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!

Solocypher - Wheres My Cash.mp3

Just a quick self promo; check the topical tune and think about it before casting your votes come election day...screws everyone a little bit really but I wanted to put it out there! Let me know what you reckon...safe!

Solocypher - Wheres My Cash.mp3

http://www.mediafire.com/?junonnwgonw

Just in time for the election, Solo poses a few difficult questions for himself, and more importantly for the men attempting to run our country...produced by T.Twigg

See what you reckon, pass it on to those you think might dig it!! :)

Scholarman Indomitable Will Mixtape featuring Solocypher & Chima Anya!

Make sure you get your mits on the blazing new free mixtape from Scholarman...plus show support for your favourite blogger haha!!

Greetings! Just a quick note to inform you that the new ScholarMan mixtape Indomitable Will is now available for free download. Mixed by the ill DJ Nominal, this mixtape features the lyrical talents of K-Mynez, TrueBless, Kats, SoloCypher, Lolo Life', Chima Anya and BEveready. It also features guest producers Lagbara, Jonesy, X3M, Labmatik, Ardel Limbo, Overlor and Reign. Download it today! Download

Please spread the word to your friends, family, readers, followers, or anyone who you feel may enjoy this project!! Thank you for the continued support!

v/r

Soganic Music
www.soganicmusic.com

R.I.P. Guru

Just want to take a moment of reflection on the sad passing of one of the great pioneers of intelligent and reflective hip hop; Guru from Gangstarr. His career alongside DJ Premier produced some of the finest moments in the cerebral and musical development of hip hop in the early to mid nighties.

My remembrance of him through his work was the great LP 'Moment of Truth' LP containing an incredible amount of advice, insight and empathy through his vocals. Guru's journey from Boston to New York to produce some of the great cornerstone works of hip hop.

His contribution to Hip Hop should never be forgotton, long may his legacy influence the genre and the world.


"Ive just been thinking about the situation for the todays youth you know the seeds man
Whats your opinion on the that?

No matter your religion is islam, christianity judiasm boodah ism old school izm or new school izm If we're not schooling the youth, children with the wisdom then the sins of the father will visit the children and thats not keeping it real, thats keeping it wrong...." - Guru, from 'Moment of Truth' LP

Chima Anya 'Death' and 'Nu-Wu 'Massacre!' Macarbe March!!

After smashing the set supporting the incredible Brother Ali at Cargo last week, Chima's hustle is reaching hectic levels in anticipation of the 'New Day' Album release on April 9th at Barfly, Camden. Check the trailer for the video of the heavy heavy heavy track 'Death'and if you can pass it around, the full video will be released when 1,000 views on Youtube are clocked!

Can't leave a post with just a trailer so tuck into this slice of niceness from the forthcoming 'Wu Massacre' Project with Meth, Rae and Ghost...collector edition artworks to boot, out 30th March...


And Finally...for all you hip hop goers or old school Brum heads who remember Fat Gold Chain...there may soon be a resurgence of the heaviest live organic hip hop nights in London...Join the Facebook Group to get involved! Peace

Kasha - Black Rhyme Debut Video

Been hearing tracks by this cat round and about for a while; loving the smooth type flows and concious lyricism....get this ish on radio 1!! He's doing a show at Notting Hill Arts Club tommorow for all you London heads, check more info on Kasha here

Reppin in London to the fullest on Sunday!!

Brother Ali and Chima Album Launch

Yes Yes Yall Make sure you get ya bad selves down to both these shows; will be incredible!

Crucifix Cornerstone EP Review

Reviewing this excellent EP was a bit of an experience; Krate Krusaders exquisite production accompanied by some of the most complex, uplifting and enjoyable lyrics from the uncomparrable Crucifix has been on constant rotation. Its hard to do it justice in full so here are some random observations about various tracks. You seriously need to get hold of this and get to grip with it on your own terms, I loved it, but be warned you will almost certainly need a dictionary to help you along the journey!

