Brand New Shizzle KRS and Buckshot

Im getting Blogtastic at the moment! (Which basically means avoiding spam and hunting for dope content net heads - My shit be basic! Apparently this is mad exclusive...I wonder how quick I am on this shizzle!? Check Buck riding a futeristic bike on some Tron steez in this nice video featuring a back pack rap chick blasting into space with a jet pack...what more could you want!?


By the way don't forget to check the latest Friday Night Conspiracy Radio Show, dopeness ever and featuring an interview with Big Boi...go check the links to your right!

Diversity of Hip hop and RIP Derek B

First up RIP to Derek B, a pioneer in the UK rap scene who has sadly passed at the age of 44, a definite loss to the game Derek made history repping UK as the third rapper to grace stage of Top of the Pops! I've got a copy of his classic 'Bad Young Brother' in the crates and hopefully will spin it if I manage to get the next VS podcast on the go.

Recently I have been enjoying a variety of new ish recently, all of which shows the diversity of the hip hop artform. Videos below but first be sure to check the my man Vice's most recent Basement Sessions Podcast, featuring a great article on the Brick City Boutique (wicked hip hop market/night) and also a little interview with yours truely. http://basementsessions.podomatic.com Go check it, some great tunes also! Anyways....

Genesis Elijah has long been bubbling around the scene, I've been loving his bars for time... his rugged and gritty flow belies a sense of justice and struggle for equality that underpins the body of his work. Enjoy this new video

Next up, King Grubb has stepped it up a notch with the first big budget video from the Blah Records camp...check King Grubb - Ritalin Adventures, produced by Lee Scott
Taken from C.O.T.D - Brick Pelican (The Greatest Mystery of All)
Bootleg style... Shot on location in Oswaldtwistle...

Last but by no means least is the big homie Scholarman's new video, another ill slice of boombap...the video is a of nice parody/story intriguing type, apparently the first one of a 2 part set so stay tuned folks!

Krate Krusaders - Free Download

If top notch production, gritty heart felt lyrics and mad concepts is your thing get your media players tuned into the Krate Krusadas 'Volume 1' selection, a great showcase of their considerable talents proving a sound board for some of the cream of UK talent.

Nowadays feat Ahmas reflects on the dismal situations of many of the UKs youth, viewing situations as he's "been there 24/7 like kids in care." A beautiful beat with slick piano and subtle background vocals complement the emcee for a very enjoyable tune despite the raw, bleak verses.

Pscience ft Clarity, Farma G and Cappo features a great academic intro that puts us in the mindframe for the oncoming verbal assault. All 3 emcees smash the track but when Cappo says his flow is developed in a hyperbolic time chamber in a pitch black cell, you can't help but believe him. On 'Life's a grind' Fenetik informs us he stays high like a giraffs sternum, and the hip hop loving metaphores keep coming over a nice floppy piano loop interspersed with some wicked cuts.

Concept tunes don't always float my boat but Saga Sphinks's dive into insanity is well worth analysis...taking pictures of tourists, I'm a figment of my own imagination, my mind's got a mind of it's own...give you a taste of the nicely documented of the mania over a simple piano driven track reminiscent of classic Marly Marl.

The whole set is packed with gems that need to be chewed on and digested, so I won't go on, form your own opinions although gotta particularly big up the monumentally ironic greatness of 'Respect your Elders'with Remus and of course The Krusaders themselves truly show their mettle with a wicked wicked MPC set. Check it and enjoy.

Also check www.tkkhiphop.blogspot.com for the Krate Krusader's blog, including info on Akil the emcees world tour dates that they are managing...big tings I can testify to the show in Ipswich was heeaaavvyy!

Whole Heap Of Madness

First up - Raekwon oh gosh welcome back sir! Just picked up the Cuban Links 2 jid-oint whilst on an ill-advised drunken market trip and yeah it was worth it, Wu Banger in full effect, go check it!
London Town has been buzzing with hip hop lately, check the pics for some of the latest happenings, including a wicked hip hop kareoke night with an incredible impression of Tim Dog doing Fcuk Compton...also Chima's album preview party was heavy as hell, where I ran into the ever hardworking Mystro and also Skandal who played me some unreleased bars on an Ipod; the kid is coming hard! Props to all the crew partying hard for Juice Aleem's party!

