Ghetto joined 1Xtra's Mistajam in Maida Vale studios a few days ago to lay down a slightly different performance for the cameras and radio listeners. Joined by a guitarist and a vocalist, Ghetto performed acoustic versions of 'I'm Ghetts' and 'Sing For Me'. Needless to say he killed it. It reminds me slightly of Ghetts last year playing with the BBC orchestra, and it's great to see the compatibility of other genres when mixed with Grime. I got a laugh out of Ghetto schooling Mistajam when it came to knowing the sales of his albums.
Ghetto Acoustic Performance At Maida Vale Studios
Mistajam talks about having camera footage still to come, so I should have some videos of the session very soon! Hold tight!
Ghetto Video Footage Coming Soon
Fatboy Slim & Dizzee Rascal
Haha, A lotta respect to Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) Everyone know's he is the Original Gangsta Tripper! He should be running the Westwood show for real!
This is shaping up to be one of Ireland's best hip hop gigs this year. Atmosphere (Slug & Ant), Brother Ali and Kidz In The Hall all sharing the same stage on the 20th June at Crawdaddy. Ireland's very own DJ Flip will be behind the Wheels of Steel earlier in the evening to get every in the mood for some quality hip hop. For the 20 euro door tax, audiences will certainly be getting a good deal. Doors open at 11.30pm, I advise everyone to try and make this!
Eleven years after becoming the first hip-hop act to put the Twin Cities on the map, Atmosphere has grown into one of the most accomplished MC/producer duos around. Since releasing their 1997 debut, Overcast!, Ant’s ASR-born melodic beats and Slug’s open book and observational style of rapping continues to evolve into hip-hop that’s more honest and textured. And the praise for these Rhymesayers pioneers hasn’t stopped flowing in.
As Rolling Stone once gushed about Slug, “This Minneapolis indie rap hero has potential to spare, delivering taut, complex rhyme narratives with everyman earnestness.” Or as the Village Voice once wrote of Ant, “His dusty grooves are hooky and R&B-informed, and even when they back up Slug's most maniacally depressed rhymes, they never feel heavy-handed.”
Brother Ali has no reservations in saying that he’s “trying to be one of the greatest of all time”. Inspired by golden era legends like KRS-One and Rakim, this undisputed Master of Ceremony began rapping as a means of survival. Growing up albino (colorless hair, skin and eyes, poor vision, and extreme sensitivity to the sun) in a world of cruel kids made it strikingly obvious to Ali that he needed a high-powered way to earn some respect and prestige among his peers.
Though he initially produced his own material, Brother Ali turned to Ant to produce his first two major releases on Rhymesayers. The albums immediately proved popular with fans who had largely been introduced to Ali when he opened for Atmosphere on their national tour for the God Loves Ugly album. Ant's funk and soul inflected beats often matched the gravitas of Ali's rhymes, and now they are finally on stage together in the UK!
Kidz in the hall, the sons of the Golden Era of Hip Hop now take the reigns at the forefront of the next great Hip Hop dynasty. Call ’em elitests, call ’em smart asses or arrogant, but they are definitely one thing for certain, DOPE.
And with more support acts tbc, it’s going to be the hip-hop show of the summer.
Last night on Logan Sama's grime show he had special guests Kano and Random Impulse in the studio. A weezy sounding Kano who had been struck with a bad case of hayfever was in the building for a chat and they played three exclusive tracks from his new album '140 Grime Street'. This is the controversial next album from Kano which he proclaims is his return to grime after his time at 679 Recordings and London Town not doing as well as he had hoped. The much anticipated album features guest appearances from the likes of Wiley, Ghetto and Skepta. The tired sounding Kano managed to spit a few bars in the studio for roughly 5 minutes before dashing on. It's obvious he is trying to go back to his old style and I'm sure it will please long time fans of the emcee. His skills still sound a bit rusty and I think he was slightly nervous at jumping on the grime beats straight away, 'Accapella, No Beat!', but he still held is own and I'm sure he'll be back to his best soon. I've managed to rip the three exclusive tracks, so you can listen to them here.
