Peace, Prosperity and Paper

"Peace out Premier...

2007-11-18T12:55:00.000Z

... take me out with the fader..."

Outta here,
9@home

Tags: Hip Hop,

I'll be gone till November...

2007-10-23T22:16:00.000Z

Wyclef Jean - Gone Till November
shared by lachula

... at the very least. Take care.

Tags: Hip Hop,

Official feelgood track for the season... (any season, really)

2007-10-01T08:07:00.000Z

The Pacifics & Illmind - Black Book

The Pacifics are from Chi-Town. And on this EP "The Case", they team up with one of my currently favourite producers, Illmind.
Great flows, positive vibes. Enjoy.

Tags: Hip Hop,

Daily Show

2007-09-26T14:45:00.000Z

One of my favourite shows on TV ever.
Jon Stewart and his team have a way of putting the finger exactly where it hurts. And on top of that, their "fake news show" is a lot less fake than what we get served as "the real news".

Too bad we mainland Europeans can't catch that on a daily basis, as the name suggests. ComedyCentral Germany (which I do get) is a dubbed piece of shit, plus it doesn't air The Daily Show at all. Our only chance to catch it on the telly is the weekly international edition on CNN, which is a sort of "best of the week" show. So I have to resort to stamp-sized screens on the net. But anyhow...

Here are two of the most recent pieces. One where they gauge the problems Canada is facing with Mexican immigrants (and the problems they bring seem to go so much without saying, the interviewees can't really say anything about those problems...).

And then Jon meets Bolivia's President Evo Morales. Morales is a former coca farmer and at the same time the first indigenous Bolivian to make it that far up the ladder. And what Morales has achieved in Bolivia makes the US look real shite. ;)

Cost of Freedom: Canada

Evo Morales:

Bust My Ass

2007-09-23T23:08:00.000Z

The documentary below was on BBC3 the other month and I've been telling everybody I know about this. It's a one-hour episode in a series called Mischief where the presenter Sam Delaney tests how far one can go and bend rules and conventions. And this one's called Bust My Ass, a highly political documentary with a nevertheless humourous approach to how the New Labour government in the UK has introduced a ton of laws that can easily make everybody a criminal.

You're wearing the wrong T-shirt? You're standing on the wrong corner while exercising your right to say your opinion? You dare to contradict the Lord High Chancellor during his speech, just cos you've had it up to here with his blatant lies? Then get ready to get your ass dragged out of the hall, down to the police station and your mugshot taken...

"Freedom of speech... just watch what you say."

You need to see this. It's both shocking and very entertaining. And it reveals the true faces of those people who take every opportunity to double-talk about democracy and freedom. And when you're not looking, they're taking away these rights from you, in the name of [insert current threat here]. Your country will be next.

I don't say that so easily, so best believe if I tell you this is one of the best things I've seen on TV for a long time.

Read up on the show here.

Peace.

Tags: Hip Hop,

"What I gotta do to get in tha game, man??!!"

2007-08-28T11:36:00.000Z

This is most likely the dopest skit in the universe.

It's off Prince Paul's "Politics of the Business" (what an album!). Not sure which of the voice is which, but it's Bimos and Ryan McKnite on this skit. Whatever his name, the guy doing all the pleading has an ill voice. This shit made me chuckle out loud yesterday when I was in town, surrounded by people.

My favourite line is definitely the last one about Cee-Lo and grits...

Enjoy, 9@home

Tags: Hip Hop,

Time for a violin break...

2007-08-18T11:30:00.000Z

Vid nicked from MC Mercury's myspace.

Tags: Hip Hop, Violin.

More Diggin'

2007-08-11T11:09:00.000Z

Gutter Snypes - Trials Of Life

Released on Liberty Grooves, this EP is a classic slab of UK nicety. Admittedly Cel One might not sound entirely British (from Leicester I think) but this track is one of the best Hip Hop tracks in existence.

The story went (at the time of release) that the EP had been pressed in the US, therefore justifying it's cost against other cheaper UK releases. How true that is I'm not sure. Apparently they released it on different colours as well, I've only ever seen in person the blue and black versions (I have the blue - hat doff to Everton.) No differences in the track listings (on blue and black and I don't think they're any different on the red or white pressings) so it would be purely for completist reasons to seek all the colours rather than extra tracks.

Edit:
This little snippet from discogs says otherwise...

Liberty Grooves released the Gutter Snypes records over 6 different release each in different colours and in ltd amounts:

The Green Version - was Ltd to 500 Units and was released first, and only contains 'Radio edits'.
The White Version - was Ltd to less Than 40 Units and this was the Promo release.
The Black release was the normal pressed version.
The Red Version - Was Ltd to 500 Units.
The Blue Version - Was Ltd to 500 Units.
The Clear Version - Was Ltd to 500 Units and only contained Instrumental Version's.

Useless fact: Prime Cuts provides the cuts on the EP.

For some reason Divshare goes spazzy when playing it back. It does playback at normal speed if you download though.

Jehst - Stand Up

A promo-only release. As you'll probably guess from the title it's a freestyle over the Ludacris 'Stand Up' beat.

To be honest it sounds like Will phoned it in but it's one for the Jehst groupies to grab.

Gunshot - Lockdown

From the 10" of Mind Of A Razor.

Not quite in the same tempo range as the usual Gunshot from this period but it ties in well with the sentiments of Trials of Life so it's being tagged onto this post.

Beat wise, White Child Rix does superb as usual and major props to the lads for rhyming over it as it's not the easiest to get your tongue round.

Tags: Hip Hop, Gutter Snypes, Jehst, Gunshot.

Swiss Beats pt. II: PVP

2007-08-06T10:08:00.000Z

PVP

From the capital of Berne come these four MCs who go by the name of PVP (Pute Vierge Productions, Virgin Slut Productions). Since they are part of a greater collective called Chlyklass (Special Ed class), they don't need their own DJ or producer but work with different ones from their crew or other places. Having made a name for themselves with their tongue-in-cheek sometimes chauvinist, always intelligent and outspoken opinions from politics to their own roles in hip-hop, and for being one of the most productive and far-travelled crews in the country, they've quickly got to sit on top of the scene. Especially the projects where their head Greis has worked with South African rappers as well as with Tanzanian or American groups make him and his whole crew the ambassadors of Swiss hip-hop, as it were. It's pretty safe to say that Chlyklass has owned the scene for the last few years.
And since Greis grew up in the French part and also speaks pretty decent English, he manages to reach out to an international audience. His second solo album should drop any moment.

PVP - Fründ und Find ft. Goldstein (Friend and Foe)
A joint on which Greis makes a mock guest-appearance as Goldstein to drop a verse in English. It's all about how the system could care less if you're protesting against it, as long as you live within it, and that PVP, too, just might be part of the system. Who knows?

PVP - Gängsterhymne (Gangster anthem)
Wonderfully self-ironic verses about how the gangsta attitude doesn't quite work out over here. "That piano is dope."

PVP - 1Line ft. Aman (of Tafs)
Taking Aman on board, this is one to just let loose and flow the fuck out of this ridiculous beat. Cheah.

PVP - Ei Stei an di Stadt ft. Kalmoo (of TNN)
The last track on the album. A slow jam reminiscing with a dope scratched hook about the old school times i.e. childhood, and who better to tell of those days than Kalmoo from the city of Basel (my home) who even I remember being amongst those first few to get up on stage and kick it back in the early 90s. He's been a bit slackish recently, but when he does get his wits together, he's dope.

Download all four tracks (divshare has its moments...)

The album...

More stuff by Greis and his affiliates...

www.chlyklass.ch

Peace, 9@home

Tags: Hip Hop,

Swiss Beats pt. 1: Sens Unik

2007-08-06T08:44:00.000Z

Wasteland was getting fed up with my French posts, so I'll just start repping some crews from Switzerland which you should get familiar with.

Sens Unik

The Swiss hip-hop scene was more advanced in the French-speaking part around Geneva and Lausanne, what with the influence from our Parisian and Marseillais fellas (d'oh, here I go again with my French hip-hop...).
The first full-length Swiss hip-hop album I held in my hands with sheer disbelief was Sens Unik's "Le VIème Sens" (The Sixth Sense), which was still a bit rough around the edges but basically sparked the whole thing and gave kids all across the place the courage to try it as well... This is by far the one which has aged best. It has Mr. Mike on the hook, who used to have the dopest hip-hop radio show on Radio Couleur 3. I still have tapes of these shows. Apart from that he used to rap over house beats, which was about as advanced anyone got those days.

Sens Unik - To the Moon ft. Mr. Mike

A year later, on their second album, MC Carlos hooks up with Osez, who would be the second MC for a few years, to tell an upbeat story about their childhoods as an "hijo de latino". (Carlos' parents are Spanish and Osez' Uruguayan.)

Sens Unik - Hijo de Latino ft. Osez

Years later, with their fourth album, Sens Unik decided to do most of their new record in New York, and even though the beats were still and always have been courtesy of their own Just One, I think I can sense a darker, grimier feel to them.
This joint features Rockin Squat of France's Assassin and two New Yorkers, Pretty Boy Floyd and Snake Eyes. Not sure who they are, but they certainly added that dirty cough-and-wheeze atmosphere to the track, as it was custom back in 96.

Sens Unik - Don't Break Me Down ft. Rockin Squat, Pretty Boy Floyd, Snake Eyes

Download all three tracks (or if divshare craps out again)

More here...

Peace, 9@home

Tags: Hip Hop,

Mad Monkey Them A FEAR!

2007-08-03T16:08:00.000Z

Nmonic - Transitions

This is my favourite track off one of the forgotten Y'n'R releases. Produced by Jehst. Jehst made a vocal appearance on 'The Bodyclock' from the same EP.

Admittedly Nmonic isn't the best MC ever but the EP is quite solid throughout. Jehst completists should have a copy given that he handles most of the production.

Rough Element - Reflex Reaction

Some more Britcore... This is one of only 2 12"s that Rough Element released (as far as I can tell anyway) and is produced by White Child Rix (that name emblazoned on the sleeve was the sole reason I bought it.)

Thankfully it's not crap, the quality of the beat isn't quite up to the standards set by (or as high tempo as) early Gunshot but still, it's White Child Rix and it's a decent track.

Outcast - Terrible

In the late 90's Silver Bullet tried to make a come back, there was a name change 'Silvah Bullet' (yeah shockingly original wasn't it?) and a couple of singles. His first comeback was this track and it's probably the best thing he released during his failed mini-comeback. 'Chemissinyadiss' made a little bit of noise when it was released but then I was only reading HHC at the time so it probably seemed more popular than it actually was...

Plenty more to come when I can be arsed...

Tags: Hip Hop, UK Hip Hop, Jehst, Nmonic, Rough Element, White Child Rix, Silver Bullet.

Bits & Bobbins...

2007-07-29T14:35:00.000Z

A mixed bag this time...

5one6 - Rap Attack (Feat Big Kin & Boog Knight)

The best thing about this 12" is the production, which is pretty generic NY '94 sounding but that's not always a negative. Kinda reminds me of DITC but it's produced by someone called Erick Romero, who I'm guessing is either an extremely secret member of DITC or just some no name producer who's one shot was this 12"... Don't expect quality MC'ing because it's pretty uninspiring throughout and this is the only track out of the 3 on the 12" where I don't get the urge to murder 5one6 for being shite.

Well I've sold that to you haven't I? Should you wish to get murderous feelings vinylism has the 12" to buy for princely price of 20 Euros, you'd be better sticking them up your arse but then again you might want the instrumentals.

Barry Blue - Cancel 'Em Out

Gunshot fans should know both the name and this 12" if not... Why not? At the time of release Bazza was an occasional guest on Gunshot tracks and obviously had dreams of a solo career, unfortunately it didn't pay off for him. This is a pretty solid 12" from him, featuring another track "Soundcheck", both produced by White Child Rix and engineered by the one and only No Sleep Nigel.

Blacka Don - Clipper

Released on Funki Dreads this a homage to a lighter... You've got to love it. Flipping the "Insane In The Brain" beat to great effect. There's 3 different mixes of the track on the 12", hard to tell what the difference is to them to be honest.

Kaliphz - Tru Skool M-Bassadaz

Pete Tong made a big deal about 'discovering' the Kaliphz, we all wondered why he didn't just leave them where he found them. This was their debut release, they later went on to record a track with 'Prince' Naseem Hamed. Sadly they are actually from the UK, not that you'll be able to tell through all their gimmicky vocals. I'm guessing they took YBT's "Tap The Bottle" a little too literally. This is about as good as they got but for some reason they seemed to have something of a loyal following so maybe you'll like this.

Main One - Bring The Drama (Feat. Chino XL) (Nick Wiz Mix)

The keen eared amongst you will recognise the Chino verse almost immediately, this 12" was from 1998 and (at least in release dates) predates "The Anthem". Sadly the track as a whole isn't as good as The Anthem...

After giving you some bobbins in this post I'm going to finish strong...

New Flesh 4 Old - This Is The Space Age

This was the debut release by New Flesh, on their own 'New Flesh Music Operations' label. On one of my regular trips to Depth Charge in York there were stickers for this on almost every pedestrian crossing and lamp post all the way up to the shop, there was no way I wasn't going to buy it purely so I could find out why the hell they'd gone to so much effort. I'm glad I did because it's DOPE! Part 2's verse is probably in my top ten "shit but dope coz it's shit" verses of all time.

More to come and I'll stay away from the shite as much as possible...

Tags: Hip Hop, UK Hip Hop, 5one6, Barry Blue, Gunshot, Blacka Don, Kaliphz, Main One, Chino XL, New Flesh For Old

What You Waiting For?

2007-07-17T22:35:00.000Z

...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.

D-Shade - More to say

2007-07-07T20:50:00.000Z

Holy fuckin cow... yesss!

Formerly of "Shades of Culture", D-Shade is a Canadian hip-hop veteran from Montreal. His group had put out two albums in the 90s, and now that they've disbanded, he's about to drop his first full-length solo album this summer.

If this joint is any indication, it's gonna blow everything else out of the water. I fucking love that beat, and the flow's on fire accelerant... Dude sounds the way Pharoahe Monch wants to sound when he grows up. I'm serious.

I first heard of the guy when he did the guest spot on the Euphrates' album, and now I can't wait to get my hands on more. I need to go to Montreal asap.

