’s New York hardcore hip-hop revisited twenty-five years on, direct and without frills, focused on the tracks and the bounce that made them stick.