Goodmayes rapper Cynikal goes back to school

Leyton Sixth Form proved the perfect platform for the debut headline gig (Image: Archant)

For many young people, the day they leave school is the last time they haunt the halls of academia.

Hard work has paid off for the boy from Goodmayes (Image: Archant)

However for Goodmayes boy Cynikal, a return to school was something he eagerly looked forward to.

The rapper has been enjoying a rise to prominence recently following the release of his debut EP Toby and widespread radio coverage of his most recent single Lost.

To top off these achievements he was approached by Leyton Sixth Form college about using their state of the art music and stage facilities to host his first ever self produced headline show.

The lyricist jumped at the chance as it was the place in which he learned and honed his craft as a performer, arranger and producer as a young music student.

He said: “I owe a lot to the college and the teachers.

“Not long after I left the college they built a brand new arts complex of a really high standard and when I took a look at the set up I knew it would be the ideal place for my first headline show.”

And he was right - Leyton Sixth Form college was buzzing with people who had all turned up to see him perform, a special experience for him.

He said: “It was really cool to think that all those people had come to see me, it was a really unique feeling.

“I made a point of not coming out to see how big the crowd was before the show got under way, not because I was nervous but because I didn’t want to step outside my normal routine of preparation for a gig.

“It was my show and my name on the door so I definitely didn’t want to disrupt anything.”

That tactic proved to be successful as Cynikal felt that the show went, almost, completely smoothly.

He said: “It was surprisingly good, you’re always waiting for that one thing to horribly wrong and ruin a performance but it never came.

“There was one hitch when my drummer missed a song from the set list and went straight to the next one but it happened so quickly nobody noticed but us!

“I have to say of all the shows I have done it has been the best, all the way through it I was so in the moment that it was all I cared about for the time I was on stage.

“The crowd were great, I could really feel that they were properly engaged with the music.

“The venue was intimate enough that at the end I addressed the crowd away from the microphone using just my voice and said a huge thank you to them, it was amazing.”

Such is the focus, attention and hard work that went in to preparing for this gig, and for all his performances, there was no room for celebration afterwards.

Cynikal said: “Afterwards I felt a huge sense of relief, we had put so much work into putting on the show and I’d had so many sleepless nights that I was mentally and physically exhausted.

“It took a few days for it to sink in, sometimes you don’t realise quite what you’ve achieved until afterwards but it hasn’t changed my attitude.

“I’m like a sportsman I prepare for each gig like it’s a big match, get it done and on to the next one.”

Approching festival season Cynikal is lining up plenty of live shows as he looks to perform as much as possible and has up coming gigs at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Soho and at the Alchemy Festival at London’s Southbank centre.

Cynikal’s debut EP Toby and single Lost are available for download on iTunes now.