D-Shade clip "More to Say" ICM records
upped by robdu91

Hisspace: http://www.myspace.com/deeshade
Make sure you peep the tracks on there. Damn...

Tags: Hip Hop,

This parrot...

2007-06-29T18:48:00.000Z

... is not dead. It's just restin.

Even blog superheroes have lives. Check back in a few weeks for more, bigger and better posts.

Peace, 9@home

IAM - Revoir un printemps

2007-06-09T08:48:00.001Z

And while we're at it... Off their 2004 album "Revoir un printemps", the single of the same title. Definitely my favourite off that album. I could listen to that hook for weeks. Wonderfully smooth vibe on this one.

Tags: Hip Hop,

IAM - Une Autre Brique Dans Le Mur

2007-06-09T08:43:00.000Z

Off IAM's latest album "Saison 5", one of my favourite tracks. It's the return of the legendary Marseille crew...

Tags: Hip Hop,

Hocus Pocus

2007-05-26T08:07:00.000Z

I happened to stumble upon this first video below, and not knowing what I was gonna see, I checked it out. I'd never heard of 20syl (say: vuhn-seel) or of his group Hocus Pocus. To be honest, I hadn't even heard of any crews from their city of Nantes, on the French westcoast. But this guy's got me hooked (no pun) and I guess I'm now officially on Hocus Pocus nuts.

20syl is not just the crew's producer, but he also deejays in the DJ collective C2C (DMC World Champions 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006), oh, and he emcees as well, just to prove everyone else a fucking idiot... ;)
First check out how he makes a beat. (I haven't figured out if they later used it somewhere.)
And then there's some more from the Hocus Pocus empire... how I could sleep on these cats I don't know.

20syl making a beat (Goddayum!)

20Syl from Hocus Pocus Crew
Uploaded by TripTuc

Hocus Pocus ft. The Procussions - Hip Hop

Hocus Pocus & Procussions - Hip Hop
Uploaded by Drine

Hocus Pocus - Keep it movin II

Hocus Pocus keep it movin II
Uploaded by hocuspocus

And now C2C (DMC World Champions)...

C2C - DMC World champions
Uploaded by mr20syl

Hocus Pocus has been compared to the Roots because they too are a real band, besides the MC/producer/DJ and their DJ. But style-wise, Hocus Pocus are on some more subtle notes (and a bit less pretentious than the Roots...) The latest album right now is a 2006 re-edition of their 2005 album called "73 touches" (73 keys) referring to the keys of a hammond organ. Anyway, their album is the most beautiful piece of music I've heard in a while, not just of those coming out of France, mind you. And here it comes... Their brandnew album is scheduled to drop like right now... At the end of May it should be out...
Also out around the middle of 2007 should be a C2C album which is bound to send bedroom DJs off crying and hiding in mummy's lap.

Nuff said. Brace yourselves...

Some more?

Hocus Pocus media section
http://www.onandon-records.com/hocuspocus-sounds.php

C2C media section
http://www.onandon-records.com/c2c-sounds.php

Peace, 9@home

Tags: Hip Hop,

My daughter found nemo, I found the new Primo...

2007-05-11T10:17:00.000Z

So long time no posting blah blah. What can I say, I've spent a couple of months sorting my day job out. New job is now accepted, contracts signed, illegal substance test booked let's roll...

The year 2007 has the potential to be a good one in this thing we call Hip-Hop. With potential albums from Doom, Ghost, Brother Ali (has that dropped already?), Rakewon, UGK and so on, things look like they might be on the up.

For me though, one man might blow this shit out of the water; Common.

B.E was dopeness despite the hate. At the time it dropped heads were proclaiming Common & Kanye as the best thing since Eric B/Rakim, Guru/Primo, Dre/Snoop and yet within a matter of months the hating started. It wasn't acceptable there was an album that the general concensus liked so fuck it, we better hate on it. "Shit, Common has gone lovely dovey", "Kanye hasn't dropped a dope beat since Guess Who's Back", "shit is over in half an hour" and so on.

Fuck that. The beats were some of the best work Kanye West has done and the rhymes were the best Common has spit since Resurrection, which is widely considered to be a steller bit of work.

So with that in mind, and the fact that he's just dropped a dope track with a beast of a Kanye beat suggests that this is one to watch.

Peep it and stop the hating, believe it or not it's ok to like shit other people like. It doesn't all have to be obscure shit made in a basement with an MPC someone had to sell a kilo of crack for.

Sit back and let Common and Kanye bring the heat.

The People (Ft Dwele)

The Game

I Have a Dream (prod Will.I.Am)

Tags: Hip Hop, Common, Kanye West

Brother Ali - Uncle Sam Goddamn

2007-05-05T11:18:00.000Z

I'm a major fan of this dude from Minneapolis in the middle of America's Heartland. If you haven't heard of him you should pimp-slap your record shop assistant and cop his latest album, or one of the previous releases, from somewhere else.

Once we overcome the freak show curiosity and look beyond this muslim albino's face, right into his mind and heart, we get a man who's not only incredibly talented on the mic but may be one of the few who is so brutally honest about his own life, his failed marriage, his love for his son that it almost physically hurts (and I be damned if that track dedicated to his son Faheem doesn't squeeze a tear out of my eye.)

And if you don't believe me, take THEIR word for it.
What other great artists say about Brother Ali.

Do yourself a favour and check this cat out.
This is his video to "Uncle Sam Goddamn". It gives me the shivers.

http://www.myspace.com/brotherali

Tags: Hip Hop,

The World's most unlikely Posting

2007-05-04T12:58:00.000Z

I usually couldn't give a toss about either one of these two, simply for being overhyped industry names who owe much of their fame to the people standing behind them...

Even more surprising is it that the two have managed to make a track together that's not even half bad, nay, I must say, that has got stuck in my head for the last couple of days, and so, in an attempt to get rid of them, I'll share them with you lot.

The big cheeses from the left and the top coast, The "I'm on Dre's dick so hard somebody try to lift me off it" Game and Kanye "The other Jesus incarnation" West did a nice job on this one. How this could happen, I have no clue, but here it is. ("Classic material.")

The Game - Dreams (produced by Kanye)

and just the beat on its own:

The Game - Dreams Instrumental (produced by Kanye)

And then other tracks that have used the beat, which is what got me into it in the first place:

Narcicyst (of Euphrates), from Montreal has got this mixtape out called "Between Iraq and a Hard Place", (order it on his myspace for next to nothing) and it's niceness. Some of the tracks on this CD are on original beats, others cover famous beats, such as this here.

Narcicyst - Lost Dreams

And a slightly odder find is Akira the Don (UK) who, among more peculiar things has made this very good version of Dreams.

Akira The Don - Dreams (ft. Narstie & Swiss)

That should do it for now...

Tags: Hip Hop,

I'm gonna blow like SARS did....

2007-04-10T16:33:00.000Z

As his my favourite MC in the game right now bar none, a couple of Klashnekoff interviews:

BBC Article

Allhiphop.com Interview

Tags: Hip Hop, Klashnekoff,

Davey D presents: The World

2007-03-23T14:14:00.000Z

What most of us, especially the readers of this blog, already knew is now officially official: there are actually some really nice crews out there, on the other side of the fence. Of course, I'm preaching to the choir here, but even Davey D says that now. So no more excuses to sleep.

Davey D is quite likely one of the biggest hip-hop journalism and radio legends, and after his last radio station KMEL was bought by the Clear Channel octopus and dropped Dave, he switched to the net (and thank God he did!)

This show from early February celebrates the reunion of artists at the World Social Forum in Nairobi (Kenya), and to do so, Davey plays a bunch of tracks from around the world, all the way from Brazil, Kenya, Lebanon and... *gasp* ... Canada. I happen to own quite a few of the albums these tracks are taken from, so take my word for it: it's worth listening.

To check out the show, read a bit more, and to scroll through the show archive, peep this.

Breakdown FM: Global Beats from around the World pt. 1

Read more by him on one of the oldest hip-hop websites: His own.
http://www.daveyd.com/

Peace, 9@home

Tags: Hip Hop,

Smithreens...

2007-03-20T22:09:00.000Z

Brzydki, Zły i Szczery

2007-03-20T19:47:00.000Z

While the regular content is slow to arrive I'll hold fort by introducing you to an artist you should really know about already.

Now I know a lot of you are immediately going to be put off by this but O.S.T.R. is Polish, not as in furniture polish but as in from Poland.

So OK you're not going to understand what he's saying unless you speak the language but given the amount of shite that comes out of the mouths of a lot of MC's at the moment then it's not going to be any less of an enlightening experience than listening to them.

Dude has flows and is a joy to listen to most times despite not knowing what the hell he's actually saying.

I was first introduced to him via one of the few international conversations open to outsiders on rec.music.hip-hop (for those who don't frequent the Usenet home of Hip-Hop... Firstly why not? Secondly, talk of international artists (i.e. not ones from the US) tends to be a discussion limited to those in the country of the artists origin, for example Klashnekoff will get UK heads talking but not Yanks...)

Anyway, in this discussion (which I can't be arsed finding but you could do that easily for yourself if you're that interested) a Polish group called P.O.E. (or Projekt Ostry Emade) were introduced to the group to see what our opinions were. Initially my reaction was fairly lukewarm but there was something there which made me keep listening to the tracks put up for us. This led me to finding the album online and from there I've been hooked.

P.O.E. it was later explained to me, were producer Emade and MC O.S.T.R.

Emade caught my ear, especially after more digging for other work by him (of which there is a fair bit but this post isn't about him), but this was negating the fact that O.S.T.R. was a perfect compliment to the music. Think a similar musical connection as Gangstarr when both members are on form.

All reference to O.S.T.R. tends to mention that he is one of the few Polish MC's to have music training (being that he's a qualified violinist) which always makes me wonder how many MC's from anywhere actually have some music training beyond learnt on the job stuff... But anyway.

How being a violinist has actually helped his career I'm yet to really figure out but with 8 albums in the past 6 years he's clearly got a lot of music to unleash on those of us willing to listen.

This is a hard post to really expand on due to you usually being able to wax lyrical about the content of the MC in questions lyrics but I haven't a friggin clue. The English write ups of his career I can find tend to mention he does have 'social commentary' within his flows but you'll have to take their word for it (if it's any reassurance a track on his new album, HollyŁódź, is called 'Daj Mi Prace' (translated to 'Give me a Job', which given the nature of European Hip-Hop does tend to confirm the presence of 'social commentary', well it does to me!)

It's from his new album I shall provide you with something to listen to...

Firstly it's an obligatory Youtube video, this is 'Brother On The Run' featuring the legend Craig G.

Second is the video for the track which really dragged me into the world of Emade and O.S.T.R., 'Wiele Drog'. I honestly doubt I'll ever tire of this track...

O.S.T.R. can be found on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/ostry (where you can currently hear his collab with the also slept on Dirty Diggers (a post about them in the near future!))

Emade can be found at http://www.myspace.com/emade

Tags: O.S.T.R., Hip-Hop, Dirty Diggers, Emade.

My whole community gets treated like they criminals...

2007-03-12T17:18:00.000Z

A bit late, but a roundup of the news last week (and a bit of this week):

Snoop gets busted in Sweden for being under the influence.

Foxy racks up the best part of 5k in traffic violations. DMX would be proud.

the NYPD carrying on persecuting Busta Rhymes for fuck all. Sorry, for being a threat to safety, must be all the oxygen he's using when he breathes.

Alchemist preps his new album.

Rhymefest hooks up with Lil Jon and gives his album one of the worst titles in Hip-Hop history.

And finally, Sohh.com Pulse Report in which Hip-Hop remembers the late, great Notorious B.I.G and a few 'beefs' are cooled.

Peace.

Tags: Hip Hop,

The Revolution Will Be Podcast...

2007-03-11T20:19:00.000Z

Forget just wearing your Che t-shirts (and not knowing who the hell he is) and sit down and listen to the voice of the forbidden island...

Unsurprisingly Hip-Hop has infiltrated Cuban society as it has most other societies (YAY! for Hip-Hop!) but no doubt the music from the magical island isn't heard or sought by many people so here's the chance to redeem yourselves...

Click here to get your own player.

To keep up to date with the podcasts or to comment on them go here.

Hasta la victoria siempre!

10 Years...

2007-03-09T09:51:00.000Z

Damn.

R.I.P BIG.

Notorious BIG - 50 Grand Demo (7 Min Version)

Notorious BIG - Machine Gun Funk (Primo Remix)

Props to Spine.

Tags: Hip Hop, Notorious BIG

Music to go bonkers by (UK)

2007-03-08T13:25:00.000Z

Here's a good handful of tracks I've come across that I'm really feeling, either because the beats make me wanna bob my head so badly I'm afraid it might fall off, or because the MCs just spit it so tight, but in most cases, it's both.

These just happen to all be from cats in the UK. I think the last year(s) and this one so far have been outstanding as far as hip-hop from the islands is concerned. Doc Brown dropped a lot of good stuff, the Terra Firma camp carpet-bombed us with at least three albums, and a whole lot more goodness came out, most of which I'll have to cover at some later point.

Here they are as individual files, for the picky ones...

Yungun - Dancing Shoes. Off his 2004 album The Essance.

Universal Soldiers - Five Finger Discount. Off Street Veterans, 2001.

Terra Firma - 2006: Rollaball Rhythm. Off last year's The Foundation.

Skuff - No Sleeping. Off The End of the World News, 2006.

Micall Parknsun - So What. Off The Workingclass Dad, 2006.

Doc Brown - Smash That. Off Citizen Smith 2 (Nothin to lose), 2006.

Doc Brown - Feel Me. Off The Document, 2005.

And an outright classic:
Son of Noise - Keep it goin ft. so many cats, the file name was getting too long. Off The Mighty Son of Noise, 1992

... and here's the whole lot in one package, for leechers with a life. :)

Peace,
9@home

Tags: Hip Hop,

Make sure I get my wax on like Daniel san...

2007-03-07T19:42:00.000Z

Fuck me, maybe Redman still has it:

Redman - Green Lantern Freestyle

Tags: Hip Hop, Redman

I'm not a businessman, I'm a BUSINESS MAN!

2007-03-07T16:38:00.000Z

Yeah how many other blogs are going to use the same title, but fuck it.

Jigga sells Rocawear for a cool $204 million.

"Momma ain't raised no fool", aint that the truth.

Tags: Hip Hop, Jay-Z, Rocawear,

What's next, I guess it's for Nas to ether em....

