Academy, Leeds
The Birmingham grime MC works the crowd into a euphoric frenzy, despite the melancholy edge to his personal lyrics
When Mist was in prison over Christmas in 2014, his resettlement officer asked him: “Who are you?” The Birmingham rapper couldn’t immediately answer, so in his cell he started writing personal, therapeutic lyrics about his parents’ deaths and the “pure pain” of knowing his daughter had “turned grown while I was in the pen”.
He has barely looked back since, with 40m YouTube views and a Top 5 chart position for last month’s Diamond in the Dirt EP. With all the screaming and the sea of mobile phones, this show feels like a victory lap, but despite the euphoria, his bars retain the raw, melancholy edge that transformed his career: “It still hurts that my mum can’t see my success.”
