Eat Good 2015 Cypher, UK Music Industry Event Plus New Music Out of Washington DC from Gerreddi

Very pleased to hear that Birmingham city will be hosting an event to get the UK rap scene together to develop a more coherent industry. DJ Miss C Brown has put together a lively selection of videos from classic and new UK artists as a showcase for the event on 24th January. Hard to say exactly how a more cohesive scene could be made, especially as music seems increasingly to be seen as something that should be available for free, or at the very least at a much lower monetary value than yesteryear. How successful different approaches can be is up for debate, and especially in rap and hip hop there's inevitably lots of cliques and differences of styles and opinion going on; one set of 'like minds' do not always see eye to eye with another set so will be interesting to see if answers come out of this.....I know Malik from MD7 does a whole heap of work in this area so those attending will be in a privileged position to hear him.

Very fitting that this event is coming to Birmingham, as the ever heavy Brum collective Eat Good have just released this banging cypher featuring RedBeard, Kosyne, Gen Uchiha and representing good Ol' East Anglia new recruit Booda French. Check this out, then head to the Eat Good website for a prime example of a business model built from the ground up with a very clear focus on style and quality product.

Finally, back to the global Inbox and Washington native Gerreddi delivers a track pushing a positive frame of mind in the face of hate and the ills of society, with the "Black Lives Matter" featuring heavily in the video. Not entirely cohesive lyrically I reckon but it stands out from the generice bling trap music that continues to jam up the Vocalswords PO Box.

Scottish Referendum Special! MOG, Kurly Hypa, Louie & Fliptrix & Rag N Bone Man....

So on the eve of a Historic decision to be made by the people of Scotland, I thought I might join the political excitment not with any analysis but just a couple slices of hip hop representing all over the map. Enjoy.  

First up bit of a lazy journalistic endeavour but by typing in 'Scottish Hip Hop' to a search engine this gem appeared. Rugged and raw and fairly apolitical, in terms of the referendum at least!



And if you managed to keep up with those speedy bars check out Louie's ode to the city of Glasgow....







Curly Hypa repps Leicester and goes in mad deep on this ill slice of real life lyracism

Last but not least the scientific funky cinematic styles of Fliptrix are given Anthem status by Rag N Bone man on this track while its visual existance rocks over the Molotov bumpin instrumental.

Eliza Shaddad premieres with Wonderland Magazine "Waters"

Eliza Shaddad is going to be a big name very soon as her incredible talent, writing skills and work ethic are coming to the fore. She has recently been working and touring with Clean Bandit but her solo material is culminating in a 4 track EP; the lead track 'Waters' is being Premiered by Wonderland Magazine....quickly followed by Vocalswords and hopefully many other blogs and sites! Spread the word :)

Rock the DELS!

Egg on my face right now as I have to apologise for fronting on DEL's mixtape a couple of years back, mainly as the download I had I couldnt work out so didnt listen to the effort properly, shame on me! Anyway the dudes at Big Dada did do their job properly and the boy from my hometown Ipswich is making some heavy moves with some inspired videos and very interesting rhymes of a sort of style the scene has been missing for a while....if you haven't already, check the video below then go youtube more tracks taken from forthcoming 'GOB' album....The London release party is at Hoxton Bar & Grill this Thursday, for more info check out the info Here. Word.

Modulok & Bare Beats - Two Cities

One of the things I have always loved about hip hop is its ability to pull you into a parallel world that presents you with elements of your own with a distorted, edgy flavour. The visual and aural world created on Two Cities is a perfect example of what I'm on about. An array of beautifully produced music lays out a lush platform from which canadian emcee Modulok delivers intense flows that city dwellers around the world can relate to. The format of intricate yet alternatingly jazzy and punchy beats, accompanied by straight up visual, cerebral rapping is perfectly finished with some great scratching from Jabba the Kut. Standouts for me were the manifesto like 'Intro' over some dope beat boxing takes it back to what makes Hip Hop such a vital phenomenom. 'Trouble' is a lively posse cut, showing dope skills from Modulok and gritty british guests Perry Scaramanga, Karl Sereousz and Smokey with a great cut up of a Jehst sample on the hook. The album is full of dope quotables and observations, and its good to know your not the only one who likes drinking "A pint of Guiness with a shot of whiskey in it". The haunting 'City' provides great paranoid headphone fodder for those late night excursions along train tracks looking for dope pieces; however the standout track for me is 'Origin' a beautifully crafted piece of music documenting a poignoint biography of Modulok, I had that shit on repeat about 8 times when I first heard it. The cover art is intriguing and fascinating; the only real complaint would be a lack of detail in the liner notes, one of the side elements that bring an album to life. That aside, this album demonstrates an immense creativity, heart and dedication to hip hop, self expression and life. Go cop it! www.bare-records.co.uk www.redantsmusic.com www.myspace.com/modulokandbeats

P.S. If you want a taste of what's good these kind people present a free mini-album available to download from the myspace page, go support.