2007-03-07T16:11:00.000Z

"Hip Hop is Dead" is a good album. No really it is.

Now why would I just make a statement like that for no reason? Well it appears to be fashionable to hate on Nas these days and hate on anything he releases, regardless of quality.

His latest joint has some serious heaters but the fact is that many so called "'heads' made up their mind before the shit was even released...hell probably before the first track was leaked onto the net. The problem Nas has is that he will constantly be judged against "Illmatic", a benchmark set so high that it's rare that any artist in Hip-Hop reaches it. To judge a man on his own standards is fair enough, but to use it to hate on him for the rest of his career is ridiculas.

Nas has certainly dropped some lame shit in the past; "I Am", "Nastradamus" and "God's Son" aren't classic by any stretch of the imagination. However; "It Was Written", "Stillmatic" and "Hip-Hop is Dead" were all solid efforts (and that isn't including the awesome "Lost Tapes"). Yet you constantly get heads proclaiming that Nas hasn't done shit since his debut and that "Hip Hop is Dead" is completely forgettable, both of which are fucking laughable.

The simple fact is most mcs are inconsistent (Doom and Ghostface are exceptions in this modern day).

Jigga is proclaimed to be the best thing since sliced bread by a lot of people but the dude has dropped some horrible pieces of work; "Vol 2" and "Best of Both Worlds" being up there on the same level as Nas's worst. I'm a huge Jigga and yes he is more consistent that Nas, but when he drops a decent album it gets acknowledged.

The Wu Tang Clan (as a group) have dropped one classic album, one very good album and a bunch of mediocre ish. In fact, "The W" was just straight up bad.

Rakim, widely proclaimed by many to be the best ever, hasn't dropped a heater since the EBAR days. "The Master" and "18th Letter" were average at best.

Now I love all the above cats (nh) but even I'm not pretending that they drop classics every time.

So why all the hate directed at Nasir? Maybe shit has to be chopped and screwed before people notice it.

Tags: Hip Hop, Nas, Jay-Z, Wu Tang Clan, Rakim,

Who you are don't faze me, my shit still amaze me.....

2007-03-07T15:53:00.000Z

Just some midweek joints, you seriously cannot front on that Skillz/Freeway joint:

Beanie Sigel - Return of the Bad Guy

Skillz - Don't Act (Ft Freeway)

Timbaland - Piano Man (Ft D.O.E)

Trife Da God - Beefing for Nothing

And some snippets from the new J-Love mixtape:

J-Love - 9mm (Ft Wu Tang Clan) (Remix)

J-Love - Return of Theodore Unit

Tags: Hip Hop,

HaHaHaHaHa...

2007-03-05T21:52:00.000Z

"Hip-Hop needs a Public Enemy, KRS-ONE, Bob Marley, etc. more than ever right now, and that is exactly what I intend for EL CHE to be."

High hopes, what's your boy Kanye think?

"After playing my new songs for Kanye, he turned to me and said one thing: "Look, Fest. Your raps are always dope. But, for you this time, the key is going to be finding the musical selection that moves people."

So he thought they were shite then... Oh well, the 2nd album is supposed to be a toughie, never mind there's always the 3rd album... Oh wait you might be getting better beats, that leaves you a problem though...

"Where do I go? Who can give me this magic of melody? DJ Premier? Just Blaze? 9th Wonder? Well, then my telephone rang. My manager, Matt Middleton, informed me that I had an appointment to meet with Crunk Specialist Lil Jon."

...

Erm...

I think that can only properly be responded to with...

"He said to me "I make music that makes people wanna fight." And I responded, "That's great. I make music that makes people wanna fight for something." At that moment, a very powerful spirit entered the room, and we both knew that EL CHE was born."

I couldn't make this shit up...

Forget the rest....

2007-03-04T13:09:00.000Z

Because this remix of "Where are they now?" is stupidly dope:

Props to Notes from a Different Kitchen and Jay Smooth.

Tags: Hip Hop,

Knocking, no answer, slow dancer, hopeless romancer, dopest flow stanzas....

2007-03-04T12:33:00.000Z

Once again, we trawl through the world of this thing we call hip-hop so you lazy fuckers don't have to:

New York bans the N-bomb.

Kelis out mans Nas by getting herself busted.

Timbo gets political by hosting a fundraiser for Hilary Clinton.

While Timbo is busy getting his politics on, Scott Storch takes the opportunity to heat up the war between the uber-producers. Fuck that, Storch can be dope but "Lean Back" is the only time he came close to reaching Timbo's level.

And finally, Sohh.com has it's excellent weekly Pulse Report which covers Cam shouting "would someone please five me some fucking attention" at the top of his voice, as let's face it his music isn't going to do it, Storch getting clowned and lots more.

Oh and peep the Common interview over at hiphopDX.

Peace.

Tags: Hip Hop,

The British NWA Radio Edit...

2007-03-03T09:06:00.000Z

I'm Everywhere You've Never Been, And Better Than I've Ever Been...

2007-03-02T16:56:00.000Z

DJ Premier, Rakim, Kanye West, Nas, KRS ONE - Classic

"Peace, Love, Unity, and having fun..."

He'll Sleep When I'm Dead

2007-02-28T19:45:00.000Z

Just a quickie to let you know of another freebie...

Definitive Swim

Those freaks at Adult Swim have teamed up with those freaks at Definitive Jux to bring another free 'album' with new material from the likes of El-P, Aesop Rock and Mr Lif.

The page also features the new El-P 'Flyentology' video which was made by the Adult Swim people and the track features Trent Reznor.

** Edit **
It looks kinda like this

Just a big hole with nothin' in the middle, Her ugly ass titties had a rat hangin' and chewin' off of each nipple

2007-02-25T19:59:00.000Z

It appears we have a few visitors a day coming here for pictures of small penises... You'll find the pic here leave a comment, there's never anything people would rather talk about than dick size - look at all the references in popular culture before posting a prudish response...

'Curb Your Enthusiasm' has proved that it's all relative anyway...

Guru, who may or may not have a small penis (or large vagina), is set to release the 4th installment of Jazzmatazz.

Personally I think the last one got unfairly hated on in a similar fashion to Guru's entire career appears to be these days...

Anyway if you're not on the hate Guru bandwagon here's a couple of tracks from the new one (with 'bonus' promo drops!)

'State Of Clarity' - Feat. Common & Bob James
'Stand Up' - Feat. Damian Marley

Remember the El Michaels Affair? You know the ones who brought us the 'live' instrumental Wu-Tang tracks?

Meh...

Well they've teamed up with Raekwon to reproduce 'The PJ's' and I like it...

The PJ's
Cream (For those that missed it.)

In a similar vein to 'Cream' and the rest of the Shaolin Series, there have been a few other live instrumental versions of Hip Hop tracks produced in the last year...

Marc Mac (of 4Hero fame) brought us the 'Dirty Old Hip-Hop' album, with 'The World Is Yours' and 'Runnin' both being superb and then there was 'Can You Flow? Instrumental Renditions of Nas's Illmatic' from which I liked 'NY State Of Mind' and 'One Love'... Anyway it's a nice trend and long may it continue (well, until it gets boring anyway.)

Hip-Hop, most violent, most beautiful....

2007-02-25T16:45:00.000Z

Joel Ortiz - Modern Day Slavery (Ft Immortal Technique)

Nas - Hope (Original Version)

Prodigy - Gun Talk (Unreleased from 1997)

Saigon - Pain In My Life (RMX Ft The Game & BG)

Butta Verses - Cheeba

And as a bonus (props to Drifter for passing these on):

DJ B Cause - Super Disco Hyphy

Aesop Rock - All Day: Nike + Original Run

Tags: Hip Hop,

I'm on my New York shit, ridin on the train on my New York shit....

2007-02-25T13:28:00.000Z

The weekly goings on in this thing we call hip-hop:

Busta spends more and more time in the police's sights as he is offered a plea deal on his assault case and then runs a red light and attracts more attention. if only he was 'ridin the train'.

Dre promises that Detox is coming this year. He obviously left it in the same drawer as the Rakim ish.

DMX and Lil Kim are for the kids. Is it me or does this article claim X is a 'rap legend'?

Marvin the Martian is one of the few UK cats to address the recent gun crimes.

As always, sohh.com have their weekly Pulse Report, which is beef with a side order of beef.

And finally, a dope interview with probably my favourite mc in the game right now, Klashnekoff.

Props to rapnews.co.uk.

Peace.

Tags: Hip Hop,

Some old, some new, some just dope....

2007-02-18T21:14:00.000Z

~~Nas - It Aint Hard to Tell (DJ Swindle Allmatic remix)~~

~~Nas - One Mic (DJ Swindle Allmatic Remix)~~

~~Prodigy - Roc Dat~~

~~Percee P - Reverse Part Two~~

~~Aloe Blacc - Happy Now?~~

~~James Pants - Murder~~

~~Little Brother - Back at It (Ft Cormega) (Khrysis Remix)~~

~~Kanye West - Classic (Ft Nas, Krs-One & Rakim) (Primo Remix)~~

~~Raekwon - SBM~~

~~Redman - Put it Down~~

Tags: Hip Hop,

if we spend our life envying or hating or even stealing from others, we are adding to our negative balance of karma.

2007-02-17T18:57:00.000Z

There's something wrong in the world when I'm championing a Talib Kweli track, especially when it has no connection to MF DOOM or Madlib.

'More Or Less' is actually quite good though.

Everyone's gonna be saying they're corny lyrics or pick holes in them... Remember this is Talib Kweli, you're not going to get mind blowing stuff.

Anyone care to explain the numbers in the top left corner?

Anyway I like it... Someone shoot me.

In related news (she is mentioned in More Or Less!) Britney Spears has shaved her hair off...

She still looks like a white trash, crack whore... You'd just expect to pay less for an hour with her now though.

Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?

2007-02-17T14:01:00.000Z

Image associated with title. NSFW

As a bonus because it's Saturday and because I may as well try and get as much life out of these links as I possibly can.

Here's DJ Yoda's Essential Mix from Radio One.

Part 1
Part 2

(It's a split RAR file so you'll need both files for it to work!)

The tracklist was given as the below but there are a few mistakes if I remember right...

Steve Miller Band – The Joker (Capitol)
Bill Conti - Rocky Theme (United Artists)
Slick Rick – The Rulers Back (Def Jam)
Immobilarie – Let’s Go (inst.) (D&D)
DJ Yoda feat. Celph Titled, Kwest & Apathy – Fresh Fly Fellas (acc.) (Antidote)
Yonder Mountain String Band – When I Come Around (MRI)
Bubba Sparxxx – Comin’ Round (Interscope)
Wax Romeo – Mojito (Big Foot)
Soul II Soul – Jazzie’s Groove (Virgin)
Ice-T – You Played Yourself (Sire)
DJ Vadim – Non Lateral Hypothesis (Ninja Tune)
Screechy Dan – Boomin In Ya Jeep (Freeze)
Jay Dee – F** The Police (inst.) (Up Above)
DJ Yoda f JBs – Playin’ Around (acc.) (Antidote)
Starship – Nothings Gonna Stop Us (RCA)
Run-D.M.C. – Sucka MCs (Def Jam)
Kanye West – Living A Movie (White Label)
J Rawls – Tribute To TROY (Turntable Jazz)
London Blister – Fergie vs. Violent Femmes (white)
Big Daddy Kane – On The Bugged Tip (Cold Chillin’)
Johnny Pate – Shaft In Africa (ABC)
Lafayette Afro Rock Band – Darkest Light (Strut)
The Abstracts – King Of Clubs (Sure Shot)
Dirty Fingered B Boys – The King Is Here (Sure Shot)
Kid Koala – Dinner With Yoda (Ninja Tune)
Marley Marl – He Cuts So Fresh (Uptown Enterprises)
Beenie Man – Trends (VP)
Sizzla – Oh Yes (VP)
Mr Hudson – Bread & Roses (DJ Wonder remix) (Genepool)
Akinyele – I Luh Her (Interscope)
Ripperman – Rubble (White Label)
DJ Yoda – Tip-Toe special remix (Antidote)
Lily Allen – LDN (sway remix) (White Label)
Lily Allen – Smile (Smasher remix) (White Label)
Kid Capri & Doo Wop – Mixtape Isht (White Label)
Pyrelli – London Ish (White Label)
Frances Weyer - No Lady (RKM)
Diamond D – Best Kept Secret (Chemistry)
DJ Yoda – Burger & Fries (White Label)
DJ Yoda – Wheels (Antidote)
Nextmen – Concentrate (Antidote)
Speech Defekt feat. Ugly Duckling – Future Movement (White Label)
DJ Cormac – Scratch Marchin’ (White Label)
Kids in Tracksuits – We Make It Rock (Dealmaker)
Towa Tei – Technova (O-Dub Edit) (White Label)
Crooklyn Clan – Hands Up (AV8)
Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz – Déjà Vu (Uptown Baby) (Sony)
DJ Wesbstar - Chicken Noodle Soup (Republic)
Louis Armstrong – Cheesecake (Mercury)
J-Kwon – Tipsy (inst.) (So So Def)
Lady Saw – Bed Noise (Legends)
Idona - Chicken Heads (Legends)
Dr. Evil – More Punany (Yoda Special) (Legends)
Grip Grand – Poppin’ Pockets (inst.) (Look)
DJ Yoda feat. MC Paul Barman – SALAAM (acc.) (Antidote)
Biz Markie – A Thing Named Kim (Cold Chillin’)
Aaron Neville – Hercules (Jazzman)
Wipeout – Version (VP)
DJ Yoda – Chatterbox (acc.) (Antidote)
Rush – Tom Sawyer (Mercury)
DJ Yoda – Frozen Skit (white)
DJ Ayres – Twin Peak BMore (White Label)
Sisqó – Thong Song (acc.) (Def Jam)
DJ Roctakon – Singing Sunday (rmx) (Money Studies)
Unknown – Mr Postman (White Label)
DUKEYMAN – Lollipop (Unknown Label)
Diplo – Shake It (Uppercuts)
Rhymefest feat. Ol' Dirty Bastard – Build Me Up (Sony BMG)
DJ Ayres – Move On Up (remix) (The Rub)
Beat Monkeys – Magnum P.I. (remix) (White Label)
Krazy B – Jibbarish (Unruly)
Jibbarish – DJ Yoda freestyle (White Label)
Arctic Monkeys – A Certain Romance (Domino)
Vinyl Villains – Keep On Movin’ (Mark Ronson remix) (Live)
Skream! – Bahl Fwd (Tectonic)
Hip Hop Baby - Ms Jackson (Punk Baby)
Barney Kessel – Moon River (Unknown Label)
Dizze Rascal – Everywhere (XL)
Rhymefest – Fever (inst.) (Sony BMG)
The Game – One Blood (acc.) (Geffen)
Ed O.G. – Too Much To Live Fo’ (inst.) (Ground Control)
DJ Yoda feat. Biz Markie – Breakfast Cereal (acc.) (Antidote)
Rhymefest – Brand New (Mr Things Bumpkin remix) (White Label)
Crooklyn Clan – Poor Lil’ Tequila (White Label)
The Electric Company – Mysterious Phone Call (EMI)
Fresh Prince & Jazzy Jeff – Live At Union Square (Jive)
Gian Franco & Gian Piero Reverbi – Preparati La Bara (Intermezzo Media)
Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (Heatwave remix) (Heatwave)
DJ Z-Trip – Crazy Good Times (White Label)
DJ Yoda – Quid Control (inst.) (Antidote)
John Legend – Used To Love U (acc.) (Columbia)
Clarence Carter – Scratch My Back (Atlantic)
Littlest Hobo Theme – DJ Yoda remix (White Label)
DJ Yoda – Outro (White Label)

Oh and a shout out to Matthew Snider... You've made my weekend but you're fucking stupid, whoever you are.