The cornerstone..."Excuse me we haven't been formally introduced"...the rejoining statements then create a safe haven for Crucifix to introduce himself, batting aside opponents with ease just as a brief nod to the hardcore battle heads; his main agena in this track is to establish his modus operandi-a highly cerebral encompasment of a vast source of ideas, language strategy and iconology...to what precise end these resources are to be put to use is not quite cleare at this point: it's damn intriguing though.

In Dreams of an orphan the I was completely sucked in and lines such as "I should have been an abortion, I'm the dreams of an orphan watching his family dying in the midst of a war that finish with "Remember tiannomen square?" is a certified rewindable, deep stuff.

Open wound boasts some great pianos draw you inextricably into this track before a guitar lick switches it around; great to hear such a switched up beat...next level boombap!

Restoration is on a bit of a sick futurism on the drums with some hypnotic slow Adam f style ish banging into a nicely dark rolling track with an "if u see me walking down the street" sample with Crucifix smashing down on some celestial devastation type ish..."so what if its ostentatious?" Just what I was thinking. Dope.

The final track on the EP is Torment; I love this track and probably found it the most repeated.An ace piano loop that sounds oddly familiar provides the soundtrack for an indepth exploration of Crucifix's psche, exploring self down and regret with his trademark complex world play that despite the often morose content, a life affirming message is still snugly contained within the words. I reckon Crucifix and Krate Krusaders do a fantastic job of "Stretching an image of heaven pretending I live there" Soul music.



Note: Reviewing this post the original sales link has disappeared, but the album has appeared on BandCamp, albeit it with some changes to the track listing. 02.01.15

Chima world domination tactics!

Yes yes the homeboy Chima just dropped this brand new video to me, gotta love it with his trademark swagger and afropick, your mother's favourite rapper makes some crotch grabbing drunk Spaniards famous whilst forgetting what year it is...classic!

Dubbledge & Conspiracy

Props to HHC digital for heads up on the latest freebies...gotta love Dubbledge; a heavy spitter, live performer and thoroughly nice guy who didnt bat an eyelid when my then girlfriend ran up to him and started chatting to him like they were best mates (she thought I knew him previously and got a bit star struck!)anyway here’s a couple of fresh Dubbledge downloads: ‘Choices Choices’ (produced by Ghosttown) and ‘The Trilogy’ (produced by DJ IQ and hosted by Asaviour). Enjoy! and again!

In other general prop giving I've got to give a bit of a bigger mention to Montana and Menace and their incredible friday night live Conspiracy Radio show. These guys play stupidly dope hip hop and manage to get amazing artist interviews with some of the best in the game week in week out. Ive been a bit slack over the last year so I've been downloading some old shows and some of the guys they get on well worth listening to...(even when they arn't that great Montana's acerbic analysis is often entertaining enough)

What I really love about the show is the depth of research and questioning, giving artists not only a chance to promote thier music and explain their artisitc visions, but also to expand on their beliefs, political positions and opinions on current events. From listening to Lowkey and Immortal Technique discuss global politics, Bronze Nazareth and Apathy talking beats and life and Homeboy Sandman on veganism and spirituality the show is a window into a host of interesting lives coupled with some of the dopest hip hop you could expect to hear. Support of artists such as Cappo and Endemic is also great evidence of their efforts to back quality product. Go ituning the podcasts or check them out here.

End of the Weak first heats review

First off it was wicked to see such a lot of heads passing through Brixton Jamm for this event, nicely organised by End of the Weak. Stig did a great job hosting; I'm sure he's lost his calling though he'd be a hit on the stand up comedy circuit! Louis Den was in the house for a bangin beat battle; plus Bass6 repped alongside Kingpin for the post battle performance...

All good ish but the heart of the night was the End of the Weak heats. 4 heavyweight emcees stepped up and repped hard through a great format of rounds; prewritten, freestyling on random objects pulled from a bag, Emcee vs DJ freestyle and final a 2 person cypher where the emcees had to spit frees back to back without falling to the temptation of battling one another.