Not only London moving, also good ol' I.P. Town been reppin with the man Truth and the Rapsploitation crew holding strong with a sell out heavy Akil (of J5) show. Hip Hop feels to be in a good place at the moment, I got a review of Krate Krusaders dope album coming soon. Not many dope videos in the inbox lately so holla if you know of some dopeness!

Hip Hop Kemp 2009!

Hip Hop Kemp! Hip Hop Kemp! Was the battle cry to be heard until 4,5,6 in the morning accross an ex military base in the remote centre of the Czech Republic. Hundreds of different languages, nationalities, styles and skills were repped to the fullest in this insane global hip hop gathering. I love hip hop but I think I met people out there who properly LOVED hip hop. It was dope as hell and I gotta big up my wingman Conweezy for rocking through it with me (plus the lovely London girls we were camping with...holla!)

So many good artists I cant really begin to do a review of it all;p just some honourable mentions to those who tore the place down rediculously; Reks (We crowd surfed the dude), Reef the Lost Cause, Termanology, Devin the Dude (insane) Camp Lo (beyond immense)and J-Live who stepped the plate up with an ill set of live spitting plus DJ'in similtaneously. The whole event was cool, the local town has some marvelous arcitecture...there is even a lake into which Jimmy the most hip hop Scot ran in fully clothed and ruined his digital camera (It was 1o in the morning and we had been up drinking since 7 after 2 hours kip!) Anyway enjoy the photos, holla if you're in any anf big up to Fallacy who also ripped the place up and kindly posed for photos with us! (Respect to Black Twang also, I'm pissed off cos he was the only artist I missed like a dumbass)

Michael Franti - Don't Give Up On Me

As the front man for The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy I always had a lot of time for Michael Franti as an uber concious lyricist, but his more melodic efforts I think suit him well. This was a nice accompanyment to the trailer to the new Micheal Moore film "Capitalism : A Love Story" that you can check here. A super blog post is coming soon on Hip Hop Kemp so make sure you check that! Sorry bout a lack of posts lately; have been overwhelmed by Summer in London and getting a job as a Bibliotherapist! Go google it! :)

Poaching as Usual

I'm sure Certified Banger are going to start yelling 'Get Off Moi Laaaand' if I keep robbing all the stuff posted there, but stuff it I'm a raven and CB keeps throwing up gems. As such check these two videos showcasing the ends of the hip hop spectrum represented in the UK...not as different as they might first appear, I reckon they demonstrate how our scene is embracing all the elements of reality, fun, lyricism and self motivation that hip hop was based in. Enjoy.

I wish this happened on my tube journeys!

Props to Oh Word! for reminding me of this slice of fun!

Dr Dre Detox Ludacris OG's Theme

Although this blog is generally on a real liberal/positive hip hop steez I can never really get away from the fact that I got into this ish through the gangsta shizzle of Snoop, Eazy E and the whole NWA movement...I mean who really didn't? So in light of that fact I get hyped over any info about Detox (which after reading a Dre bio in 2006 that was still speculating over release dates I had consigned to the dream bin) so hearing this Ludacris tune apparently chalked to be for Dre I was excited. Even though its leaked (dont blame me, this shit is public domain!) I reckon Dre would still sound dope as hell even though Luda kills it. The fact Dre didn't write it is a moot point; everyone knows Ice Cube wrote all the dope verses for NWA so why continue the debate? Either do your history or just enjoy suckahs!

New Dopeness! Chima and Certified Banger

Mad props to Aidan from the ever ready heavy Certified Banger blog coming back with yet another rediculous free compilation of quality tunes from the UK shores. Under the Rader Volume 4 is available for free download as usual, and this one is in my opinion the freshest and most consistant yet. Having only listened through a couple of times, the whole project struck me with the high quality high temp beats that proved a wicked accompanment to a high octane workout. The lyricism was well above UK par and really showcased how UK emcees are embracing their own identities and putting in verses of a calbre worthy of international recognition. The fact that most of them are still 'Under the Rader' is fairly rediculous but proves how needed this sort of compilation is. There are enough quality bars in this release to literally bury the mainstram 'hip hop/grime/pop/autotune' garbage currently being bandied about by mainstream outlets. Go cop it now, its free so no excuses, and then go support the artists involved.