I'ma jump out the truck and dump...

2007-02-16T23:21:00.000Z

Everybody should know this track off by heart by now (it's that good in my opinion - and I'm clearly not alone) but just in case, here's the video for Prodigy's 'Mac 10 Handle'.

Also check out the new video by him 'Stuck On You'.

If the rest of 'Return Of The Mac' is anything like what's been 'released' so far then it should be one of the few genuinely good albums to be released in a long time.

Goony goo goo loony koo-koo like Gary Gnu off New Zoo Review...

2007-02-16T21:19:00.000Z

We trawl the net for you lazy muhfuckas:

Young Buck readies his new album and aims to stay out of the Dipset beef.

Fuck the police, some things never change.

Dre diversifies into film.

Foxy Brown shows off the maturity she has gained from anger management.

Gza and Muggs team up one more time.

Sohh's weekly Pulse Report has the latest on the Cam's ~~attention seeking little girl act~~ beef with Fifty. Oh and Bill O'Reilly luckily is helping us onto the right path...again.

Finally, UK cats; represent.

Peace

Tags: Hip Hop,

With these mixtapes you are spoiling us Ambassador!

2007-02-16T21:01:00.000Z

They're all just giving stuff away for free...

A nice trend I think, not that most of you wouldn't have downloaded them for free anyway but let's pretend we live in a world where we wouldn't and this mp3 downloading for free is something new and exciting...

There's a new Little Brother/Mick Boogie mixtape available at http://www.hallofjustus.com/. Unfortunately it has Rhymefest on it but it still might be worth a listen.

MP3 - Without You feat. Bishop Lamont and Jozeemo

Plus a Killer Mike/Grind Time Rap Gang mixtape over at http://www.grindtimeofficial.com/.

MP3 - Computer Love

Also eighteen18 are giving away their debut album as well! Here's the blog entry with the link. (I still suggest you buy it from their website if you like it though...) For those who don't know, it features Jehst and a full review of it can be found on altrap.com written by some 'tard who shall remain nameless.

MP3 - Dirty Sex Bastard

As soon as we know about more legitimately free stuff we'll let you know...

**Edit - Just found this and thought I'd tag it on here...

'Super Disco Hyphy' (opens in Real Player) - the description is:

"The Bay Area's hardest working DJ B. Cause is at it again! This time with a mind melting blend of 70s and 80s Disco, Funk, R&B, and Boogie beats under West Coast hyphy accapellas. 31 tracks in all for the Bonneville."

If you don't fancy carrying round your PC when you want to listen to it on the move, you can buy a CD of it from Soul Strut.**

Turn a groupie to an Angel when she...

2007-02-15T22:09:00.000Z

The new video for 'Early Mornin' Tony' from the MURS/Slug/Ant collab 'Felt 2: A Tribute To Lisa Bonet'.

Props....

2007-02-15T14:31:00.000Z

To I Found It On The Internet for the love.

Peace.

Tags: Hip Hop

Curtisss......

2007-02-14T21:20:00.000Z

Now ordinarily lyrical beef is generally good for the game. Shit, some of the nicest rhymes sometimes come out when an mc has his back against the wall (nh). Recently however, this competitive edge has disappeared and a much more superficial, solely sales generating beef has taken its place.

Now I'm neither a Cam'ron fan nor a big Fifty fan (although I greatly admire how quickly he's built an empire) but this 'beef' is going to get one mention by me and then it's done.

Say what you want but recently Cam'ron has stank of desperation. No matter how you look at it, he's been calling out anyone and everyone. Of course, Fiddy has done much the same for about two years now but you never get the feeling his motivation is purely to save his career. This latest 'Curtisss' stunt is just laughable, the bitch needs to either make some decent music or shut the fuck up. Nobody is going to buy his shit based on the fact that he makes staged calls to industry leaders. Yeah I said it, I might not be a big Fiddy fan but you can't fault his position in the industry in terms of influence, sales and power. Cam's attempt to get at Jay was bad but at least it cames after years of bubbling under the surface.

Taken from Sohh.com "Jay-Z bodied, Nasir bodied, Mase bodied, Curtis bodied," Cam'ron told DJ Kay Slay in a recent radio interview after his diss song hit airwaves.

If anyone can point me to where he 'bodied' either Jigga, Nas or even Fiddy then please point me in the right direction because so far he's just been embaressing.

Despite all this, I'm a hypocrite because that 'Curtisss!' shit made me laugh the first time I head it, ah fuck it.

Peep it:

Tags: Hip Hop, Cam'ron, 50 Cent

Stones Throw - Chrome Children 2

2007-02-13T16:34:00.000Z

While everybody's bitching about downloading hurting the artists, Stones Throw just goes ahead and releases a full album's worth of incredibly fresh material featuring Madlib, J.Rocc, MED, Aloe Blacc (of Emanon), Roc C and whathaveyou.
It's the follow-up to their initial Chrome Children album. And it's free. That's right, I said free and legal. For you to have. Don't miss out.

Stones Throw: Chrome Children

And to give you some extra eye-candy right on the spot, here's a 10 min. video taken from the Chrome Children DVD, shot at a live gig with the whole Stones Throw crew in the house. Just niceness.

Hold my own without having to hold the chrome....

2007-02-11T16:25:00.000Z

Dope shit this week:

~~Klashnekoff (Ft Kyza & Kool G Rap)~~

~~Sean Price - Da God (Ft Sadat X & Buckshot)~~

~~Sean Price - One~~

~~Jazzy Jeff - All I Know (Ft CL Smooth)~~

~~Common - Play Your Cards Right (Ft Bilal)~~

~~Dogg Pound - Anybody Killa (Ft The Game)~~

~~Pharoahe Monch - Body Baby~~

~~Madlib & Talib Kweli - Funny Money~~

~~Madlib & Talib Kweli - Over The Counter~~

~~Little Brother - Let It Go (Rmx Ft Talib Kweli & Mos Def)~~

Kidz In The Hall - Don't Stop (Ft Jay Z) (well not really featuring
Jay Z)

- Props to Notes From A Different Kitchen

~~Termonaology - Can't Get Enough~~

Tags: Hip Hop, Sean Price,Klashnekoff,Jazzy Jeff,CL Smooth,Common,Little Brother,Talib Kweli,Hip Hop,Kidz In The Hall,Dogg Pound,The Game,Termonology,Pharaohe Monch, Mos Def

Give you a final lesson in your final seconds....

2007-02-07T11:15:00.000Z

So it's about time I jumped back in and see how the water is. So last year was slow, whether you fucking admit it or not there wasn't much to get excited about.

This year though I've been picking up anything that looks half way decent on paper in the hope that I can find a gem. On paper, this to me was a gem. In reality, well it's not as dope as it could/should be but it offers a few heaters.

Kweli manages to divide the heads like few mcs can, either you love him and everything about him or he's an overrated, over-analytical wack mc who tries to put too many metaphors and syllables into each bar. I'm part of the former camp so Kweli + Madlib = dopeness. So I throw this on my Zen and play the shit out of it on the way home from work.

Initially Kweli sounds akward over Madlibs abstract beats and you cry out for Doom to step out of the shadows and show him how its done (Madvillany 2 anyone?) but there's no Doom. Now I've been a huge fan of Kweli since the Blackstar/Reflection Eternal days, and for me he killed it on Quality (not so much on Beautiful Struggle). For some reason Kweli tries to slow his flow down a bit too much on "The Show" and ends up sounding a bit akward. When Madlib gives him some tempo to play with though the old flow is back and Kweli comes correct.

Madlib shows exactly why he should be on everybodies list of dope producers with tracks from the downright soulful "Funny Money" to the heavy but somehow miniumlist sounding "Over The Counter".

The akward sounding Kweli is back on "Engine Runnin" (Ft Consequence, yes that Consequence) but then he comes straight back with "Over The Counter".

So what is the result? Well a decent EP based purely on Madlib's beautiful sandscapes and some dope verses from Kweli and a few average ones. I for one am looking forward to "Ear Drum" if he still has the sort of fire in him to deliver some of the dope verses that he drops on Liberation's high points.

And as aside, Kweli gets mad props for embracing the Internet and understanding that we're not all out to take money from artist's pockets.

Although the EP is (was) a free download, I have to run with something:

Talib Kweli & Madlib - Funny Money

Talib Kweli & Madlib - Over the Counter

Talib Kweli & Madlib - What Can I Do?

Tags: Hip Hop, Talib Kweli, Madlib

Everything Is Almatic

2007-01-19T17:24:00.000Z

Another year another mash-up...

This time Nas with the Reverend Al Green.

It actually manages to make 'Oochie Wally' quite listenable, which is no mean feat.

You can get the tracks individually here or you can download the job lot here or you can get a taste of it over at the Myspace page.

It's made by DJ Swindle who also brought us 80 Cent and Bobb Deep and Frank Lyon, who didn't make those other mash-ups but must have done something...

If you like it buy it...

Pharoahe Monch - Gun Draws

2007-01-04T06:44:00.000Z

It honestly doesn't get any more 'gangsta' than this...

2007-01-03T21:57:00.000Z

Styles P, has been involved in an 'incident'.

You know the 'normal' publicity seeking attempts that rappers go through, usually getting shot, shooting someone or getting arrested for having a gun or drugs in their car?

Well Styles has come up with the best yet, so much so I would take my hat off to him if I was indeed wearing one...

He's been involved in a 'road rage' incident, which involves him throwing napkins and having his leg broken by a 50 year old...

More here.

Nas Interview With Flex...

2007-01-03T21:34:00.000Z

It seems some people are being overly defensive over the title of Nas' album (see the previous post.)

There's all the rah-rah about how Hip Hop is alive and well, Nas is attacking the South, Nas killed it and he's 10 years too late... Whatever. Seriously, listen to the track 'Hip Hop Is Dead', "If Hip Hop should die before I wake..." You getting it yet?

This interview should either make it clearer or just wind people up into even more of a frenzy...

Thanks to Miss Info for making it available...

Young Jeezy Vs. Monie Love

2006-12-29T14:38:00.000Z

Christmas with Doom

2006-12-21T21:38:00.000Z

DJ Shadow - Enuff (Late Show with David Letterman )

2006-11-26T19:39:00.000Z

Dan The Automator feat. The Heiroglyphics - Don't Hate The Player

2006-11-01T19:50:00.000Z

Kyza - Fight Club

2006-10-23T21:21:00.000Z

Clipse ft. Pharell - Mr. Me Too (Remix)

2006-09-25T00:10:00.000Z

Like Fox news tryin' to pronounce the names of, Arabic Kurds, His staff is absurd....

2006-08-12T15:09:00.000Z

We might be lazy, but we still trawl round getting you some of the news for the week...well it's not really trawling and it takes no effort..but anyway....

SOHH Pulse Report

Nothing overly exciting in here; Three Six are making big moves since grabbing the Oscar, two insignificant female mcs go at each other and Hov gets heated.

Tribe prepare for tour

It's at times like this I wish I lived in the States. Goddamn they need to get some UK dates on that tour.

Supernatural breaks freestyling record

Supernatural freestyles for an incredible nine hours to break the world record previously held by Canadian mc DO.

Kanye gets engaged

For people who care about celebrities' personal lives.

Oh and yours truly becomes a sheep and joins myspace

Peace.

Tags: Hip Hop, ATCQ, Supernatural MC, Kanye West,

Be honest about yourself about how your shit sounds....

2006-08-10T10:47:00.000Z

Sometimes I wonder whether at the grand old age of 22 I've lost touch with this thing we call Hip-Hop. The reason I say this is not because I don't enjoy it anymore, or even that my tastes are evolvingor any shit like that. The sole reason is there are just way too fucking many average mc's around right now. When thinking about this I was in a hotel in South France and there was a car outside which was blasting out Lupe Fiasco. Now don't get me wrong, Lupe is not a bad mc, shit he's better than a lot of dudes out there. The problem is just that though, the fact that he's better than most dudes out there without being anything special. I'm not going to waste my time listing average mcs in this post, but there are more than enough.

Right now I don't seem to recognise half of he mc's that seem to pop up in charts and lists, but before that was no major problem due to blogs. Hip-Hop audioblogs have fast become the place to get some hot new shit, along with dope communities like RMHH which played a huge part in me becoming so obsessed by hip-hop in tthe first place. The problem is right now a lot of the audioblogs seem to be pushing some very average music (no names mentioned as some of these are dope blogs normally). So many spots on the net seem to be obsessed by the new Game joint which for me is an fairly average track by a fucking average mc. Shit, we expect this from the charts but not the heads who normally drive forward hip-hop cimmunities.

It's possible I'm taking this shit too far, and it's possible that maybe my tastes are different to my online peers now, who knows.

Oh and one final note; this is not a "hip-hop is dead" post, just an observation that right now I seem to have to dig deeper to find the dope shit that is out there.

