Young Mad B shows emotion and depth in his latest track Come So Far.
February 25, 2013
Rugrat – Im Back [Music Video]
Rugrat drops some hard bars for his latest delivery I’m Back.
February 25, 2013
J Spades – Rap Game [Music Video]
J Spades gives us a taster of what to expect from his forthcoming More Money More Pagans 2 with new track Rap Game.
February 25, 2013
Bobii Lewis – Cut Me Some Slack [Music Video]
Cut Me Some Slack is the latest track from rising star Bobii Lewis emcompassing the emotion and sacrifice that aspiring artists experience during their turbulent journey in both music and life.
February 22, 2013
Hotwire – Feel It [Music Video]
Hotwire release their first official single. The multi-talented group self produced the track with it’s heavy bass along with their album. Feel It is a mixture of urban, pop, gritty and smooth. Check it out…
February 20, 2013
Kane – Dreams [Music Video]
Kane is only 17, but is already being compared to Trey Songz and Usher. Dreams is his first song to be heard off the r&b singer debut EP. Watch the video and listen as Kane takes you through his Dreams.
February 19, 2013
WRAP UP AND WATCH OUT: SHAKKA [Interview]
Starting off his career with celebrity fans such as Wretch 32, Maverick Sabre and Rita Ora is no surprise once you hear 23-year-old Shakka’s voice. His ability to fuse rock, reggae, hip-hop and r&b is so unique, he calls himself ‘Bob Marley’s and Coldplay’s birthchild’ – which is probably the best way to describe it. Following his online ‘Shakapella’ series and the release of his introductory single ‘Sooner Or Later’, 2013 is set to be a promising year for the London-bred singer and songwriter…
The Wrap Up: Your sound is quite different to anything I’ve heard – a blend of hip-hop, jazz, electronic and rock. How would you describe it and can you explain the reason behind the fusion of sounds?
Shakka: I’ve always been into hip-hop, r&b and reggae because my dad’s a reggae musician. I’d like to say I am Bob Marley and Coldplay’s birthchild – that’s where my current sound is. I definitely have the roots in r&b, hip hop and reggae, but reggae and alternative rock is the fun stuff I’m doing at the moment.
TWU: Your online presence is fantastic. Do you think you will continue the ‘Shakkapella’ series, as it has done really well, or start another conceptual series?
Shakka: I have ideas all the time, but I have one in particular that I want to do… it’s more production orientated, but it’s still in the works. I’m definitely going to continue doing Shakkapella’s because they’re fun and a lot of people like them. It’s something I don’t really have to think about that much; I just literally record and get down – and it’s a good way to speak to the fans.
TWU: You have many celebrity fans. What is the best advice you have got from anyone of them?
Shakka: I was in the studio with Etta Bond one time and she said there was a time where Labrinth felt like it was just a madness with regards to press and all that stuff. He came to the conclusion that it was just about making music, so he said to Etta, ‘just make music, just make good music. Don’t think about how much it will sell, don’t think about numbers, or the business, don’t think about the gossip or the details. Just make good music.’ It’s easy to forget that sometimes.
TWU: ‘Sooner Or Later’ is your introductory single. Can you tell us the message and inspiration behind it?
Shakka: We wanted to explore reggae and alternative rock. Coldplay was quite influential to me with their albums, especially their first album ‘Parachutes’. I was birthed in reggae, so we wanted to see what we could do and make a Rastafarian festival smash. The ideology behind it is pretty much trying to find out where you’re from and thinking about the contrary opinion to where you may be from…
TWU: How have you developed since your first EP ‘Foolishness Vol.1’?
Shakka: With ‘Foolishness’, I went into the studio and wrote, produced and recorded it without really thinking about whether it would sell or not or if people would connect with it. I was just full of ideas at the time and I thought just making them was the main concept. That’s why I called it ‘Foolishness’, because like a child, I pretty much just experimented with the innocence of the music. Since then I’ve gone back to finding out exactly where my parents are from and the culture that I belong to – those things have definitely affected it [his new music].
TWU: Your EP is out this year – can you tell us more about the concepts and tracks on there?
Shakka: ‘Sooner or Later’ will be on there and that’s co-produced by DeanyBoy. The rest is entirely written, produced and performed by myself. There’s a song with a dubstep/indie/reggae tone to it called ‘Strength Of An Ox’ – I’ve performed that a couple of times. There are a few songs dedicated to love, attraction to the opposite sex, and the problems that may occur. It’s a thick bodied piece of a bunch of ideas that have been floating around in my mind. It’s a good transition from the ‘Shakka Crown Affair’, but I do still experiment with hip-hop, r&b and grime.
February 19, 2013
MTV The Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]
Last Sunday saw the release of Mic Righteous’ ‘Open Mic’ EP and on Tuesday (12) he held a launch party in Camden with special guests. Support acts consisted of one of London’s finest female DJ’s – SB.TV’s Melody Kane, rapper MyNature, lyricist RoxXxan, grime’s Big Narstie and ‘the people’s prince’ Charlie Sloth…
Mic performed all of the tracks from his EP and the recent Radio 1 Live Lounge cover of ‘The Power Of Love’ with singer Lucia. Vocalist Ella Chi also joined him for my personal favourite track off the EP, ‘King Of Hearts’. Everyone was excited to see English Frank join Mic on stage along with wordsmith Akala. It really was a special night and it was great to see Mic captivate and wow every single member of the crowd.
A mini biography documentary on Giggs was released by Rap Up UK recently, talking us through his come up, achievements and why he is important to UK rap music. It features artists like Ard Adz, Sho Shallow, Pepstar, Propane, Manga, D Dark and Squingy, who all gave their positive and respected views on him, showing how significant Giggs is to the scene.
Wretch 32’s biography video came out last night via the same platform, looking at his career from his huge underground success and being part of The Movement along with Devlin, Ghetts, Scorcher to his most recent mainstream success.
His ‘Crown Me’ mixtape dropped in December 2012 and became a much talked about and listened to mixtape; so it was only right for Ratlin to drop the video to one of the bangers off their entitled ‘Roley’.
Sneakbo released another video from his forthcoming ‘Certified’ EP, getting people geared up for the release. ‘They Don’t Know Me’ has a catchy beat and hook and is definitely one I can expect to hear in clubs. Sneakbo’s bars and flow sounds effortless too.
Young Spray hit up Fire In Booth on BBC Radio 1 with Charlie Sloth, starting off by spitting hardcore bars over the instrumental ‘Clique’ then ‘Renegade’ and ‘Home Town’. His lyrics switched to different subjects but irrespective are fueled by his passion and emotions.
A lot of heat was surrounding Bayoz Muzik last week as his ‘Death Of A Beatmaker’ EP was released. It has seven strong tracks and features some of the UK’s best emcee’s including Giggs, JME, Blade Brown, Gunna Dee, J Spades, Youngs Teflon and more. The tape has helped propel him more into the limelight and spark new interest and fans.
This is my favourite track of the week… ‘Passion’ comes from South London’s DVS. The piano led instrumental is beautiful and fits the various topics of the track, with the lyrics showing DVS’s depth and thoughts.
February 19, 2013
Labrinth ft. Lunar C, Mr.Faiz, Maxsta, Yungen & Marger – No Prisoners [Music Video]
Labrinth decided to bring together some up and coming talent on one of his beats, here is the result complete with video with Lunar C, Mr.Faiz, Maxsta, Yungen and Marger. Enjoy!
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