In other news every mothers favourite rapping Doctor Mr Chima Anya is back on the scene with an exceptionally well produced and flavoursome tune alongside big sax dog Soweto Kinch. Get with the movement folks!

New Scholarman

Much love to the big homie Scholarman hooking up once again with the ill K-Mynez for a dope celebration of hip hop music on the streets of Maryland. Loving the old folks getting down with the love vibe haha.

Black Superman Music

Props to Str8 Business for dropping this tune on me; its a dope diatribe on the industry clowns insisting on getting paid before putting music on their shows/blogs/magazines or whatever. The fact that this dude is nice definitely makes the point clear. Enjoy, and go check more from Str8 Business (don't be put off by the rediculous cash flashing haha!)


Got to shout out my man Pev from Comabeat for the hook up on the streaming MP3s...expect lots more to come!

Rapscallions Society

Props to Kala Phool for the heads up on this event, looks quality!
Think the most creative modern day social club with an old school friendly vibe!

The Rapscallions Society Monthly Hip-Hop music and market event. A day for designers, Graffiti artists and illustrators to network amongst themselves and present and sell their work to the public.

Starting at 1pm at Cargo in Shoreditch (East London). Market stalls will operate both within the venue and in the beautiful outside yard. The vendors will be creative with their own set up; what reflects them and their brand, vendors will include T- shirt designers, custom graffiti sneaker artist, a barber, nail technician and a rep stall for any DJs, MCs / Artists who would like to come down and sell / promote CDs / Mixtapes.

Patrons will be able to shop around, eat from the bbq and drink from the bar while listening to DJs on rotation and our resident live band. There will be live art shows from graffiti artists and illustrators and every month an artist will produce a canvas to be a part of an exhibition at the end of the year, with the work being donated to children’s hospitals and hospices or auctioned to raise money for a children’s charity of the artist’s choice.

At 7pm the live show commences and finishes at 12am. The Rapscallions Society will also host album / mixtape launch parties and will give the opportunity for up and coming artists to perform on the same stage and billing as UK Hip-Hop legends and each month will include a showcase from an artist between the age of 14- 21.

For more info email rapscallionsociety@gmail.com. Web: http://www.myspace.com/rapscallionsociety.

Field View Festival 2009

This looks to be the perfect vibe event of the summer, if you can make the journey I'm sure this is going to be worth the rediculous £12.50 ticket price! Having worked with the irrepressible Oz many times before and have witnessed the awsome presence of Old School Tie and Lord High Owl, the eclectic line up will definitely bring something special to the summer. Check the Field View Website for more details, but just to let you know their will be a cheeky cameo from yours truly Solocypher alongside the wickedness of the Dial-A-Rave crew.

New Rakim - Holy Are You

The R, God emcee, one of the most influential emcees to ever bless the mic returns to us with this powerhouse of a track taken from his long awaited forth coming album. Rakim comes uber spiritual and metaphysical on this, just sit back, close your eyes and let Ra take you on a powerfull journey. Great to hear this sort of stuff still being made as I just returned to the UK and have been thoroughly pissed off by the state of lyricism round here, fair enough there's a lot of kids having fun making some reasonably positive party tunes but damn, no body can even come close to rhyming like this.

Queens English - Full Limit

Check this fresh tune "Full Limit" from extremely affable bunch of hip hop heads produced by Embee from Looptroop available for your ears completely free here. These guys are a tight crew doing their own very British, very polite thing, (a penchant for dressage!?) and deliver tunes that might get your gran busting out a Kangol. They are up for a Peoples Choice award, its worth checking out their page here and give em a vote if youre so inclined. Its good to see that these guys were part of the following event put on by Cowboy Tactics, a grassroots night promoting peace and debating social issues, check I.Ps own Pikey Esquire on the beatbox.