The following joints have been round for a minute but are getting some rotation for me right now:

Little Brother - Step Off

Ghostface & AG - Crunchtime

Outkast - Hollywood Divorce (Ft Lil Wayne & Snoop Dogg)

The Roots - In The Music

Tags: Hip Hop, Little Brother, Ghostface, Outkast, The Roots

Like Busta Rhymes sniffing lines of coke...

2006-08-07T20:31:00.000Z

Pharaohe Monch - Let's Go.

Ok so we may not post often, if ever, but we do have some uses occasionally.

Where the rest of them have gone I don't know...

Gnarls Biggie

2006-07-16T17:16:00.000Z

Get the individual mp3's here or the full album here.

There have been better...

Micall Parknsun - 'Dunya'

2006-06-28T17:33:00.000Z

From Jehst's 'Underworld Epics'

Me and Prem', both names go together...

2006-06-02T15:37:00.000Z

For as long as Hip-Hop lives, the same standard debates will live with it, whether it be who was the better mc in his prime; BDK or Rakim? Or whether or not Illmatic was a classic piece of hip-hop.

One debate which I plan to add some fuel to right now is another which may well live on until the end of time. Who is the best mc to ever flow over a Primo beat? Guru? Krs-One? Nas? Biggie? Jay-Z? Big L? Well there is a strong case for all those dudes but there's one mc who needs to get in on the fucking list.

Enter Royce 5'9. Stop laughing, dude has serious flow over any Primo beat. Granted he has only had the chance to shine on a handful of Primo beats but he fucking kills them. Dudes can front like 'Boom' isn't dope as hell but shit is crazy. He followed it up with the excellent 'Hip-Hop' from "Death is Certain" which for me was one of the most underrated tracks of the last few years.

Why am I dribbling on about this? Well two reasons; one I'm killing time at work on a Friday afternoon but more importantly dude has killed it again with 'Ding Ding'. With that and the news that his next album will be produced entirely by Preem, I can feel myself falling love with hip-hop after a few months out. I know most people reading this post will feel like I'm nuts but fuck it, shit is straight dope....

Royce - Ding Ding (Prod Primo)

Tags: Hip Hop, Royce 5'9, Dj Premier

Man down but we're still rollin.....

2006-06-02T15:27:00.000Z

As some readers may notice, we've lost a contributer. Fuck it, we still roll and do what we do.

If anyone is interested in conributing then please drop us an email. Be warned though, we tell it like it is.

Peace.

Tags: Hip Hop,

Dangerdoom - Sofa King (Remix)

2006-05-24T23:19:00.000Z

Tags: Hip Hop, MF Doom, Dangerdoom

Everybody shake your post 9/11 thong...

2006-05-20T08:58:00.000Z

We've already mentioned the 'Post 9/11 Blues' on here and now as you can see Riz has made a video in a bid for Gnarls Barkley like chart domination (i.e. via downloads.)

Apparently the track will be available from 'everywhere' to download from July.

Tags: Hip Hop, Post 9/11 Blues, Riz

Dangerdoom - Korndogs

2006-05-18T17:33:00.000Z

Thank us later...

Tags: Hip Hop, MF Doom, Dangerdoom, Adult Swim

I got more spits than Roy Hattersley...

2006-05-14T19:25:00.000Z

Today we present to you... 'Fresh Fresh Again' by Dead Residents

For the video's page on the site to hate MySpace.com click the link.

Any female porn stars who happen to be reading this click here. (If I'm gonna be a myspace whore it may as well be totally superficial.)

Back to the video, or at least the track, it's from the album 'Keep Britain Tidy', which should be available in all good record shops and no doubt some bad ones too (arf!)

UK heads will probably have heard Junior Disprol on something if they've bought UK releases over the past few years, for those who don't know... Check the video and their profile for more examples.

It's definitely one of my favourite albums of the last year or so but don't let that put you off. Amazon stock it (dot com and dot co dot uk) so there are no excuses other than you wanting to listen to the overrated blandness that is Lupe Fiasco. (Or you just don't like them and don't think Lupe is the lastest 'saviour' of Hip Hop but you know, I have to have some rash generalistions in this post!)

Tags: Hip Hop, Dead Residents, Lupe Fiasco, Junior Disprol.

Keep it poppin....

2006-05-11T11:43:00.000Z

Just some ish to keep you going till we come back with some on point posts:

Quite an interesting Joe Budden interview. Although it's the usual bragadaacio talk, it's an entertaining read. Personally I wasn't a Budden fan at all until "Pop Off" and "Dumb out" got leaked. Shit has potential to be crazy if that man Blaze gets on his game.

Ghostface drops another interview.

US radio 'personality' Star takes things a step too far.

Snoop is back in London to explain himself.

Peace.

Tags - Hip Hop, Joe Budden, Ghostface, Snoop

The music post...

2006-04-15T22:50:00.000Z

Just some random music links for you...

Chops - MCM

Gnarls Barkley - Feng Shui

Kanye West - Mission Impossible 3 Theme

Mr Lif (Feat MURS) - MURS Iz My Manager (Produced by Edan)

The Clipse - Mr Me Too

The Coup - I Love Boosters!

QNC (Feat. Camp Lo) - It's Going Down

A Hip Hop first

2006-04-14T15:39:00.000Z

While it's a sub-genre that doesn't get much love, 'Nerdcore' has been gaining some momentum in recent years.

Now there are plans a foot for the very first Nerdcore compliation CD to be 'released'.

Totally fitting with the genre the CD will be released via bittorrent.

For more information point your browser in this direction.

It appears High-C is the mastermind behind the project as well as currently championing the genre over at wikipedia.

Tags: Nerdcore, High-C

This Is The News...

2006-04-14T12:20:00.000Z

Everyone will have heard about Proof being stupid and getting himself killed. Feel free to leave the obligatory "Proof was a legend" type shite in the comments of the previous post.

Thug Life Army Blog is crying "Don't blame Hip Hop for Proofs death!"... We're not, we're saying he's a dick for getting into a no doubt stupid argument, pulling a gun, being the first one to fire a gun and still being the only fucker dead.

The argument was over some 'King Of Detroit' bullshit... Again, Proof was a dick who got himself killed over some bullshit.

R.I.P. he was a legend and all that other required stuff when someone dies regardless of it's truth.

In more mindless thuggery news, The Source is getting sued again. It's over the 'shoot-out' last July. Personally I couldn't care less if they made the Source an openly gay magazine as a 'punishment' or whatever they want to do with it but it appears some heads still give a shit about that magazine.

An unlikely source of Hip Hop news is Aljazeera... Apparently 'New hip-hop lingo sweeping London'. They prove that they're in touch with the times with such statements but just to prove their reliabilty they cite the Ali G Show as one of the major factors in this 'new' lanaguage... Stupid fucknuggets...

"The Post 9/11 Blues" seems to be getting some press at the moment, with people getting their skiddy pants in a twist over it.

You can hear the track over at Riz's myspace page. It's pretty good, mainly because it's honest.

Another thing of interest on his myspace page is this video for the 'Spin The Mic' battle. The main thing to watch for with this is the fact that every round Riz is in, his race gets mentioned negatively. Stop the hating!

It also features Respek-BA, which is always a good thing in my opinion.

Hilltop Hoods have apparently gone to number one in the Australian album charts and gone gold in the process. Well done lads! In case you're unaware, Suspect Packages has a store specialising in Oz Hip Hop in a bid to help it reach a global audience.

And finally... Tribe are performing at Bumbershoot 2006. If any of you kind readers would like to provide some free tickets, return plane tickets to and from the UK and hotel accomodation for said event it would be much appreciated. If not I'll just have to get myself there somehow...

Oh yeah and you may all want to wish fairwell to Kwaj the tool. He's no longer on the PPP list of contributors.

Any complaints about this please add to the comments.

Tags: A Tribe Called Quest, Proof, Hilltop Hoods, 9/11.

R.I.P.

2006-04-14T12:02:00.000Z

Tags: Proof, Dead Rappers

Bring em out, bring em out.....

2006-03-24T12:05:00.000Z

A roundup of the news to save you lazy fuckers a trip around cyberspace:

R.I.P Dj Swing, who died from Bone Marrow cancer this week. It's safe to say that Swing is a legend in these parts and our thoughts go to his family and friends.

Sohh.com has their weekly pulse report out which features the possibility of Jacko working with Fiddy, and Jin stirring up some hype.

David Mays and Benzino's inevitble downfall continues after a court decided that the new owners can sell Mays' shares.

Suge Knight is close to having his assets siezed as he's in the hole for a cool $107m from apparently swindling half of Death Row from Lydia Harris.

Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff is close to the last mile it seems. Looks like Fiddy will be able to walk the streets soon again.

Little Brother don't want no beef...in a literal sense.

The Black Eyed Peas give a little bit back to hip-hop heads by recruiting Pete Rock, Jazzy Jeff, Large Pro and a Mr. Premier for their upcoming remix EP. I have to admit, this could be fucking dope.

Peace.

Tags - Hip Hop, DJ Swing, Jin, The Source, Suge Knight, Little Brother, Black Eyed Peas,

Blog roundup...

2006-03-21T18:34:00.000Z

Peep what some of our fellow bloggers are up to, shit has gone Wu crazy:

It's a bit late but check out Joey's dope as hell Wu Tang concert review.

Keeping on the Wu theme; Unkut brings you Rza's Rap Pages interview where he kicks it about his production techniques. Check for it here; Page 1, Page 2.

No day can be complete without another piece on our man Starks.

Last but not least, Half Time have a dope Ali Shaheed Muhammad interview that is worth peeping.

Peace.

Tags - Hip Hop, Wu Tang, Ghostface, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, A Tribe Called Quest

You can bet they know Preem...

2006-03-21T13:34:00.000Z

This might sound strange coming from a hardcore hip-hop head, but the news that Dj Premier is working with Christina Aguilera doesn't make me want to hurl furniture at the walls.

All I can say is props to Primo. After so many years of being the dopest producer hip-hop has seen (according to me), he deserves to ride the proverbial cash cow that is pop music.

I can only hope that it gets him his form back in terms of hip-hop as it's been a minute since I heard something by Primo that made me hit the rewind button.

Now that Gangstarr have parted ways I was hoping the sort of beats Guru would normally get to rhyme over would be passed to Nas, Jigga, AZ, Cormega, Ghost etc. No such luck.

Tags - Hip Hop, Dj Premier, Christina Aguilera

So just clean out your ears and just check the word...

2006-03-20T16:02:00.000Z

Just some audio treats:

T.I - King Back (Prod Just Blaze)
I'm an on/off T.I fan, but I'm a huge Just Blaze jocker and he doesn't disappoint. Shit is funky as hell.

Busta Rhymes - I Know Y'All Mad (Ft Mike Jones)
Damn everything I've heard Busta on for the last few months he's sounded fucking dope. Despite my words on busta, I still have ad respect for him as an artist. He sounds dope as hell on this. Shit, I'm still bumping the "State of Grace" remix.

Kanye West - Impossible (Ft Twista & Keyshia Cole)
Not feeling it at all. Not because I happen to think Kanye West is a wack mc (he is), just doesn't do it for me (no homo). From the Mission Impossible III soundtrack.

Diplo - Gold Digger Remix
Give this man a fucking record deal. There is no way you can't be feeling this; check the dudes site to see what he's up to.

The Fugees - Foxy
Better than "Take it Easy" but hardly matches anything from "The Score", or even "Blunted on Reality". If ever we needed proof that reunions rarely work. Not horrible but not great either.

Tags - Hip Hop, Kanye West, Just Blaze, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes

Reunited, double LP, we're all excited...

2006-03-19T14:21:00.000Z

So much of the year in hip-hop is taken up by speculation on who should/could/would reunite for another album. In the last few years I've read stories and heard rumours about Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Arrested Development, Snoop/Dre, Fugees, EPMD, Ultramagnetic MC's and many many more getting together to do an album. Now while some of these are true, the others are just wishful thinking. Now where am I going with this, well I'm here to question why the hell we want so badly for artists to reunite.

To cover this point properly I've taken two examples; ATCQ and Wu Tang. Arguably the two bands that every hip-hop fan has wet dreams about reuniting. Now I'm a huge fan of both Tribe and Wu, to the point where I would quite comfortably say they are two of my all time favourite. However, that is precisely the reason that I don't think I want them to reunite.

For the last few years I've gone on about (to anyone who would listen) how dope it would be if Tribe reunited. The glaring problem with this is; "The Love Movement" was shit. It seriously was. Everyone has assumed that if Tribe do reunite then they'll knock out another Low End Theory or Midnight Marauders which is highly unlikely. It's more likely that they will produce another "The Love Movement", which will be worse in relative terms than their last album due to the serious amount of hype it would get.

The same can be said of the Wu, although their musical downfall was maybe less dramatic than Tribe, it was still fairly evident that the chemistry was gone. "The W" had about two or three heaters at best and "Iron Flag", despite being better, was still a far cry from "36 Chambers" or even "Forever". If they were to reunite, I would be more hopeful than if Tribe did simply because the Wu mc's never went away, they just didn't work as a group anymore.

I guess the point of this is to give some perspective. All artists have a shelf life, whether it's one album or ten albums. Prolonging that shelf life may end up ruining the legacy that they left behind, and in the case of these two bands in particular, that would be fucking criminal.

So the problem is, enough time has passed for us to forget that there was a reason why they went their separate ways in the first place. For as long as this genre thrives, it will be rife with talk of artists of yesteryear making a spectacular comeback (S.Carter anyone?). Despite everything I've just said though, I for one will carry on praying for a Tribe and Wu reunion even if the results might make me wish they didn't bother.

Peace.

Now you know how we roll:

ATCQ - ICU (Doin It)
This was the big 'reunion' track that did the rounds a couple of years ago. Unfortunately it is average at best. There are rumours that it was recorded for "The Love Movement" but who knows. Either way it wouldn't have made it on LET or MM.

ATCQ, The Fugees & Busta Rhymes - Rumble In The Jungle
Now this is more like it, from the "When We Were Kings" OST. Dope shit.

Wu Tang Clan - Shoalin Worldwide

Another one that might have slipped your radar, from the "Next Friday" OST. Deck and Meth kill it.

Tags - Hip Hop, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang Clan

R.I.P. Professor X

2006-03-18T11:57:00.000Z

According to AllHipHop.com meningitis was the cause of his death.

He was one of the truely unique individuals of Hip-Hop years gone past (although there is a new X-Clan album scheduled for release on 27th June '06.)

Anybody who doesn't know the X-Clan's music then you need to go and educate yourselves, we're talking classic material.

