Adam Drucker is many things, but he’s no introvert. The rapper, better known as Doseone, isn’t ensconced in some inner sanctum within the venue wiling away the time before tonight’s Edinburgh show. Hell, no; he’s on the street, entertaining the bouncers with an anecdote about cops shaking down other cops. ”When that happens, there’s no fuckin’ law, man,” says Drucker with a laugh, clapping the doorman on the back and darting back inside to linger by the bar talking to fans.
But tonight isn’t about Doseone holding court. The anticon. founder isn’t here representing his own brand; he’s here in partnership with labelmate, producer and beat-wizard Jel, who he later credits as “my best friend in the world”. The two have been collaborating in various forms since 1997, as component members of Subtle and 13 & God, but it is their original formation as alt hip hop duo Themselves that lands in Auld Reekie tonight – and what a landing.
Warm-up duties this evening are delegated to LuckyMe label managers Dominic Flanagan (Dom Sum) and Martyn Flynn (Fine Art), collectively known as The Blessings. For Flanagan, tonight seems like a joyous reunion, as he informs the crowd with a grin that pair’s first gig was a Doseone support slot back in 2003. Despite being hamstrung by technical malfunctions – which prompt Flanagan to describe the show as “one of those laptop sets where the guy really does nothing” – the duo nonetheless manage to put out a mindblowing mish-mash of house, techno and hip hop atop some of the most ludicrously oversized basslines it’s possible to create.
Themselves’ arrival comes with little fanfare; Doseone and Jel pushing through the crowd to clamber onto the dais, chatting with an excitable crowd before lunging without warning into the pounding sleaze-rap of ‘BackIIBurn’. A slight, bearded figure in a grey waistcoat, Doseone is on fire tonight; a thrusting, writhing, growling dervish prowling the stage. He spits staccato raps into the faces of his crowd, occasionally descending from the low stage to wander through the audience like some kind of grotesque hip hop Moses.
‘Gangster of Disbelief’ is note-perfect, Jel’s skillfully syncopated drumbeat rubbing up against Doseone’s scattergun flow, while the ‘Roman Is As Roman Does’ brings a more ethereal air to proceedings with its synth-heavy chorus. Between songs, Doseone is a consummate showman; joking with, affectionately goading generous audience members into bringing them drinks onstage. A tongue-in-cheek comparison to the previous night’s Glasgow audience riles the punters into a riotous frenzy, while a lengthy and rambling discussion of The Running Man – which, for some unknown reason, plays on the screens behind the band – is odd but entirely hilarious.
The setlist is taken in large part from 2009′s Crownsdown, and as a result the first two albums are somewhat neglected, but Themselves give such a wild, hypnotic performance that it’s difficult to complain. When the sound tech loudly informs the duo that they’re nearing the end of their allotted time, Doseone guiltily confesses they’ve had to cut five songs from their set. But while that’s a disappointment in itself, it’s hard to feel bad about an 80-minute audience with two monoliths of the genre. Themselves are an unforgettable live experience, with an engagingly sordid stage presence and an awe-inspiring repertoire. And you can’t argue with that.
Our Arbitrary Numerical Verdict:
Marcus Kernohan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Stereokill.net. Email him at 
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