DJ Premier (read our interview here) hit Yugong Yishan last night with a driving two-hour set of Gang Starr hits and hip-hop classics, with an interlude from his Year Round Records protege MC Nick Javas.

We've seen plenty of hip-hop stars play Beijing looking bored, tired and disinterested, and with his touring schedule you might have expected DJ Premier to add to that inglorious list. As it turned out, Primo gave a masterful demonstration of what we should demand from big names stopping by Beijing. No 30-minute sleepwalking set from the former Gang Starr producer - Premier put in two hours dominated by the type of uplifting, "socially aware" hip-hop that New York burned with in the '80s and '90s.

A good crowd of laowais and local hip-hop fans seemed well-versed in Premier's discography and Gang Starr's work.  The DJ himself seemed to be having fun, scratching madly, eagerly - at times manically - rapping along to tracks, getting the audience going with the inevitable bit of call-and-response, sometimes even just screaming, before bringing things back down to dish out lectures in hip-hop history, singling out Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and other legends for some respect. The atmosphere dropped a bit when Nick Javas joined Premier on stage for a 30-minute showcase of his MCing talents, though mainly because the crowd seemed geared up for a night of familiar hits rather than being introduced to a relative unknown. Javas seemed capable enough, but it was hard to get much out from a first listen in a live setting.

When Premier took center stage again, he launched into a section paying tribute to hip-hop's deceased heroes - Ol' Dirty Bastard, Biggie, Big Pun, Jam-Master Jay, Eazy-E, Tupac and others - giving an excuse to dip further into the hip-hop "Best of" collection. Inevitably, there were several poignant moments when Premier dwelled on his late friend and Gang Starr partner Guru (aka Keith Elam), whose rhymes were always somewhere around the corner throughout the night. At one point, the DJ encouraged the crowd to give a shout out for Guru's family, asking "Where is Guru now?" before leaning back, arms outstretched and pointing upwards before dropping one more Gang Starr tune.

We've heard a few complaints about Yugong Yishan's sound system lately, but last night the sound was as good as I've heard it at the venue - hopefully the problems have been addressed once and for all. You couldn't really have asked for more out of this show - a good turnout, a crowd who were there to get involved rather than stare at the "celebrity" and take photos on their mobiles, and a DJ who gave enough of a shit to turn up awake and ready to start a party. And start a party he did. One of the best shows Beijing has hosted recently.