You Sisseeeeeeeeeeee's!!!

***Edit***

Required reading; XXL's excellent feature on Professor X.

Tags - Hip Hop, Professor X, X Clan

Save yo' children, investigative reports!

2006-03-16T18:37:00.000Z

Alright people it's time to trawl through the garbage and give you a round up of today's Hip Hop news so you don't have to bother...

After having a little spat with KRS One, Davey D has now weighed into the 'No Snitchin' debate that's currently going on...

Although he manages to sit firmly on the fence.

'The stop-snitching movement, publicized on DVD's and T-shirts, has become a thorn in the side of police coast to coast. They say too many crimes can't be solved because witnesses have clammed up. Since Scarface recorded ``G-Code,'' calling for people not to snitch, hip-hop has borne the blame.

However, it can be argued that such behavior was adopted after rappers saw it displayed by the authorities, including the Los Angeles Police Department.'

Fair enough Davey... Just don't Snitch.

SOHH are reporting that Charlize Theron has produced a documentary about some Cuban Hip Hop artists.

Sadly that's about as much information as they give about the film, they do however give a full profile of Charlize's career... Cheers fellas.

Next week expect the exciting news that Sandra Bullock has heard a Hip Hop track, complimented with all her achievements.

The film has been premiered at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

Also there were the Beastie Boys, who gave a Q&A session for fans.

Billboard reports that 'Mike D professed his love for the Prince film "Purple Rain," MCA talked about drinking with hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons and Ad Rock dished on his favorite books'.

Which sounds extremely exciting but wait it gets better... MCA didn't want to talk about Buddhism!

Calm yourselves down and click the link to read more exciting revelations.

Young MC has decided to sue for royalties from Tone Loc's 'Wild Thing' and 'Funky Cold Medina'.

Young MC wrote the lyrics for “Wild Thing,” a No. 2 hit for Delicious Vinyl labelmate Tone Loc, in about 35 minutes. But his work on “Funky Cold Medina” was subject to some dispute, with Delicious Vinyl principal Matt Dike telling Rolling Stone in 1990 that Young MC “only wrote three lines.”

Good luck to him in his case but the most interesting bit of information I found in the whole article is that he's apparently British. Can anyone confirm this?

I doubt we'll try to claim him as a shining example of the UK's influence on Hip Hop, like Slick Rick, but still... He wrote 'Bust A Move', that appears in 'Dude Where's My Car?' and I like that film.

'Eurweb' have written a small piece (more like an advert/copy of the presskit) about a new book, Hip-Hop Inc., which 'examines the rise of the rap music industry from obscurity in the South Bronx to a worldwide sales phenomenon.'

The book sounds quiet a good read until you see '(i)t is a story being told for the first time from a strictly business perspective.' Which to me means it'll be full of management speak and would bore the pants off me but if you're into that sort of thing check out Hip-Hop Inc.

Australia proves not to be Hip Hop by banning 'Marc Ecko's Getting Up'.

"The Review Board determined, in the majority, that the theme of graffiti as depicted and detailed in the game was beyond that of fantastical game play and provided elements of promotion of the crime of graffiti,"

...

In a 3-2 decision, the board notes that the game uses methods of teaching that include guided learning, expert advice and a system of rewards that can develop an expertise which can then be used outside this virtual world.

Furthermore, because there is not enough fantasy in simulated urban environment where the Getting Up is played, there is a likelihood that this "game-world knowledge" can be transferred to the real world.

"… whilst the game contained some fantastical elements, much of the game was based in current experience," the report said, noting that building, cars an trains etc all looked like those found in any modern city.

Now if that's not a good enough reason for people to go buy the game then I don't know what is. (It's actually supposed to be quite a good game as well.)

Never let it be said that Kanye West is an arrogant twat... He's much more annoying than that...

Not content with thinking his music is worthy of winning every award in existance and that we should all bow at his feet for creating 'Late Registration', he now seems so keen to prove to us just how important he and his music are by turning some of his tracks into a film.

Yes the prospect of him bitching about not winning Oscars has me reaching for the shotgun as well.

Richard Brown, one of the films producers, says "This project will synthesise Kanye's vision with a fantastic group of film-makers and create what will be a one-of-a-kind film experience."

He's got the Kanye babble down perfect, although he didn't mention that it would be the most important film to be made in the history of cinema, which will no doubt lead to Mr West being upset. Expect another producer to be announced soon...

eighteen18 have finally released 'Body Armour'. Wasteland Drifter say's "this album will probably be ‘loved by crusty students like (their) name was Herbalizer’ but should also be given a listen by anyone who enjoys the (roll out the cliché) ‘diversity’ that Hip Hop from the UK provides."

Yeah I know, shameless self-promotion of my review, but the album is more than worth a listen and is available from their website.

So buy it.

We're currently in the process of getting some posts together about Hip-Hop from the UK.

If there's any UK heads reading this who are making music and want a little bit of exposure, use the 'contact us' link at the side and we'll see what we can do.

Tags: Hip Hop, Kanye West, eighteen18.

Yesteryears Producers: Kay gee

2006-03-14T02:15:00.000Z

East Orange NJ native, Kier Gist (Kay Gee) was known most notably as one third of Naughty By Nature, entirely producing the first four albums. While in high-school he also produced the groups pre-TommyBoy release, as they were then named, The New Style. The track 'Scuffin' Those Knees', off their New Style album 'Independent Leaders', received reasonable airplay.

The group later meet Queen Latifah, who signed them to flavor Unit Management (whose artist Kay Gee would later produce extensively for). The group changed their image and their accordingly their name, re-branding themselves Naughty By Nature before signing a new record deal with Tommy Boy. Kay Gee's production on NBN's first two albums, quickly cemented him as one of the most successful and sought after producers of the early to mid-90's. His production on the first Naughty by Nature album generated major hits, 'O.P.P.' and 'Ghetto Bastard (Everything's Gonna Be Alright)'...although arguably, his production on 'O.P.P.' was jacked from fellow Jerseyite Tony D's 1988 track 'Music Makes You Move'. The beats on the two singles are pretty much identical IMHO...Tony D obviously thought so too and sued ; with the case being settled out of court.

Kay Gee's production can be best described as heavily sample-driven with infectious drum loops and synths, as evidenced by early production on The New Style's 'Smooth Mood'. His catchy production style guaranteed Naughty had "two anthems per album", for each of their first four albums. Kay Gee interestingly, often produced some of Naughty's most successful tracks in between albums, for example 'Uptown Anthem', 'Poor Man's Poetry' and 'Connections' from the Juice, Poetic Justice and New Jersey Drive soundtrack respectively.

In the early days, Kay Gee produced extensively for flavor-Unit artists. His production credits from that time include D-Nice ('Time to Flow' , a single which continues exactly where Naughty's first album left off) and Queen Latifah (he produced the Grammy Award winning single 'U.N.I.T.Y'), in addition to producing for his own Illtown Record artists including The Rottin Razkals (the group released one album had minor hits with 'Hey Alright' and 'Oh Yeah') and The Road Dawgs. Outside of working for friends and associates, he also produced notable tracks for Eazy-E (the addictive 'Hit the...') and for Run DMC on their 'Down With The King' album ('Hit Em Hard').

Kay Gee production has been equally as successful in RB. He gained early success producing Aaliyah's now haunting 'Are You Ready' and Zhane's hit 'Hey Mr DJ' . However, Kay Gee's most successful RB production was created for a group named Next, for which he produced the chart topping 'Too Close' (US#2) - a song that imaginatively reused a sample from Kurtis Blow's 1982 single 'Christmas Rappin''. He would later produce another hit for Next titled 'Wifey', which appears on their second album.

In 1996, Kay Gee's production helped win the group a Grammy for Rap Album of the Year (Poverty's Paradise). However, an ongoing dispute between Kaygee and Treach on group royalties, saw him leave Naughty By Nature in late 2000 to concentrate on his Divine Mill label. They later settled the dispute through an organized prizefight (seriously) although Kay Gee never officially rejoined the group. Since then, he has been relatively quiet - although a recycled Rottin Razkals beat appeared in 2003 on 'Lovely Day Pt 2' for Luther Vandross' Grammy winning 'Walk With My Father' album.

Kay Gee is best remembered for his imaginative use of samples, that generated a catalogue of memorable crossover tracks.

Other Notable 12" Singles:

Naughty By Nature - Uptown Anthem 1991

Run DMC - Hit 'Em Hard 1993

Naughty By Nature - Poor Man's Poetry 1993

Eazy E - Hit The Hooker 1995

Naughty By Nature - Hang Out and Hustle 1995

Eazy E - Nutz on Ya Chin 1995

Aaliyah - Are You Ready 1996

Notorious BIG - Miss U 1996

Naughty By Nature Feat. Rottin Razkals - It's Workin 1997

Naughty By Nature - Mourn You Till I Join You 1997

Rottin Razkals - Hey, Alright 1998

Deborah Cox - It's Over Now 1999

Most Recent Production Credits:

Koffee Brown - Weekend Thing 2001

Shade Sheist - Where I Wanna Be 2001

Luther Vandross feat. Busta Rhymes - Lovely Day Pt. 2 2004

Artists Produced For

Naughty By Nature, D-Nice, Queen Latifah, Rottin Razkals, Run DMC, Road Dawgs, Jahiem, Zhane, Next, Eazy E, Deborah Cox, Krayzie Bone, Luther Vandross, Calvin Richardson, Allure, Aaliyah, The Transitions, RL, Syleena Johnson, Shade Sheist, M.A.G, Midwikid, Mystic, Notorious BIG, Tracey Lee

Shoot outs to Mattmatical from canibringmygat for the NS and TD tracks.

An earlier version of this article was posted on: http://themongoslade.modblog.com

Tags: Kay Gee, Naughty By Nature, 90's, Rottin Razkals, Hip-Hop

R.I.P. B.I.G. - 9 Years

2006-03-09T14:41:00.000Z

Hold me down, hand me my cake, dusty, bake, activate, Fuck your corny debates

2006-03-05T20:18:00.000Z

Just a little something different in order to get you more hyped about one of the albums everyone should be checking for this year...

~~J Love & Ghostface - Hidden Darts III~~

01 - Intro
02 - Hidden Darts
03 - Family Affair Feat. Raekwon, Trife, Cappadonna And Sungod
04 - The Champ
05 - Charlie Brown
06 - Starks & Chef Feat. Raekwon
07 - Be Easy
08 - Like That Rmx Feat. Ne-Yo
09 - Back In The Air Feat Ol Dirty Bastard
10 - Kilo Feat. Raekwon
11 - Struggle
12 - Hidden Darts Rmx
13 - Fire Rmx Feat. Trife And J-Love
14 - Come On Feat. Cormega
15 - Late Night Arrival Feat. Trife & Wigs
16 - Going Strong Feat. Trife
17 - 3 Bricks Feat. Raekwon And Notorious B.I.G.
18 - Black Cream
19 - Hot 97
20 - Cocaine Trafficking Feat. Trife
21 - Pass The Mic Feat. Trife, Cappadonna And Wigs
22 - Run 4 Cover Feat. Method Man, Redman And Street Life
23 - Missing Watch Feat. Raekwon
24 - Abduction Feat. Rza, Gza, Inspectah Deck And Masta Killa
25 - Out The Way Feat. Wigs
26 - Strawberries And Cream Feat. Inspectah Deck And Rza
27 - Babies Feat. Gza And Raekwon
28 - Lost Chamber feat. Method Man

This isn't really a mixtape... Although in the modern sense it probably is. The mixing is at a bare minimum and there's plenty of shouty bits to make sure you know J-Love is involved, let's just put it that way.

Despite that this is one to pop in your portable media device (no corporate branding) and just bask in the Wu/Starks goodness that's expelled from your headphones.

~~DJ Green Lantern & Ghostface - Internet Invasion~~

01 - DJ Green Lantern & Ghostface - Internet Invasion (Intro)
02 - Ghostface - Survivor Freestyle
03 - Ghostface feat. Busta Rhymes - Blow His Head Off
04 - Ghostface - Bounce 2 Tha Projects
05 - Ghostface feat. Raekwon - Kilo
06 - Ghostface - Theodore Unit (Green Lantern Mix)
07 - Ghostface - Catch A Body
08 - Ne-Yo feat. Ghostface - Get Down Like That
09 - Ghostface feat. Keyshia Cole - Walk Away
10 - Ghostface feat. Ne-Yo - Back Like That
11 - DJ Green Lantern & Ghostface - Internet Invasion (Outro)

OK this starts with Ghost freestyling over the 'Deep Cover' beat... You can't ask for much more than that can you?

This is an official promo tool for 'Fishscale' so you know it's only the good shit.

Ghost shows and proves why he's considered one of the greatest MC's in Hip-Hop but sadly this also has Green Lantern making sure everyone knows he has something to do with it (i.e. he's on the "I'm an annoying DJ who feels the need to shout all over tracks in an act of shameless self-promotion" tip.)

The 'Theodore Unit' remix is a blend over 'Touch The Sky' which despite it's brevity makes you wonder why Just Blaze let Big Head have that beat because a decent MC really could have done it more justice.

Add this to the same playlist as the 'Hidden Darts III' and the wait for 'Fishscale' will seem shorter...

Tags: Ghostface, Mixtapes, Green Lantern, Hip-Hop.

It Was Only A Matter Of Time...

2006-02-28T19:29:00.000Z

I'm not sure how many people outside of the UK know about Abu Hamza, your respective media outlets probably have their own domestic demons to report about but in the UK the hooked cleric has become as close to public enemy number one as is possible.

He's basically an extremist trying to claim Islam as the foundation of his hate, you know like Bin Laden, except... Abu has a hook! (Sorry it makes me think that I'm trapped in a Bond movie whenever I see it mentioned.)

He's been blamed for everything in the tabloids, welfare fraud, plotting terrorist attacks, having Bin Laden round his house for tea and crumpets...

In all fairness he's a little nuts.

Anyway my point was it was only a matter of time until Hip-Hop was dragged into this witch hunt. The Sun (the biggest selling daily paper in the UK) have un-surprisingly linked the two 'evils'.

'Hook's son is MC Hamza'

Reads the headline (shockingly un-pun filled) to an article about Abu's son being an MC who they claim has performed at the Wembley Arena and also Oxford University...

Yeah that'll be the same University that banned KRS ONE from speaking on campus, so you know they're going to jump at the chance to let a convicted terrorist perform aren't they?