Cowboy Tactics: 101 - Night 1! from COWBOY TACTICS: 101 on Vimeo.

D Stroy and Q Unique with Rocksteady Good

Good to hear these fellas again, the first ever live hip hop show I saw was the Arsonists at Traders Nightclub in Ipswich around 2000, amazing show and huge talent. Track down the As the World Burns album to appreciate this classic crew.

New Phi Life Cipher plus Quality bizarre battle

Lutons legendary status crew PLC smash it with high haters...

And a bizarre comedy battle shows how love can somehow conquer all!

Gangsta Rap Made me do it

Hanging out in Mexico is definitely an experience to be enjoyed, and along the way along with learning about indigenous cultures, customs and architecture, have also picked up some more contemporary interesting works. Among these have been excellent recent Ice Cube album that manages to channel the venomous anger of a younger O´Shay Jackson into a darkly intelligent questioning of commonly accepted rules of gangsta hood life. Ice Cube holds weight in hip hop history second to none through the development of so called Gangsta Rap embodied in seminal group NWA, home also to a young Dr. Dre. The political element of O´Shays lyrics were often overlooked amid media hyperbole and interest from FBI elements.

This album lands a heavy slap in the face to those accusing Gangsta Rap of various crimes, retorting with
"I do Gangsta Rap
They want to blame the world problems on Gangsta Rap
It's our fault;
Coz motherfuckers are dieing in Iraq
It's our fault;
Coz motherfuckers is starving in Africa
It's Gangsta Raps fault;
That people are poor
Can't get enough to fucking eat or live their life
(That's bullshit)
That's rap musics fault.
It's rap musics fault;
we got all these god damn laws, and restrictions and shit we can't do
(That's bullshit)
They blame it all on us
I'm blamin' them motherfuckers for Gangsta Rap
Because if they didn't create these kind of conditions
I wouldn't have shit to rap about
You know what I mean!

Nuff said, go check for yourself!

What the hell is a Brick Pelican?

Having a hideous Mezca hangover in a strange Mexican hostel seems the appropriate time to get around to reviewing this little gem. Its been playing randomly on my MP3 for a while now, but this album is well worth a good sit down and listen as its bloody good. Those familiar with COTD fam (Macarbe Brothers are Lee Scott and Monster Under the Bed) will already be prepared, but if not you need to make sure you leave any sense of morality at the door as concepts, language and imagry are course to say the least. Having said that the skill evidenced on the mic and the board seem to fully justify everything.

A wickedly bizarre Muppets sampling intro just about gets you ready for the roulette wheel of fortune, a gamblers tale of woe laced with a great Biggie sample intertwined with our heroes blaggin betting tips from cretinous drunks. Critical Mass Hysteria moves into more authentic dope hip hop masterly treading the line between boom bap space cadet rap and genuine homegrown UK slice of niceness from the dirty drug addled brain side of life. Moron Tick had me grinning at the lesson in proper pronounciation and the hook with "f##k superman and batmans a b!tch" is quality. This is the Run DMC adidas endorsement equivelent. On crack. Phoneys Step Off brings more braggadocious goodness, dark and angry but still good stuff.

Bizzy Bodies bemoans cops wanting to shift me for a half spliff, laced up shoe size bigger than his IQ size...this track gives no benefit of doubt but then tricking plod into getting blazed with the lads and them filming it does make them seem a bit rediculous (in the world of the Brick Pelican anyways) Some Cold Shit comes heavy with claims to being raw come with boasts of drinking Capri Sun without a straw...now thats real! Loads of quality lines on a nicely downtempo but wickedly addictive beat, and the album has great production throughout. Great Grand is a nice concept track following the life of grizzly OAPs tying bandanas to respirators, pimping grannies, throwing bombs on bowling greens and loads more baddass gangsta ish. The finale Men who stare at Goats has a wicked piano laced track you can nod to all day, abuse the booze and refuse to use intelligence sets it off and somehow feels like a confessional even through standard brutality of lathargic, when I make your barnet part from your neck...everyones offended but dont give a f##k. Now this is the sort of stuff that needs a rewind. Go get the damn thing here. Anyone who knows what a Brick Pelican is please let me know!