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It's by no means a competition.

But, if it was, Salt-N-Pepa and Eve stole the show at First Direct Arena on Thursday night.

They were among more than a dozen acts who took to the stage for Kisstory's four-and-a-half hour hip hop, RnB and garage marathon, which also included US artists Nelly, Shaggy, Mya and Blu Cantrell on The Blast Off Tour.

DJ Luck & MC Neat opened the show and performed their 1999 single 'A Little Bit of Luck'.

Scene pioneer MC DT performed a cover of DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies' 2001 hit 'Do You Really Like It?'.

Covers were a theme throughout the night, which went down a treat as the audience ranged from millennials up to those in their 60s.

(Image: LeedsLive)

Sweet Female Attitude performed their 2000 hit 'Flowers', as well as a cover of 1983 song 'Ain't Nobody' by Rufus and Chaka Khan.

So Solid members MC Romeo and Lisa Maffia and MC Romeo were joined on stage by Oxide & Neutrino - by which point the crowd had picked up, as well as the atmosphere.

Shortly after 7pm, Blu Cantrell opened her slot with her debut single 'Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)' but unfortunately made the crowd lull a little.

Wearing her trademark blue contact lenses and a blue ombre wig, she was barely recognisable and, struggling to keep up with the vocals, she never left the microphone stand. Lots of people took the opportunity to go to the bar during her set and as she left the stage saying she hoped to see the crowd in the future, a woman behind us laughed.

But Fatman Scoop and the DJ returned to try to pump up the crowd for the next act with comments including: "Leeds has some of the finest women in the world, that’s a fact right there" and "That's pretty good [dancing] for a bunch of people who aren't Jamaican".



Mya took to the stage next with a DJ of her own and two dancers. She sang a few hits including 'Ghetto Superstar' and finished up with 'Lady Marmalade'.

The DJ said to the crowd before Eve's first ever performance in Yorkshire: "I know it’s a weekday, but where’s the energy in this room? Where is everyone right now?"

The audience picked up as they heard she was performing next.

She came on stage with four dancers and opened the set with her verse in Missy Elliott's 'Hot Boyz' before going on to dance across the stage to a lively cover of Cardi B's 'I Like It'.

She performed her classic hits 'Gangsta Lovin'', 'Satisfcation', 'Rich Girl', 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind' 'and 'Who's That Girl?'.

The 41-year-old even gave fans a sample of some of her latest music before finishing up with 'Tambourine'.



After she finished her set, the DJ told the almost full arena: "Nowhere gets down like a Yorkshire/Leeds crowd!"

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The excitement continued as Salt-N-Pepa opened with 'Whatta Man' and got the crowd to show some appreciation for a few males who were presumably members of the crowd.

After getting the DJ to test the crowd's knowledge of some old school hip hop, they performed their classic hits 'Shoop', 'Let's Talk About Sex' and 'Push It' with 'None of Your Business' unfortunately not making the cut.

Afterwards, Pepa thanked fans for supporting them and keeping them relevant throughout their lengthy career.

Shaggy didn't fail to deliver during his lengthy set either.

Opening with 'Bombastic' and closing with 'Wasn't Me', even Eve was spotted dancing along at the side of the stage, with Blu Cantrell also watching on.

Just before 10pm, headliner Nelly took the stage with a red cup in hand. He also had sunglasses on and kept them on throughout his set.

He had a DJ playing backing tracks and two other rappers on stage to support his vocals, which was initially confusing but then it became clear why it was necessary.

As he shouted through a few older songs for his oldest fans and covered J-Kwon's 'Tipsy', some people took the opportunity to leave early.

Along with his pals, he performed hits like 'Ride Wit Me', 'Hey Porscha' and 'Hot in Here' before closing the show with 'Just a Dream'.