As with most of what is published within the pages of the Sun this story's validity is suspect but even if it is correct, what's the problem?

Do they honestly think he's going to become the next Eminem and sell millions of records the world over?

They quote one of his tracks...

'I was born to be a soldier, Kalashnikov in my shoulder, peace to Hamas and Hezbollah, that's the way of the lord Allah . . . we're Jihad through, defend my religion with the holy sword.'

I can't see many MC's feeling threatened by his lyrical prowess.

I also can't see many people being all that interested in a MC with the image of an Islamic Terrorist. I know shock tactics sell but somehow I think that might just push that idea beyond its limits.

The story itself is perfect for the Sun, it kills two birds with one stone. It brings the demon hook back into the public eye and it demonises Hip-Hop, which as we all know is going to be the downfall of civilised society.

In some what related news, Eminem is apparently the music of choice when torturing people at Guantanamo Bay.

That's either the US Government trying to indoctrinate alleged terrorists into the ways of using Hip-Hop as a medium to spread their message and therefore another way for Bush and his ilk to attack Hip-Hop or it's a damning indictment on the irritability of Marshall's music. I think it's more than likely the latter but come to your own conclusion...

Some music to round off the post...

~~Ghostface & MF Doom - Angeles~~ - From a new Nature Sounds compliation and it's claimed it's from the upcoming collab album.

~~Six-Two - Weed & Snortin~~ - Don't know much about this other than it's supposed to be produced by Dre and I've been told to stop singing the hook...

AWOL ONE (Feat. 2Mex & KRS ONE) - Underground Killz - From AWOL ONE's new album 'The War Of Art'.

Tags: Hip-Hop, Abu Hamza, Ghostface, MF Doom

"We rely on the streets we do battle in the hood, I was born in the G Code, embedded in my blood"

2006-02-22T15:10:00.000Z

Damn have I lost a lot of respect for Busta Rhymes. I'm not even talking musically here but rather as a person and as a role model.

Now obviously hip-hop has evolved from the streets, which makes the vehement 'anti-snitching' mentality almost understandable. However, there are times when the determination to stick by some pseudo code of the streets creates more problems that it solves. Now the reason I call it a 'psuedo code' is not because it doesn't exist, but because when you're a platinum selling music artist, an actor and a role model; the fucking code shouldn't apply. Shit, nobody is denying where you came from or how far you've come, but for fucks sake live in the real world. You're not out hustling, you have millions in the bank, you make music and act, you live in a nice crib, you got kids, so get a reality check.

A man is dead and you clearly know something. Fuck the streets, fuck this no snitching shit. That man has a wife and kids who deserve to know how he died and by not co-operating, Busta is letting his killer walk around. I'm sure the standard argument will be "dude will get street justice" but fuck that. Is that how his kids should be bought up, seeing that as a way of solving problems.

Busta needs to get a fucking grip, if he knows something that is letting a killer walk around then fuck the streets, dude is a nobody. Hip-hop artists love to bring up the fact that Pac, Biggie, JMJ are all unsolved murders. The simple fact is that while this mentality survives, and incidents where a murder could possibily be solved with the co-operation of a hip-hop artist then this shit will go on.

So while I might respect Busta Rhymes as a musician, my level of respect for him as a person and as a role model to kids in the street is rapidly declining. This shit is bad for everyone involved, not least for hip-hop. Oh and Fuck Tony Yayo, if my level of respect for Busta is declining then my 'respect' for Yayo is in negative proportions because he clearly knows the dude.

If to you that means I'm not 'down' or that I don't understand street mentality or hip-hop culture, then fuck you, you're part of the problem.

Peace.

Tags - Hip Hop, Busta Rhymes

Jigga What, Jigga Who?

2006-02-20T16:18:00.000Z

Carrying on the Jigga theme, the transcript for his webchat on the Roc-A-Fella website recently:

Jay-Z Transcript

Props to Spine Magazine

Tags - Hip Hop, Jay-Z

What's Beef.......

2006-02-20T10:10:00.000Z

So a lot has been said about this Jigga/Nas thing, and I'm not here to go over old ground which I covered back in this post .

What I will say is that their first joint interview makes interesting reading. Now some industry heads have come out and said "I can't believe Nas bounced to Def Jam and is working for Jigga, what a stupid move, dignity, respect blah blah blah"...or words to that affect anyway. Now I just want to break this down a little bit so bear with me.

Now Nas has signed a deal which could potentially make him millions of dollars.

His name is now on everyones lips as let's face it, Jigga is like a hip-hop prophet these days and Def Jam is the place to be.

Nas get's access to Jay's unbelievable ear for beats and access to pretty much any Def Jam artist to work with.

So as far as I can see Nas has a fair idea what he's doing. Now with that out of the way, the interview certainly did make interesting reading. It's obvious that the two had/have a lot of respect for eachother and that this isn't a ploy, this beef thing is really over. Now for everyone who is fronting on this, how is this a bad thing? We got some great music in 'Takeover' and 'Ether' and now we're onto phase two, which sees two of the hottest mcs from the past decade work with eachother. I mean, for those people saying they both sold out their values; what the fuck did you want? You wanted to see them take it out to the streets and shoot shit up? You wanted to always wonder what it would be like if they could settle their differences and work together? You wanted the world to look at hip-hop and say "oh look two more walking dead men"? Get a fucking grip. Nobody has sold out so go listen to your One.Be.Lo album and rep how underground you are.

One of the most interesting things about the interview was Nas insisting that he does not have a problem with a certain Mr Curtis Jackson. Now this is surprising considering his veiled barbs on 'MC Burial', either way I think he needs to step away becuase the way to hurt Fifty is not give him even more exposure by trumped up beefs. I would say the same about Jigga and Cam considering it's a blatent attempt from Cam to generate hype for "Killa Season". However, will it harm Jigga's credibility not stepping up?

One thing I will say though, I have no interest in seeing Nas work with Dre. I don't think it will work and the prospect doesn't interest me in the slightest. Nas/Primo of course, Nas/9th Wonder definately (God's Stepson was dope), Nas/Kanye maybe but Nas/Dre won't work. Jay/Dre I would definitely be interested in, but we know it's all hype anwyay.

The union of Nas/Jay has probably asked more questions than answer them. Will Nas inherit the Cam beef and Jigga inherit Fifty? Will Nas/Primo get the chance to work on a full album now Nas is on Def Jam? Will Jigga pick the beats for said project? Will Nas's album be an overproduced hunk of crap with big name producers and not a lot else?

Who knows, but I for one am enjoying the ride....

Now just to prove Nas isn't sitting around and counting his new found wealth all day:

~~Nas - Jackin 4 Beats 2006~~

Tags - Hip Hop, Jay-Z, Nas, Def Jam

*Edit*

R.I.P Dilla

2006-02-17T11:10:00.000Z

As all hip hop fans now know, J Dilla aka Jay Dee has passed away from Lupus. Various reports had been ciculating about his poor health for months and stories of him performing from a weelchair became more frequent.

Now Dilla wasn't everybody's favourite producer (although I was a big fan) but one thing hip-hop heads will not deny is that he was good for hip-hop. He injected soul and feeling into his music and provided countless artists with some sonically beautiful beats. From his work on the latter Tribe material to his work on Jaylib, he was evolving his sound and was prepared to try new and different things. Now I'm not going to sit here and convince you that Dilla was the next Primo, but the man could make some dope shit.

Regardless of all things hip-hop, the man was only 32 years old, and a loss of someone so young is always a tragic one.

I could upload a sampling of Dilla's beats but to be honest you probably have them all and you can never do someone justice at a time like this so choose you're own Dilla beats and vibe the fuck out.

R.I.P J Dilla.

Tags - Hip Hop, Jay Dee, J Dilla

Back for good.....

2006-02-16T16:57:00.000Z

Shit, we know we're slack.

I have to stand up and take credit for the slackness though. Peace, Prosperity and Paper was my pet project which I've let slip away in the last few months. Every so often you get days, weeks, months where real life gets in the way and everything else has to take a back seat. However, when this happens it generally means you come back more focused and ready to blow the fuck up.

Major props have to be given to my collegues for keeping things ticking over while I've been AWOL but we back baby so we're going to be rolling again in the next couple of days.

And of course it goes without saying; R.I.P Dilla, a sad loss.

Peace.

Will someone tell The Game no one cares?

2006-01-21T17:05:00.000Z

As predicted The Game is still recording 50 Cent diss tracks.

The newest one is over the beat to Ja Rule's 'New York', no doubt picked because of Ja and Fiddy's love affair and the fact that it was the track that caused the beef between 50, Jada and Fat Joe.

As usual Game says nothing much except name drop multiple MC's and make weak disses at 50.

Not an all out battle track but still... Game give it a rest already, no one cares.

The Game - New York (Remix)

A slightly more interesting diss track that's come out this week is Cam'ron's attack on Jay-Z.

It's only more interesting because it's a straight up battle track. That's about it.

The punchlines aren't that good, some of the things said show signs of potentially good disses but come on Cam if you're going to go after someone like Jay-Z put a bit more effort into it. When the best part of your battle track is calling someone out for not being 'an 80's baby'... well you've got to consider if it's worth your time and effort.

Nastack has the audio and a slightly more favourable opinion of the track.

UndergroundHipHop.com has reported that Prince Paul 'is trying to holla at the Metal Faced Villain to possibly collabo on a new album together.' How true this is I'm not sure, probably nothing more than wishful thinking but you never know it might come true.

Obviously they've worked together in the past so it's not that bizarre to see it happening but with the Ghostface album, Madvillain 2 and his new role as a cartoon character, does DOOM really have the time?

They're also reporting that Jay-Z's comeback album will be produced by none other than Dr Dre. Quoting 'source close to UGHH.com who works for Dr. Dre's production team out in L.A.' they say at least 2 tracks have already been finished... Again, they've worked together in the past so it's not that insane to think it could be true. If Dre and his team really focus on it then it's pretty certain to be the biggest selling Hip-Hop album of the year and put both of them back at the top of the Hip-Hop food chain.

The Coup are releasing a DVD this spring. SOHH.com are stating it's a 'controversial' DVD but reading the article it's only a 'Greatest Hits' type DVD and the closest it gets to controversy is the fact that the Coup don't follow Democrat or Republican rhetoric. Has America really got so bland that that is considered controversial?

Albums of 2005

2006-01-16T22:32:00.000Z

It seems to be obligatory for music blogs to come up with some sort of end of year list and despite it taking over 2 months to somewhat complete we've managed it. Out of the four of us who submitted only one album got a vote from all of us the rest vary in their levels of support and are in no particular order.

In 2005 Hip Hop remained at the forefront of popular culture, think about it, even a natural disaster couldn't stop the extremely modest Kanye West from getting some publicity for his album by stating the obvious. His outburst led to a few tracks condemning the American Governments response to the disaster, none of which charted or made it onto anyone's regular playlist although K-Otix will probably sell a couple more albums as a result.

Flavor Flav played the crackhead in many 'reality' TV shows, including British TV's 'The Farm' on which he befriended a ventriloquists dummy... Chuck just tried to ignore it or come up with lame excuses, to be fair to him though he was busy recording at least 20 albums all of which were slated for release sometime in '05 but only one actually made it onto the shelves. Even being dead didn't stop 2Pac from beating that level of output Chuck!

Not to break with tradition many in the industry had run-ins with the law, including Lil Kim who got a sentenced to a spell of rug munching for lieing, her ex-sparring partner Foxy Brown went deaf and got a telling off for sticking her tongue out at a Judge and the INC somehow managed to beat the US Government in a shock result that was only eclipsed by Mickey J's escape from kiddie fiddling charges...

Lil Kim also made the headlines for apparently recording an album the Source thought was worthy of it's once revered 5 mic rating... Everyone else thought it was average at best but then most of us weren't banging her at the time of listening, that's surely gotta influence your opinion, although after all that surgery I'm not sure it would be a positive influence...

Gangstarr un-officially officially broke-up... I don't think anyone knows the truth behind this due the news apparently breaking on Guru's own website but as everyone fears the site will automatically start playing his last solo album no one dare check...

50 Cent had beef with everyone including members of his own crew, it had nothing to do with promoting a new album of course... As a result he sold shitloads of records and forgot about the beef with Game, Game on the other hand didn't sell as many and is apparently somewhere writing his 200th 'mixtape' full of G-Unit disses... Jada and Fat Joe got called out for being foolish enough to appear on a Ja Rule record, they both hit back but they forgot nobody really cared and it was a waste of time...

On a more friendly note, Jay-Z declared war by bringing long time 'enemy' Nas on stage with him... This only led to rumours that the whole beef actually started because Nas spurned one of Jigga's advances in the past. Now they only have token R'n'B bitches as their public partners while in private they're really going through more KY Jelly than Eddie Murphy... Only rumours though and if anyone has proof please keep it to yourself...

There was much more that happend but I can't remember and you don't want to read it so time for you to see the list. Feel free to diss us...

