A pixie's everyday writing adventures
After the success of More Money More Pagans, Mashtown’s J Spades releases the highly anticipated second instalment. The 19 track strong tape has features from some of the best from the UK rap scene such as DVS, Blade Brown, Chip, Joe Black and Cashtastic and also from the US Waka Flocka Flame.
Download J Spades – More Money More Pagans II here
SN1’s Gunna Dee releases his long awaited Hustler By Nature 2 mixtape. The 11-track tape features Giggs, Blade Brown, Skepta and Angel and sees more developed and matured lyrics. Gunna has only improved and this mixtape proves the levels will only keep rising.
Download Gunna Dee – Hustler By Nature 2
The producer behind the smash hit from Giggs Look What The Cat Dragged In is set to release his heavily anticipated EP Death Of A Beatmaker on 11th February 2013. Bayoz Muzik has teamed up with UK hip hop and grime stars for it including JME and Paigey Cakey. Having worked with some of the UK’s finest and African acts such as Wretch 32, Gunna, Ice Prince and more he is now being widely acknowledged within the UK scene. We have already heard the debut tracks from the EP such as Soldiers featuring J Spades, Blade Brown & Youngs Teflon and Lemme Get That featuring Giggs and Wacka Flocka giving us a taster of what to expect.
Available for free download 11th Febuary here www.bayozmuzik.com
It’s been a good year, especially for UK rap – we have seen it grow and reach some great heights. I have only been writing The Wrap Up’s UK Rap Rundown for six months, starting in July when I reported for you from L.A for the BET Awards. Now that it’s the last UK Rap Rundown of 2012, I guess I should do what everyone else is doing and give you guys a wrap up of the year. But I’m not going to do that; I’m going to give you some of my personal highlights – you may or may not agree, but this is what is what caught my attention and went down for me…
A female that has really impressed me this year is Shystie; from working with Azealia Banks to her videos and mixtape ‘Gold Dust 2’. This lady has really been putting in the work, proving even though she’s been in it for a while she’s still strong and here to stay.
South London’s windy music duo Ard Adz and Sho Shallow really caught my eye this year. Releasing their ‘P.U.S.H’ mixtape, putting out many videos and also being nominated for MTV’s Unsigned for 2013, these two are destined for big things.
Genesis Elijah has also had an outstanding year. Being a more established name in the game and one many look up to, he just keeps evolving and getting better. He released a few mixtapes such as ‘I Ain’t Even Charging Bruv 2’ and ‘An Emcees Worst Enemy’ – a standout track for me was ‘Underground King’.
Let’s look at some other mixtapes that deserve a mention. K. Koke’s ‘Pure Koke 3’ is the last in the ‘Pure Koke’ series which started with Vol 1 in 2010. Vol 3 saw a mixture of new and old tracks, with a standout track for me being ‘I’m Nice’. We also have the ‘I Ain’t Perfect’ album to look forward to from Koke next year.
Political Peak’s ‘Dreams 2 Reality’ caused quite a stir when it was released. He also put out many visuals to some of the tracks, including ‘Times Have Changed’, ‘Tables Have Turnt’ and ‘Tears In The Rain’.
Dru Blu has had a good year, releasing his street album ‘ This Is Don Strapzy’ and recently releasing a mixtape ‘Best Of Dru Blu’ – along with a flurry of videos and tracks to keep us entertained throughout the year.
Margate rapper Mic Righteous is definitely destined for big things in 2013. At the beginning of the year he released his second mixtape ‘Kampain’ which thoroughly impressed me. He also had the infamous beef with Tim Westwood, releasing a diss track to him called ‘Sack City’. Look out for the ‘Open Mic’ EP, coming early next year.
‘Wretchercise’ was definitely a big one this year, with Wretch 32 being many people’s favourite rapper. He definitely showed us why he was worthy of this title, as he gave us a first class 17-track deep tape.
Ratlin’s ‘Crown Me’ mixtape which was released in December and had a heavy buzz; with a solid two years in the game, Ratlin has quickly cemented his position in the UK rap game. Squeeks ‘Call Me Squeeko’ caught my attention from the beginning till the end, with ‘I Got You’ being my favourite track refixing The Weeknd’s ‘Rolling Stone’.
Melanin 9 aka M9’s album ‘Magna Carta’ is one we can’t miss; the album is a firm favourite for UK hip-hop heads. Mystro’s ‘Mystrogen’ was a cleverly crafted, witty debut album from the emcee that reflected his full range of skills, including wordplay and social commentary.
Blade Brown’s ‘Bags & Boxes 2’ made it high in the iTunes charts, as an independent artist this showed Blade’s progression and for me, he became the king of UK trap. Skepta’s ‘Blacklisted’ is another one we can’t miss out, with standout tracks ‘Ace Hood Flow’ and ‘Castles’.
There we go guys – my personal highlights of the year. Unfortunately I couldn’t mention all of them, but regardless I hope you have enjoyed my updates in UK rap for the past six months. Happy New Year – I’ll see you on the other side!
