October 6, 2012

Haze ft Sway & Hipman Junky – So Many Ways [Audio]

Show N Prove has produced this brand new banger for Haze featuring Sway and a hook courtesy of Hipman Junky.

October 6, 2012

Tzar – Gold Chains [Audio]

Tzar has leaked the first track from his forthcoming mixtape XO.VS, entirely produced by VersA Beatz. Pretty straightforward, the lighthearted track is all about those carats, smoking good and that groupie love most rappers dream of.  Let Tzar introduce you to what he defines Couture Rap.

October 6, 2012

A.star Ft. Life – Better [Music Video]

A.Star releases the visuals to Better. His mixtape A Star In The Making is due to be released tomorrow so watch out for that.

October 5, 2012

Squingy ft Exo & Lefty – Money On My Mind [Music Video]

USG members Squingy, Exo and Lefty release the theme tune to Fedz a movie coming out soon.

 

October 5, 2012

K Koke feat. Maverick Sabre – Turn Back [Audio]

Here is K Koke‘s first official single Turn Back featuring Maverick Sabre where he talks us through the struggles he faced. The sample is a famous one from a Sting track Shape Of My Heart, which Nas also used on The Message. This track should go on to be as big as both of them…

October 5, 2012

MTV The Wrap Up: K. KOKE – ‘PURE KOKE VOL. 3 – THE MISSING TAPE’ [Review]

K. Koke had fans wondering what he was going to unleash when he tweeted on Sunday that a ‘#KokeSurprise’ was in store. In fact, there was not only one but two surprises; the first being the video to a track called ‘Warning’, which led to his second surprise – ‘Pure Koke Vol. 3 – The Missing Tape’. The USG member also revealed it was to be the last in the series…

The ‘Pure Koke Vol. 1’ mixtape created a heavy buzz underground for the now Roc Nation signee and was independently released and downloaded over 10,000 times.

‘Pure Koke Vol. 3’ is going to keep fans entertained until the release of his debut album ‘I Ain’t Perfect’, which is set for release in January. The first single is called ‘Turn Back’ and features Maverick Sabre, which is due to air on Zane Lowe’s show on Radio 1 this Thursday.

The first two tracks ‘Power’ and ‘Warning’ were a good way to warm up fans old and new, as Koke eases newbies in as gently as he can to his sound. The ‘6 Million Ways To Die’ freestyle is more of Koke’s style and uses the famous Cutty Ranks ‘A Who Seh Me Dun (Wake De Man)’ sample in the beginning, which was furthermore popularised on Snoop Dogg’s ‘Serial Killa’ track.

Onwards, there are a mixture of tracks that, as a Koke fan, you would have already heard. These include ‘We Get It In’, ‘I’m Ready’, ‘Film It’, ‘I’m Back’, ‘Cold Roads’ and more.

I was very impressed with the new tracks, one being ‘Clap Clap’ featuring USG member EXO where he refers to the infamous barbers incident: “I slip regardless, but I didn’t get wigged in the barbers”.

For me, ‘Holla At The Kid’ featuring Dotstar saw Koke deliver something different but impressive. The production is on another level and the electro vibe to it was a welcome addition. ‘I’ll Never’ became a straight banger for me as soon as I heard it. I liked the vocals on the hook, with the rappers motto: “I will never b***h up, I will never switch up, I will never take the stand and snitch”, and of course on this note, the reference to Spider.

The biggest thing to impress me on the tape was the mixture of features. It isn’t like an average UK rap mixtape, where most of the other features are relatively known UK artists. Koke has shown versatility reaching out to rappers from around the globe; for example on ‘Music In My Veins’ a French rapper, CID Youssef, is featured.

On ‘Toronto 2 UK’, we see Canadian rapper Gangis Khan. US rapper Krayzie Bone from Bone Thugs-n-Harmony is present on ‘Way To Go’. ‘Change’ features Grand Hustle members DJ Drama and SPOT and we hear ThoroughBred on ‘Ain’t S**t Change’. He also supports UK talent with the Margs and Malik MD7 feature, as well as including DotstarBig Narstie, Meeks, C Biz and Frostman.

K. Koke fans will definitely be impressed with his latest offering – as one myself, I am. I would have liked to have heard more new tracks, but I reckon he has done the last of the ‘Pure Koke’ series justice.

Now we just have to wait for his Roc Nation debut ‘I Ain’t Perfect’ to see how he switches up the levels in the jump from the mixtape to the album.

October 2, 2012

MTV Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]

He has been one of my favourite rappers for over a year now, since the release of ‘Yob Culture’ and my first meeting with him last summer at the filming of the UK BET cypher. Mic Righteous has announced that he will be releasing an EP called ‘Open Mic’ in January and after his immensely impressive SB.TV session last week, I know this may well be the best we have heard from him so far…

He has also asked the True Tiger boys to remix his first single ‘Ghost Town’, which I expect will have a dubstep sound.

Cashtastic was busy on Saturday night as he shot the video to his new track ‘Alarm Clock’, tweeting: “Gunna wake the game up wid ‪#AlarmClock both song and video”, he tweeted this along with pictures from his Instagram account to give his fans a taster of what is to come.

K. Koke had a special surprise for fans last night as he had them guessing on Twitter what his ‘#KokeSurprise’ was. He then released a net video to a track called ‘Warning’, announcing that he would be releasing ‘Pure Koke Vol 3’, writing: “THE LAST PUREKOKEVOL3……… AFTER THIS IAINTPERFECT 2 D WORLD USG ATEAM RCA/ROC”. The last of the Pure Koke tapes will be out tonight at 8pm, so make sure you look out for it.

Last week we heard a bit more of what was to come from Giggs – I know I am definitely excited to hear some new music from him soon. He tweeted last Monday: “WHEN WILL IT STOP” still coming soon…” He also shot a new music video last Monday, so we should be hearing and seeing some new material from him in the immediate future.

Political Peak gave us a video of the behind-the-scenes action for his forthcoming video ‘Jump Off’ and then released the audio to the track. The club banger comes from his forthcoming ‘Dreams 2 Reality’ mixtape.

I spoke to him about the track, which sees him take a different approach his usual style: “A producer from Philadelphia came over to London to work with me. He showed me his sound that he’s got going on out there – then ‘Jump Off’ was created. The song is basically about bad girls getting treated like good girls.”

Youngs Teflon has been working hard and recently released the ‘Wrapping Ain’t Dead’ video from his ‘Tr!ll!n’ mixtape. The south London rapper has called on some UK heavyweights such as SkeptaNoLayJoe Black and Squeeks to help him out with the free 16-track mixtape

October 2, 2012

Nas – Cherry Wine ft. Amy Winehouse [ Music Video]

Here is the video to Nas’ Cherry Wine featuring the late Amy Winehouse. Nas plays host as a barman and Amy’s visuals seem to be projected against the brick wall inside the bar.

October 2, 2012

Political Peak – Wise Up ft. Ard Adz & Blacker [Audio]

Political Peak drops Wise Up featuring Ard Adz and Blacker a track taken from his Dreams 2 Reality mixtape giving us a taste of whats to come.

October 2, 2012

K Koke – Pure Koke Vol. 3 [Free Mixtape]

K Koke wasn’t lying when he had a surprise in store on Twitter a few days ago and announced he would be releasing the last in the Pure Koke series. Here it is for your listening pleasure, Pure Koke Vol. 3.

Download K Koke – Pure Koke Vol. 3 here