- Wasteland Drifter

Common - Be

"This had me nervous as fuck. Was this going to be the Common 'sell-out' album? Was Kanye going to influence him so much he would be talking about Diamonds and all that shit? Thankfully no, instead Kanye blessed him with some incredible beats and Common dropped the most mature album of the year (possibly of the new millennium so far.)" - Wasteland Drifter

"As far as I'm concerned the only other time that Common has sounded this focused and his music this soulful; is on 'Resurrection'. Kanye goes to show that the art of sampling is far from dead, and that using vocal samples (when done well) is far from saturated. The beat to 'Testify' and 'Go' are two of the finest pieces of music you will hear in years to come. Dope beats, dope rhymes, what the fuck else you want?" - Propaganda Life

"When I heard that Kanye was intending on signing Common to his GOOD music imprint, my immediate response was 'Helter Skelter' all over again. Yet, true to his word, Kanye signed Common and dedicated a couple of months to producing what could simply be called the closest thing to perfect in a long time. My only issue was that we weren't provided a studio version of 'The Food'." - Kwaj

AZ - AWOL

"For years AZ has tried to release that classic album that we all know he has in him and for years he has consistently fell short. In my opinion, this has probably been due to the fact that he hasn't ever really tried to get out of Nas' shadow, which usually results in him being unfairly compared to Nas lyrically (an unfair comparison, they are very different MC's) or AZ simply relying on guest appearances from Nas to lift the quality of his albums. With the release though, AZ steps out of Nas' shadow (most evident in the fact that he hardly mentions Nas' name save perhaps on 'Bedtime' story) and finally delivers what I've been waiting nearly 15 years for, a classic. AZ delivers without doubt 2006 best lyrically performance. This albums is a good mix of radio friendly joints and classic NY club bangers. The stand out track is undoubtedly the Primo produced 'The Come Up'. With the right sort of promotion, this album would have been multi-platinum." - Kwaj

Cage - Hells Winter

"I'll admit, I'm in a minority of liking most things Def Jux release. The signing of Cage was something that genuinely excited me as he was made to be over the dark atmospheric beats I've come to expect from Def Jux, that excitement wasn't proved wrong. Gone with the lyrics spit purely for shock value and in came the more honest and self-analytical (although still quite disturbing) Cage. This is a 'coming of age' type album that I'm surprised hasn't had more crossover success in the rock market." - Wasteland Drifter

Dangerdoom - Mouse & The Mask

"Dangermouse shows that he's more than just a novelty producer by providing Doom with dope and original beats to rhyme over. There is nothing you can say about Doom apart from the fact that right now he's probably the best MC around (alongside Ghost). Dope album all the way through, and I even enjoy the Kweli verse." - Propaganda Life

"There's very little I can say about this without going over the top
with plaudits, maybe it's not DOOM's best album, maybe Dangermouse is
overrated... Who cares? It's a dope album" - Wasteland Drifter

DJ Skully & Klashnekoff - Focus Mode

"Whoa, why the hell have you got a mixtape in there? A UK mixtape at that? Well to put it simply; this is some of the finest music I have heard this year. On this mixtape Klash shows that he has the flow and the lyrical ability to challenge the upper tier of MC's, not only in the UK but stateside as well. 'Focus Mode' sees Klash dropping rhymes over a slew of well known instrumentals; from 'Mic Check' to 'Get Down', and he kills everyone. It's worth checking out the 'International Lover' remix of 'You' which, although clocking in at only about a minute and a half long, is one of my favourite tracks of the year." - Propaganda Life

Kanye West - Late Registration

"Kanye over the last 36 months has undoubtedly been hip-hop's IT man... capable of producing from everyone from Ludacris to Dilated to Janet Jackson. Any which way you flip this album...it's pure genius (well the rapping leaves a little to be desired but he's sense of humour makes up for it). Then there's the fact that he choose to use a co-producer Jon Brion (who had up until 'Late Registration' been known as Fiona Apple's producer) to infuse the album with just enough pop to make it commercial palatable will remaining true to the fans he made with 'College Dropout'. Genius." - Kwaj

"It seems like the net were building him up after 'College Dropout' and then just waiting for him to fall on this one, he didn't but they still wanted to rip a few shreds out of him anyway. As expected it's the beats that carry this, while they're not quite as consistently good as on his debut, they are still solid, soulful and feel a lot more organic than a lot of the usual sterile stuff we're fed through MTV and the radio... If Ol' Big Head has to be the poster boy for this style of Hip Hop then so be it at least it's getting some praise and the likes of Little Brother and Common can ride on his coat tails." - Wasteland Drifter

Little Brother - The Minstrel Show

"'The Minstrel Show' is one of the most soulful Hip Hop albums of the last few years. 9th stepped his game up to the point where he might be the most soulful dude out there right now. Each track is brimming with feeling and soul. This album isn't all about beats though, Phonte shows us that right now he's one of the most exciting MC's around and on 'The Minstrel Show' he finds his rhythm and has the confidence to address the most emotional of subjects." - Propaganda Life

"Arguably the internet's most hyped album of 2005. On the strength of 9th Wonders ever improving production profile, the new millena's answer to the Native Tongues was expected to justify all the hype. Although this album is not an instant classic, they did deliver a strong concept album with 'The Minstrel Show'. 9th Wonder shows why he has quickly become recognized as one the best producers in the game. As a an album, 'The Minstrel Show' is Little Brother's 'Low End Theory', the coming of age album of a soon to be classic group." - Kwaj

The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue

"There are very few duo's out today who's voices, flows and understanding of each other matches Akrobatik and Lif's. While expecting a good album and they provided an excellent album, Fakts 1 having to get credit for that as well due to him delivering with the beats. Conscious in a way Kanye could only ever dream of being and just plain dope. Definitely one for the backpack wearing brigade but at the same time there should be enough here for any Hip Hop fan to enjoy it, except violence, boasts of material wealth and sexual conquests... Hip Hop's about more than that though... Right?" - Wasteland Drifter

Atmosphere -
You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having

"There aren't words to describe how this album shook me on the first listen, the rhymes, the beats, the emotions...it's all there. Slug drops the bitter self hating and manages to hold down the whole album with shit that makes you sit back and take a look at your own life, yet makes you feel oddly good about yourself. Don't get it twisted; there is some powerful ish on here including his feelings towards the monster who raped and killed a girl at one of their shows. As emotive and powerful as the rhymes as, the beats manage to somehow better it. Ant has stepped up and staked his claim to being the best producer on the underground, and not by shooting his mouth off but by proving possibly the most sonically impressive album of the year next to the Kanye laced "BE". The beats are packed with soulful samples and the dopest drum patterns I've heard in a hell of a long time, and he merges the two together perfectly. If you haven't heard this album then stop reading, get the fuck up and get it." - Propaganda Life

Big Boi Presents... Got Purp? Vol. 2

"As a sampler for Big Boi's new Purple Ribbon imprint, 'Got Purp Vol. 2' presents a decent mix of southern rap, bass and RB tunes. This is less of a rap album and more a decent mix CD of all things southern, which is probably it's strongest selling point. You can put this album and just listen to decent rapping, for example "Kryptonite" and the reunited Goodie Mobb on "Hold On" or try for R'n'B Atlanta style in the form of "U Got Me", "My Cadillac" or "Time Will Reveal". Despite the sometimes huge disparities in genre's, the album flows well. It would be hard to find a weak track. " - Kwaj

Personal Top 5's

Propaganda Life

Atmosphere - You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
Common - BE
DangerDoom - The Mouse & The Mask
Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
DJ Skully & Klashnekoff - Focus Mode

Kwaj

Common - Be
AZ - AWOL
Kanye West - Late Registration
Purple Ribbon - Got Purp? Vol. 2
Paul Wall - People's Champ

Scouse In Da House

Common - Be
Ghostface & Trife - Put It On The Line
AZ - AWOL
The Jacka - Jack Artist
DJ Skully & Klashnekoff - Focus Mode

Wasteland Drifter

Atmosphere - You Can't Believe How Much Fun We're Having
DangerDOOM - The Mouse & The Mask
Common - Be
The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue
Ohmega Watts - The Find

Tags - Hip Hop, 2005 Review, Albums of 2005

"I'm eager to find my equal at rhyming..."

2005-12-04T21:16:00.000Z

For an artist who has collaborated (either production-wise or vocally) with the likes of Large Professor, Ghostface, Nas, Mobb Deep, MOP, Kurupt, Alchemist and Hi-Tek, not to mention his shout-out on 'Illmatic', Corey "Cormega" McKay still has a relatively low profile, despite a 4-album catalog and endless guest appearances from NYC to the Bay. Any wack motherfucker can jump on a track with Nas and attempt to rip it, but the fact that Cormega has exhibited immense lyrical prowess on more tracks than I can count makes his almost inexistence from Hip-Hop consciousness all the more shocking. Let's get things straight, 'Mega does push serious numbers indie-wise and has a healthy army of fans from every corner of the globe, but there is no shortage of even 'enlightened' heads dozing on his shit.

Bursting onto the scene in the mid-90s, Cormega appeared on fellow QB comrade Nas' "Affirmative Action", and consequently joined The Firm, Nas' answer to a Hip-Hop supergroup consisting of himself, 'Mega, AZ and Foxy Brown. However, 'Mega was unceremoniously dumped in favour of Nature for reasons unclear ('Mega's unwillingness to sign a production deal is cited by himself, but Nas' preference for Nature is spoken of by others). As a consequence, Cormega landed a deal with Violator/Def Jam and recorded 'The Testament'. Unfortunately, the album was shelved, yet it had lit a fire amongst industry insiders and everybody and his mother was claiming to be in possession of a copy. 1996-2001 was a quiet period for 'Mega musically, excepting the scathing 'Fuck Nas and Nature' record he penned and fed to the streets. However, 'Mega should've known better than to take on Nas, who obviously had the money and resources to produce a killer response, "Destroy and Rebuild", which appeared on the otherwise rather poor 2001 album 'Stillmatic'. Yet by this time, 'Mega had already dropped his "debut" album 'The Realness' on Landspeed Records, and was clearly unfazed by the prospect of every Nas dickrider from the US to Russia sniggering at his efforts. Regardless, the 'Mega/Nas beef was squashed earlier this year, anyway.

Although 'Mega was - as ever - on point lyrically for the bulk of 'The Realness', I'm not a personal lover of the album, despite it carrying two of my favourite Cormega joints - "American Beauty" and "They Forced My Hand". My real interest in Cormega was sparked upon the release of the 2002 album 'The True Meaning'. This album was altogether more polished, and truly reflected 'Mega's position as a dealer-cum-rapper and other hardships, not least his experience of having seen his own mother shot to death. 2004 saw the release of 'Legal Hustle' on Koch, which was he subject of mixed opinions. Personally, I think it's dope, and tracks 1-8 represent what could be the dopest succession of tracks appearing on any album in the new millennium. It was marred, however, by the over-appearances of 'Dona', some bitch 'Mega signed to his label and was trying to showcase. She holds her own for the first 2 or 3 tracks, but then becomes a bit sameish. But everytime I think that, I just shut the fuck up and remind myself that "Beautiful Mind" is easily one of my favourite tracks of all time, despite it being immersed right amongst an overdose of Dona and other nondescripts.

Fortunately, 'The Testament' finally saw the light of day and was released early this year on 'Mega's own Legal Hustle label. Although he has clearly evolved lyrically over the years - more notably in the increasing inclusion of more personal, introspective material as heard on 'The True Meaning' and 'Legal Hustle -, this is still light years ahead of 90% of anything released in 2005 (fuck Kanye, fuck Paul Wall, fuck Juelz), so go and cop it. With the beef squashed between him and Nas, here's to hoping 'Mega spits fire on the Nasdaj/Dow Jones bullshit Nasir has slated for release.

62 Pickup
American Beauty
Verbal Graffiti
Beautiful Mind
Bring it Back

Tags - Hip Hop, Cormega, Nas

And you wanna know what I think about those fake cats, think that rap is just one fat wage pack?

2005-12-04T18:25:00.000Z

Shit it's been a minute since I dropped knowledge up in here so it's time to get things poppin again.

First and foremost; apologies for being AWOL these last few weeks, rest assured Peace, Prosperity and Paper is always rolling though. We've just been chillin for a bit.

Now I've got to speak my mind to all the UK fans out there. By that I don't mean the fans just in the UK, but also the fans of UK hip hop in general.

Over the last couple of years there has been a fair few UK mcs getting their shine. Top of these lists is generally Jehst, a man who is a lyrical genius but doesn't get the international shine he deserves. We also get Rodney P getting mad shine, as he should do (although I haven't been feeling him these last couple of years). We of course have Dizzie Rascal, who has been putting out stellar work for a minute and Kano. Now you can go ahead and call Dizzie, Kano, Roll Deep etc; hip-hop, grime, garage...whatever, but for arguments sake lets call them straight hip-hop here. Slightly off the radar we have; Skinnyman, Blade and Ty getting some much deserved shine. However for me, as much as I like many of these artists, I don't get that special feeling I do when I listen to someone like BDK, Jigga, Tribe...whatever. You either know what I'm talking about here or you don't, that special "fuck me I can vibe to this all year" sort of feeling. Don't get me wrong; Jehst is fucking awesome, Ty got mad plays from me this last year ("Upwards" still does) and Mark B and Blade's "The Unknown" is dopeness despite the fact people don't seem to agree. However despite this, there is only one artist to emerge in UK Hip-Hop that has me positively soiling myself in anticipation every time he has new ish out.

That man is Ricochet Klashnekoff (although he seems to have dropped the Ricochet now). This dude is straight up one of my favourite mcs in the world right now. Every time he picks the mic up I'm blown away, he seems to be able to do it all right now. His debut album "The Sagas of Klashnekoff" seemed to slip the radar of most people somehow, despite the fact that it was fucking dope. From the first track Klash just murdered it; talking about life on a council estate, dealing, his girl, his father’s death...shit he covered it all. This man just rips from the heart and that is what makes him the best right now for me. I know Jehst is the same in that respect but there is just something about Klash. So I played the hell out of "Sagas of" last year and practically wore a hole into it. Since then I’ve got hold of the odd track from compilations here and there but he generally seemed to have gone AWOL.

Then word on the street was that he was about to drop a new mixtape to let heads know he was still around. Shit I was so hyped up for it I copped it from HMV, which isn't like me at all because I know I'm getting ripped off. Either way I listened to it on the way home, waiting to see whether he can bring the same level as he did on "Sagas of". By the time I got home I had come to the conclusion that it was one of the dopest discs I've heard all year. The man matched the level he reached on his debut album...and then bettered it. "Focus Mode" has Klash spitting over Raekwon's - Criminology, Nas's - Get Down, Juelz Santana's - Mic Check and a bunch of other dope beats. Not to mention he gets some mic time over some new beats and he kills each one. There is not one moment in this mixtape where you feel like hitting the skip button, apart from to skip back and play each track again. The best thing about "Focus Mode" is that Klash gives us a taste of how versatile he can be, not only in subject matter but also flow. He switches it up, slows it down and generally just gives us a taste of what he can do. I also have to add for the record that DJ Skully really kills it on this, he needs to be getting more exposure as with so many cats we have in the UK.

So yeah to cut this short (ish), I'm a damn Klashnekoff groupie. For me he's one of the best around right now, UK, US...whatever.

If you haven't even checked him out before then here is a taster for you. If you like what you hear then get you're plastic out and go and order "The Sagas of Klashnekoff" and "DJ Skilly Presents: Klashnekoff - Focus Mode". Don't sleep.

Peace.

Klashnekoff - Black Rose

Klashnekoff - Mr K-Lash

Klashnekoff - You (International Lover Remix)

Tags - Hip Hop, UK Hip Hop, Klashnekoff, DJ Skully