All was good entertainment but I felt the crowd were a little harsh on certain emcees in a vague undiscernable way. For me Birmingham's Justice smashed it in 3 rounds, with Genesis Elijah coming very close and topping the first round prewritten with a great diatribe against reality shows, Jordan etc by comparing their problems with what is going on in Palestine. Most unfortunate was Phoenix the Icefire who clearly had some devastaing lyrics. He was right up there in the fight to begin with but the DJ vs Emcee round completely through him...not suprising at all for me though as the beats he were given were absolute dogshit, barely sounding like music at all I have no idea how anyone could have spat over them at all.

Verb T also presented pretty well lyrically although he seemed pretty petulant at having to spit first in a few rounds. This was decided by the crowd and although to me it didn't really seem to make much different his sarcastic 'Thanks a fucking lot' comments didn't seem to help his cause, though he did seem to have a lot of support in the crowd. Anyways was a tight battle; for me Justice smashed it with concious, dope flows, a wicked persona and an ability to flow rediculous over most beats...I didnt find out who won it as I had to split fairly quick so answers on a postcard please!

UPDATE NEWS FLASH! Managed to get a quote from the good lady herself; in true flambouyant style she says she "Floated into Brixton like a butterfly and stung like a queen bee!! Justice was done !!" Go check the myspace here!

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!

Crucifix "Glorious" alongside Krate Krusaders

Crucifix has certainly been "granted serentity and its calming effects" through both his intricate, knowledgable and uplifting wordplay and great backing from a great piano led track from the Krate Krusaders. Enjoy some lyrical Hip Hop at its most inspiring. Taken from the new E.P The Cornerstone out 27th January.

Lowkey - Long Live Palestine Part 2

Watching Lowkey perform a poem with the chorus "Long Live Palestine, Long Live Gaza" to a multi ethnic crowd that included Jewish and Israeli protesters against the Israeli bombardment was a humbling experience...hearing that the music resulting from this has reached number one in the Amazon charts gave me a great feeling. Please excuse the following rip from Hip Hop press but it does a better job than I could!

Mesopotamia Music rapper Lowkey has stormed to Number 1 in the Amazon hip-hop download chart with the highly anticipated charity single "Long Live Palestine Part 2". The song features verses from international artists, including DAM, The Narcicyst, Eslam Jawad, Hich Kas, Reveal, Hasan Salaam and Shadia Mansour.

The underground rapper behind 2009's protest anthem "Long Live Palestine Part 1" has defied critics who called him "too political" by toppling well known artists Jay Z, 50 Cent and the Black Eyed Peas. The achievement is most profound as Lowkey did not have the promotion from a lucrative record label, nor the support of any major radio DJ's.

Lowkey, who is a patron of UK based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, says: "Through the universal language of hip-hop, this song aims to unite people from across the globe to express their solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for freedom, equality and self determination."

"The support for this single amongst the general public has been overwhelming and is testament to the fact that Gaza is not forgotten even though it no longer makes mainstream headline news."

Lowkey releases this tribute single alongside the 1 year anniversary of the Israeli massacre in Gaza, labelled 'Operation Cast Lead', which killed 1,400 Palestinians and maimed hundreds more. Profits from the sale of this single will be equally shared between Interpal and Islamic Relief, two leading charities undertaking much needed relief and development work in Gaza.

Anti-war veteran and former UK Cabinet Minister Rt. Hon. Tony Benn has been forthright in his support for the single. "The song speaks to people about the struggle of the Palestinians and their fight for freedom. By buying it you, your friends and your colleagues can show support for the Palestinian people in their hour of need. The single is supported by Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Viva Palestina. I hope we can count on yours too."

Listen back to the Lowkey interview here on Conspiracy Radio with Menace and Montana.

Go download "Long Live Palestine" from all your regular ituney style spots!

Cyclonious - What's a Postcode?