Kano - Hustler
I'm still not sure about 'Hustler', the chorus doesn't sound far off his London Town sound which he said he was moving away from. Not the greatest of beats and his flow is slightly better than usual, but the chorus lets the song down for me.
Kano featuring Wiley - Anywhere We Go
It's great to hear Kano back to spitting over Wiley beats! Anywhere We Go isn't the strongest of instrumentals, but still sounds refreshing with Kano over it. I was very pleased to hear Wiley's verse at the end as I was worrying whether he'd just feature on the chorus, but nope the eskiboy jumps on and delivers a solid performance. I wouldn't call this tune amazing, but it's a better direction than 'Hustler' in my opinion. It's a lot more grime orientated and shows Kano is not stuck in the 'bait hip hop' 'MC No.1' wastelands any more.
Kano - I Like It
Hmm I would say Kano has went strength to strength on each track. This would certainly be my favourite of the three. The DaVinChe produced beat is crazy, Kano murks his verses and it sounds very nice. The chipmunk sounding chorus is slightly annoying but I can see it growing on me with more listenings. This is more like the sound I wanted to hear from Kano and hopefully the rest of 140 Grime Street follows on from this track.
With many fans doubting Kano's ability after his recent mixtape 'MC No.1' failed to impress, the question of straight copping 140 Grime Street was an issue. Personally he has just about convinced me it'll be worth the purchase and I'll be in my local HMV/Zavvi this September when it drops.
Great but terrible news for music fans! I know my blog follows a staple diet of Irish Hip Hop and Grime but this needs to be included.
I bought a Prince ticket earlier in the year for his 16th June Croke Park performance. The 125.50 euro tickets were the only ones left so I quickly snapped it up after hearing it was going to be his last time in Ireland and he would be performing his greatest hits! I managed to do this fluid movement of Ticketmaster button clicking without realising I have no-one to go with down to Dublin, any place to stay or the money to back it up. So in a panic I hit everyone's favourite auction site, Ebay, to see if I could shift my ticket (and possibly make a tiny profit to go towards a new iPod, oh baby!) To my horror I was seeing two 125.50 euro tickets going for ten euros... Yes I panicked a little bit and thought to myself, oh well I'll just make the sacrifice and go and see him, I still really enjoy his music and it's only the money that's holding me back. My new iPod and phone can wait. (Believe me, no phone or iPod is complete torture, I've been without them for two months)
But then today, SIX DAYS before he is due to play in Croke Park, it gets announced Prince has cancelled due to matters 'beyond his control'. Now I'm pretty ecstatic at this announcement as I'm getting a nice refund and my bank account will feel a bit more free again but my sympathy goes out to all the die hard Prince fanatics he has upset. I skimmed over a few message boards on the internet and there are quite a few American's with flights, hotels etc booked to come over and see him. Six days before the actual performance is a bit nasty. It's a shame Prince has actually cancelled, his mind seems to be in a different world these days, what with fighting Youtube and seemingly the whole internet to remove all his music and now cancelling this massive outdoor show.
I can only help but feel if I wasn't personally benefiting from him cancelling a concert that I had paid a large sum of money (which I don't really have) to go and see by myself that I would be quite furious. I can only wait and wonder what Prince's next big move will be.... The only thing I can promise is, that it'll certainly be controversial.
No spandex or small insects are involved in Tinchy's latest project. If you have him added on Myspace it will be impossible to avoid the new video for his next single Stryderman.
