Blingo – Hip Hop Bingo. Superfun. I love Bingo, I love Hip Hop and I had really enjoyed Bogan Bingo previously, which was from the same guys so I had high hopes. They were met.
How do they make Bingo = Blingo? Well, firstly with our inimitable hosts – Grandma Flash with her Bronx (I assume) accent, and her lover, which kind of sets the tone for the evening. Lots of smutty jokes that aren’t particularly clever but they do make you laugh.
Then the bingo commences. It’s proper bingo, with numbers, rather than striking off the hip hop songs as you hear them. But they’re playing hip hop in the background and blend it by having certain songs linked to certain numbers. So, when 2 was called they played some 2Pac. Number 15 meant they played R Kelly (think about it). 12 and the intro to Dead Prez’s ‘Hip Hop’ (Uh 1 2 1 2…)
And on top of this there are a some grand prizes. And by grand I mean shit. I don’t think I wanted a single one of those prizes. Each prize also acted as an excuse to play a related song – though less of the rap ilk. The prize of a ‘breakfast kit’ with toaster and marmalade had the theme song ‘Pump up the jam’ while Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction was played when someone won the power drill.
They’ve also got a bit of audience participation going on. One round demanded two winners so they could compete in ‘shitbox’ – each contestant forced to try to beatbox to a song. Shitbox might not be the most original name for the game but it pretty much described what was going on on stage.
And then, after one of the breaks, they had a lip sync battle which you could try to enter if your Liked their facebook page. Gangsta’s Paradise went up against Fresh Prince and there was a clear winner there. I’d have killed either.
The only downer I would say about the night was where it was. Proud Camden is the kind of place that has girls coming round with Jaegerbombs as soon as you get there at 7:30 and the prices are extortionate. A large glass of wine was a tenner! That forced me onto the cider – which they ran out of at 10pm. We were also promised an afterparty and after all the fun we’d had at the bingo we could not wait to get our freak on on the dance floor. We had to clear out while it was set up but the groove kept going with some of the same tunes being played while we waited. And then… finally… we were allowed back in. Only to be greeted by shit trance and house! That was a crying shame. I can rave with the best of them, but that’s just not what I was expecting or hoped for. So, disappointed, we all left.