Real talk from Cyclonious on this heavy release from forthcoming debut album...the post code beef thing is having serious consequences not only in London but across Britain's cities and this track brings a timely call for unity, and looks towards a positive future...plus the track bangs, the bass is rediculous and Cyclonious spits with the confidence of a real serious talent. Check www.myspace.com/cyclonious for more info, plus support the movement and get a Whats a Postcode? Tee. Single out on itunes 27th Feb.

Punning Clan Aint Nuthin to Fudge With!

Whilst sharing a bevvy with homeboy & fresh producer Rishi at the Brick City Boutique a while back I was privilidged to be introduced an elequent young man known as Benny Diction...him and his accomplices The Punning Clan have been hard at work putting the final touches to a full release "Pun & Dusted" but have been fresh enough to leak out a few full tracks for the head to get a feeling for their flavour.

Checking the Punning Clan as a unit is a real hip hop treat with all emcees trading entertaingly fresh, quick witted rhymes over some bangin beats.....quotables like 'Its all relative like inbread families', egg on your face like John Prescott punching and buckets more are topped with masterclasses in extended rhyming which finishes in stunts such as the jacking of harrier jet to breat the sound barrier. I could do with breaking down each emcees styles a bit more, but for now that Wu like depth and intricacies is enough to keep me happily banging it on the old walkman.

Benny's solo efforts are similarly quotable packed "Get stuffed like Paxo" and some great beats are laced with some fresh scratches to keep the name Benny stuck in the dome. Not content with just punchlining through a set, World on a Plate gives a nice take on the consumerist zeitgeist...smell that petroleum pou pourri people.

Go see for yourself now and get a taste of Punning; Download Here! and cop the joint when its fully released..,loving the current UK take on Game Records themed covers ha!

Sonny Jim - The Purple Patch

Easy now the Eat Good fam have kicked off the year with a tasty treat, SonnyJim doing what he does best, "Taking it back to when MCs just used to rhyme, spazzin out with the bars, fuck a hook straight up smack u in the face hip hop how it used to be before our emcees started rhymin over that house music shit" hells yeah, ya boy Jim definitely delivers over this heavy Kelakovski beat, the first installment of a four part series. Nice

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD (right click and save)

Bash Bros present Inglorious Bastards Mixtape Mixed by DJ OST

Props to Bash Bros. for this wicked treat I just recieved in the inbox...have been rocking all morning and the flat has been filled with dope boom bap beats and raw lyricism all mixed freshly by OSK...check the press release below and a quick look at the roster should get your mouse trigger finger itchin. Get ya download on and Happy New Year!

To commemorate a half a decade in the game the Bay Area duo BASH BROS. (Lefty & Piseas) team up with Switzerland representative DJ Osk to drop the Inglourious Basterds Mixtape. This piece celebrates the collabs with fellow indie superstars such as: Planet Asia, Chali 2na, Reef the lost cauze, & Big Pooh(Little Brother) to name a few. Inglourious Basterds: the Features spans throughout their 5 year catalog which represents 14 independent releases.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Soganic The Sum Up Free EP ft Solocypher

I'm proud to have worked this year with the prolific and hugely talented Scholarman this year, producing a track with him via the magic of the internet with a real positive message in 'Change thru the Rhyme'...I first heard the finished tune after he'd emailed it to me, standing on a balcony looking over Delhi in India...Biggie's 'I never the knew that hip hop would take it this far' line would have made a suitable soundtrack to the moment.

The track has made it onto the Soganic label's (Soulfully Organic goodness yo!) round up of 2009 EP and features along side some great tracks by excellent artists...

Soganic Music proudly present to you The Sum Up '09.

We gathered some of our favorite tracks out of our catalog from this year and compiled them into a free EP download for those who might have missed out when they were originally released.

This EP features Soganic artists ScholarMan, K-Mynez & Lagbara and special guests Jonesy, Kahli Abdu, SoloCypher, X3m & LabMatik. We also through a couple bonus tracks as well. Get it free right now, right here.