Tinchy Stryder - Stryderman
The new video for Tinchy's next single has just hit the net. It's quite straight forward, Tinchy with a very nice looking woman, a bit of dancing in front of plain backgrounds, the video is nothing special and I'm not really feeling the song but check it out. Look out for the cameo at the end from everyone's favourite hip hop loving granddad
Oooh the excitement is getting me too hyper, I'm going to need to go out and get some fresh air after this. 29 days now until JME's Famous? hits stores. His debut album Famous? is sure to be a big look for the grime scene. No guest appearances, no gimmicks, this is going to be pure JME! I still think it is a shame that he has fixed up his album cover photo. See Boy Better Woah! for the originally released pic. The tracklist has been released and there are a few classic JME tracks on there along with brand new material. I love buying albums in the summer and having all the time to lie about and listen to them, ohh the excitement!
JME - Famous? Tracklising:
1 - Awoh 2 - 123 3 - Standard 4 - Show 5 - P 6 - Go on my Own 7 - Punch in the face 8 - Road Runner 9 - Ghetto Superstar 10- Famous 11- Power 12- Boogiedown Bass 13- Sun, Sea & Sand 14- Shh Hut Yuh Muh 15- Serious
Random Impulse's highly anticipated second release has hit stores. Featuring hits such as Masks and Suicide, this is surely one of the biggest underground grime releases this year. The artwork is looking slick too! Click the picture to buy the album from Grimestore
Butterz who holds down a very good grime blog has kindly uploaded a second volume for any grime/dubstep/funky/bassline heads.
To download it click the picture:
You can find the tracklisting and more at his page: Butterz Blog
Here's the video for Dizzee's collaboration with Calvin Harris. The less I say about this the better I think. Yes it's a a summer club tune, but being the bare rip off and jumping on Wiley's bandwagon isn't really that cool, and is it just me or does the video look really cheap? Here it is anyway
Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris - Dance Wiv Me
Hmm a better video of Dizzee recently posted up on Youtube shows Dizzee and a guy in his old estate getting a bit thuggish with each other... Also the guys at the end of the video are an absolute disgrace. It needed to be said!
Session 40 of The Irish Underground is up already. Main man Urbanize taking the reins for a second time and he is doing a very good job of holding down the full 40 minutes of audio. He drops interesting anecdotes between tracks and keeps the tracklist looking very healthy. The only complaint from listeners being that he sounds like a paedophile... But we can overlook that right? Haha, yeah but big up to Urbanize for doing this, I don't think many people would like to record an Irish Hip Hop podcast in a small room amongst the busy London halls of residence! Download the podcast here:
The alternative sounding, Roberto Baggio loving, hip hopster Mo-T has a new interview up on Connected Online. He talks about his new album, his influences and how Carnage (Disfunktional) wets the bed. Mo-T will also be playing at the LIFE Festival in Galway on the 4th July for anyone interested.
Rob Steenson's latest mixtape release has now hit stores. 'Sense Makes Cents' is 19 hard hitting tracks for 10 euros. Considering he has given out two free mixtape releases before now, I urge everybody to go out and buy this! He is one of Dublin's biggest rising stars and makes some quality music. Check his page: Rob Steenson's Bebo Band Page to preview a couple of the tracks off his new mixtape and there are older songs up on there too. You can purchase the mixtape at:
Freebird Records,
Temple Bar (Behind Central Bank) Dublin 2 All City
Crow Street Temple Bar Dublin 2
Abbey Discs Liffey Street Dublin 1
For people outside of Dublin, I should have a paypal link for you soon!
