What You Waiting For?

...what you waiting for?

UK STAND UP!

It's time to go diggin' in my crates to pull out some tunes you may or may not have heard from this little Island...

First up we've got TY & Shortee Blitz - Shortee's Theme.

Both names should sound familiar to anyone with a passing interest in Hip-Hop from the UK shores but it seems to have been forgotten TY had a recording career before signing to Big Dada. He teamed up with Shortee Blitz (briefly on wax) and this is from their "I Am A Don" 12"... Which can go for crazy prices if Suspect Packages is anything to go by, so if you've got it - look after it!

Next up Kobalt 60 - Concrete Show (Original Mix)

This was released on the legendary Music Of Life label and was their only release (as far as I'm aware.) I think it's stupidly dope and was glad to pick it up for 99p in the bargain bin at one of my local record shops at the time of it's release ('91). This I know is pretty damn rare, try even finding it elsewhere (and it's A side, 'Kaos From Order') on mp3 nevermind on vinyl. Vinylism had it in stock last time I checked, if you want to grab a copy for a pretty price. "Having no style is a style of it's own..."

Son of Noise fans should recognise the vocalist from an album posse cut...

Roots Manuva - Fever (Original Mix)

This was remixed for his debut LP, 'Brand New Second Hand', on Big Dada but personally I think the 'remix' sucks donkey balls in comparison to this original. Make your own minds up...

The flip of this 12" are 2 tracks by MC Skeme, which aren't as impressive as Mr Manuva but let us know if you'd like to hear them.

The Sindecut - Live The Life

The Sindecut were/are massively underrated, with this track helping a little to highlight why I think this. They had the Britcore tempo but a less aggressive overall sound, which should have made them more accessible to people than Gunshot, for example... Oddly it worked the other way round with Hardcore Britcore winning in terms of people's hearts and memories of this period of Hip-Hop being produced on this side of Atlantic.

No UK crate digging would be complete without a Hijack track would it? Well it wouldn't for me anyway as I'm always led back to them regardless of what I'm listening to...

Hijack - Style Warriors Revenge

"Why do you say your style's hardcore? When your records bore..."

Yeah Kamanchi Sly might have had a very obvious US twang to his vocals but damn... They represented the UK so hard. Not only did you have Kamanchi Sly but you had two of the best DJ's in Hip Hop history, DJ Supreme and Undercover. They were doing shit that it took Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike almost a decade to bring into common acceptance amongst Hip Hop heads (the Piklz could often be found scratching over Hijack beats, including at their last ever performance and it still doesn't sound as good as Supreme and Undercover!)

You are all living in Hijack's shadow and don't even know it...

More gems to come in the future...

Tags: Hip Hop, UK Hip Hop, Hijack, TY, Shortee Blitz, Kolbalt 60, Roots Manuva,
The Sindecut, Britcore.