Hey!zeus.i 'Holy Cow' ft. Strange U & Jehst plus Ghostface Killah & Elzhi

Check out this slice of Psychadlic Bovine illness from the Young N Restless camp; Hey!zeus.i asking the important question "....if the lands barren where you graze your flock?" and Kashmere of Strange U giving the sage advice ".......get creative" this tripped out marvelously hypnotic track is completed by The High Plains Drifter kicking in a holy cash cow earning verse. Great to be hearing this original business, great music should be appreciated by all.

And if that's not quite enough high powered lyricism for you check out the new Tony Starks LP "Sour Soul", a tour de force of paired back rhymes allowing a soundscape to showcase some of the illest flows in the game.  As Pretty Tony spits....

Stand the fuck up like Flav to fight the power
I'm an activist, socialist, deadly ass poetrist
Supreme Clientele, I'm a goddamn vocalist
My thoughts are so heavy I could change a generation
The x-factor, we puttin' holes through inflation

Kingdom of Fear, Chima Anya and Dee-1 Video Roll

My man Chima Anya drops some brilliant visuals to track 'Astro Thoughts' from brand new album (for more check here)while YNR's Kingdom of Fear go into drunken comic book mode with 'Sir Digny Chicken Caeser' a great take on the gonzo stylings of Hunter S Thompson....both UK videos styalsiticly pushing the boundaries, a very good look for these shores; from over the pond comes slightly more rough and ready new video from New Orleans Dee-1, however (sorry to be all redblooded ladies but) it wins in the smoking hot girl stakes and Dee-1 comes over pretty nicely in the story based track so I've thrown in into this little mid-winter video reel selection. Enjoy!

Jon Phonics 'Half Past Calm 2'

YNR Productions is proud to present the release of producer Jon Phonics' 'Half Past Calm 2' LP. It is a heavy project all over, my personal favourites are 'Dark Days' and 'Mind over matter'...the former has Jam Baxter and Fliptrix giving you some top notch braggadocio bars and the latter elevating yor mind into some next dimensions with Verb T and Kashmere knocking it out the park on another ill collaboration. 9 Planets and Kosyne also come particularly hard/clever on their respective tracks, loving Kos's way of switching up perspectives, great writing!

The following is taken from the press release but does a pretty good job at giving a flavour of the project...

"Jon is back with another snapshot of what the UK scene has to offer to the world of Hip Hop. Featuring highly acclaimed artists such as Jehst, Triple Darkness, Micall Parknsun, Sonnyjim, Kosyne, Obba Supa and more. This album is more than rapping over beats, Half Past Calm 2 is a statement of the current musical climate in the UK.

The album takes the listener on a journey from the coldest sword swiging boom bap on album opener 'Raw Ingredients' (Featuring Jehst & Cyrus Malachi) to the oscillating basslines and 8 bit blips of head nodder 'Pump', to the dusty soul of T-Bear & Yasine on 'Changes'. Too new school to be UK Hip Hop too Hip Hop to be, for want of a better word, wonky...

You can stream the album from Jon's bandcamp here. Where it is also available for free download for a limited time only.
Here!

The album is also available in the form of 300 x limited edition 4 ply covers available exclusively via the YNR shop here. Get yours!

New Kashmere ft Truth

Check one two the big homie Truth has hooked up with that space time continuum hopping Kashmere for a nice slice of freshness...Free Download Link Here **Cuts By Jimmy Green, Mixed By Cross Bone T** Taken from the Rapsploitation Sessions compilation CD "3 Years High & Rising" out on 4th February ya heard!

Classic Material

If you think the state of hip hop is fairly poor at the moment, you could try digging around as there is some very dope stuff about, its just hard to find. I picked up Truth and Jimmy Green's "Rapsploitation Sessions" excellent mix cd the other day and trust me its been in constant rotation, a great example of high calibre UK spitters. There's loads of great stuff from Sonnyjim, Kosyne and Kashmere circulating so watch out for that. Broadsheet's favourite poster boy Roots Manuva is supposedly on usual top form with a new LP so keep ya head up and ya ears open.

If that's not going to sate your appetite, I recommend heading to your local library and searching out "Classic Material - A guide to Hip Hop Albums" edited by Oliver Wang. It's a great guide to some timeless albums that will either have you pulling out dusty favourites or scrambling around amazon to find that dope shit to get your love of hip hop reinvigorated! Go cop dat.