Tracklisting: 1.Story Of Me 2.Waiting… 3.Youve Been Gone 4.The Black War 5.Sense Makes Cents 6.B.E.A.T. 7. Earth A Run Red 8.I Get High ft. Carter 9. Hurt ft. Redzer 10.Toy Soldiers ft. Butcher Boy & Nugget 11.Between The Lines 12.Music & Lyrics… 13.Wakin Up Metropolis ft. Terawrizt 14.Something You Forgot 15.Hot Sex 16.The Genesis (My Fathers Eyes) 17.Victomised ft. Butcher Boy** 18.Summer In Winter** 19.Goodbye
You can download Rob's past mixtapes here for free:
New Nas! We can now hear the 1st single off Nas's new album, it's called Hero and features production from Polow Da Don and guest vocals from Keri Hilson. It's being heavily debated throughout many internet forums and messageboards. Some loving it and others hating it. Personally I think the beat is banging, it sounds like some mad movie score. And it should have a video to accompany it then if it is his first single. I can't wait to see what they do with it. Nas attacks the beat with great vigour and sounds full of life and energy. Keri Hilson's vocals in the background give the track a much more emphatic feel. The lyrics are on point, I originally thought we were going to have some cheap Bonnie Tyler remake song but Nas has proved he still has it in him to create big tracks. With all the controversy surrounding his next release, many think he's trying to stir up attention without musically backing it up, but if Nas can follow the standard set on this track, I think it'll be one of the best hip hop releases of the year. You can listen to Hero here:
While looking through XXLMag's Bangers audio section I also came across a new track from Styles P and Wyclef Jean called 'Understand Me'. I thought it deserved some attention, as Styles has consistently put out great songs for years without much attention. Beat is huge, Styles and Wyclef trade verses with ease and ride the beat perfectly. Catch it here
In other news, Rodney Smith aka Roots Manuva will be reappearing this summer to drop his 4th studio album, Slime And Reason, which is getting released on the 25th August. The first two singles have been announced already, Buff Nuff which is in stores on the 30th June and Again & Again which will hit shops on the 11th August. The video for Buff Nuff has recently landed on Youtube. We see a colourful Mr Manuva partaking in what looks to be an ice cream orgy with some rather freakish females who appear not to be 100% right in the head, maybe they are a 99(flake... ouch) percent? Anyway get your good vibes and positive energy going to this infectious bouncy tune which is sure to have people dancing all summer, Zane Lowe declared it 'Hottest Record In The World', so I guess that means it must be good, doesn't it???
Roots Manuva - Buff Nuff
Damn this needs to be watched! I found this video while surfing the waves of the world wide web and it had me laughing like a maniac all by myself. It's crazy to imagine there are mini Biggie's running about Iraq, busting moves and heads openly on the war torn streets! This guy is straight gangsta!
Blueprint has put his latest musical project up for a free download, he's taken a whole heap of Funkadelic sampled beats and turned it into an E.P.
Click The Album Cover To Download
Blueprint - Blueprint Vs Funkadelic
Tracklisting: 1. Intro 2. Check Mate 3. La La La 4. Off The Top 5. The Day To Day 6. Don't Make Me Laugh 7. Too Funkadelic 8. What Is?
If you need a crash course on some of the stuff Blueprint has put out download this free mix he put together called "The Best of Blueprint". It's basically a collection of a lot of the singles that he has put out over the past several years. The only catch according to Blueprint is "Just make sure you know the words to this shit when i show up in your city! ha!"
Tracklisting: 1. Inhale 2. Lo-Fi Funk 3. Night To Remember 4. Hand Me Downs 5. Mic Control 6. Boombox 7. No Half Smokin 8. Blame It On The Jager 9. Big Girls Need Love Too 10. Fuckajob 11. Hold Mine Featuring The Orphanage 12. Right Place, Wrong Time
Well school's out for summer but if you don't think you'll be able to cope over the summer All City are running a graffiti skills school taught by Jor and Kube. It consists of 4 two hour classes for 50 euros spread over 2 weeks - Including spray paint techniques, blackbook style development and any questions you have! These will be on all throughout summer - There are beginners, intermediate and advanced classes.
Anyone interested should ring 01-6772994 or email All City @ info@all-cityrecords.com
Ghetto joined 1Xtra's Mistajam in Maida Vale studios a few days ago to lay down a slightly different performance for the cameras and radio listeners. Joined by a guitarist and a vocalist, Ghetto performed acoustic versions of 'I'm Ghetts' and 'Sing For Me'. Needless to say he killed it. It reminds me slightly of Ghetts last year playing with the BBC orchestra, and it's great to see the compatibility of other genres when mixed with Grime. I got a laugh out of Ghetto schooling Mistajam when it came to knowing the sales of his albums.
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