Listen below to Blade Brown featuring Chip Stressin below off Bags & Boxes 2.
Last Monday night I headed down to XOYO in east London for the event I Luv Live. The bill was particularly strong, with singers Jacob Banks, KOF, Arlissa and north London rapper Ikes. Last week Ikes dropped his mixtape ‘The Intermission: Sliding Doors’, hosted by DJ Infamous. ‘The Intermission’ series started in 2010 and have all been strong thus far. Ikes has proved he deserves his solid upcoming status as he showcases his raw lyrics on the tape…
Wednesday night was the MTV Brand New for 2013 gig and saw nominees K Koke and Rascals perform alongside the headliner DJ Fresh. The other eight nominees were announced on the night and included producing duo Disclosure and rapper Angel Haze.
Rap quartet Rascals were the first to perform with tracks showcasing their infectious energy, proving why they were picked by music experts to blow in 2013. K Koke was up next and put on an incredible show with fellow USG member Exo joining him on stage. The Roc Nation rapper performed ‘Roc For Life’, ‘Power’ and his newly released first official single ‘Turn Back’. We also got to hear his next single with Rita Ora called ‘Lay Down Your Weapons’.
Sway enlisted some fantastic MC’s for the remix of ‘Charge’; ‘Supercharged Part 1’. Lunar C, Stig of the Dump, Shotty Horroh, Rizzle, Black the Ripper and Jehst kill this track. They all go in and it’s actually hard for me to name who had the best verse. It’s great to see so many talented MC’s all on one track.
Meanwhile, SAS (Mega & Mayhem) dropped the audio to their remix of ‘Suave Life’ featuring Vinny Cha$e and CurT@!N$ which will be on their ‘Coming To America II’ mixtape.
Boy Better Know’s Skepta has made it clear he wanted to collaborate with So Solid Crew for a while now, and his wish has come true as co-founder Megaman joins him for a track off his recently released ‘Blacklisted’ album, called ‘We Begin Things’. The video dropped yesterday and goes back to the old school garage roots.
South London rap duo Krept & Konan talked us through the ‘Devils Playground’, i.e the streets, for their brand new hard-hitting track. They collaborated with JME, joining names for ‘Boy Better Play Dirty’.
The king of UK trap released his anticipated ‘Bags & Boxes 2’ mixtape which you can get from iTunes. The 21-track mixtape shows Blade Brown’s strength as he brings in some other well known, established rappers such as Youngs Teflon, Squeeks, Fekky, Fem Fel, Skepta, G Frsh, Sincere, Chip and more. It’s good to see again so many names on one mixtape – it is definitely proving the strength of the scene.
Until next Monday…
SX produces Blade Brown‘s and Sincere‘s new joint collaborative track Round The Globe.
This week was an extremely busy week as on Tuesday myself and The Wrap Up’s editor Maz went to Paris to review No Doubt’s private comeback show; it may not be rap, but it was quality! Look out for the review coming soon. As soon as I hit the U.K I dashed to Wembley Arena for the Red Bull Culture Clash. Although I was shattered, the music and the vibes of the night kept me dancing and hyped at the exciting clash of four sound systems. Shouts to Example, P Money, Lethal B, Chip and Ms Dynamite, just some of the brilliant special guests – and of course a big congrats to Boy Better Know who won the clash…
Jump Off TV had a debate on Monday with the subject revolving around one question; ‘Have the MOBO Awards Lost Touch with its Origins’? Many topics were touched upon, such as why two different genres, grime and hip-hop, were placed under the same category. Being two different types of music, some found it quite offensive that they have been put together. What did you think of the 2012 MOBO’s? Let us know on our Twitter page.
The youngest member of USG, Geko, teamed up with Windy Music’s Ard Adz and Sho Shallow to bring us the visuals to street track ‘Hate On Me’. Sho Shallow also dropped his remix to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Poetic Justice’, showing his lyrical skill as he discussed his background, his friends, his girl and the haters, adding; ‘rhyming without punchlines to me is just nothing.’
Mic Righteous showed us his light-hearted side when he dropped his ‘Hold It Down’ video which sees him dressed up as an elephant messing about around London – it also has a cameo from a cat as well. This will be on Mic’s new EP ‘Open Mic’.
Fresh out of prison, veteran Skinnyman dropped some fresh, hot bars in his ‘2013’ exclusive freestyle with UK Rap TV. This is the first we have seen of him all year, but in true Skinnyman style he is still on his A-game, spitting lyrics fresh out of his brain there and then.
Blade Brown showed us a life of luxury and how he ‘did it all myself no manager’ as he headed to Dubai for video ‘Life Of Mine’. The track is gearing us up for his new mixtape ‘Bags & Boxes 2’ which will be out on November 30. Blade Brown also featured on G FrSH’s ‘Tell Em’ recently – be sure to check it out.
Bayoz Muzik releases the video to Soldiers featuring a heavy duty line up; J Spades, Blade Brown and Youngs Teflon. This will be on his forthcoming Death Of A Beat Maker EP.
G Frsh releases Tell Em featuring Blade Brown.
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