Qyeen sweeTs: NorthernXposure

• Marissa Burgess
• 24 August 2015

This article is from 2015

The odd false note damages an empowering message

Qyeen sweeTs book-ends her show with the rapping she's best known for, having previously performed as NorthernXposure with her brother. Here she crosses over into stand-up with a show structured around the premise of sweeTs arriving in London and meeting a guy who is utterly bemused by the fact that she appears African yet has a Scottish accent.

There are further contrasts in sweeTs' experience including the class inequalities of her living in a rough area yet going to a posh school. Elsewhere she addresses many racial issues questioning why her ethnicity is called 'black', the ridiculousness of immigration prejudice when we all stem from Africa and how, according to M&S, hosiery in her skin tone is 'seasonal'.

There are a couple of awkward moments in her set when she appears to suggest that being gay is akin to an STD and her later claim that white women are sexually loose giving men what they want 'for free'. However, the message she's moving towards (that women should work together to take control of our lives and the world) makes unarguable sense.

The Stand 4, 558 7272, until 30 Aug, 10.40pm, £8 (£7).