MistaJam premiered the new track from the True Tiger collective yesterday Money & Yats a collaboration with Maxsta.
May 18, 2012
Urban Nerds 5th Birthday
Urban Nerds will be celebrating their 5th birthday by throwing a party on Saturday 26th May at Scala, London.
The line up includes, Newham Generals, Rattus Rattus, Klashnekoff, C4 and Preditah. No Hats No Hoods Records host a room featuring grime MC’s Scrufizzer, Kozzie, Trilla, Chronik, Merky Ace and Roachee.
Get your tickets here
May 18, 2012
ChockABlock Returns!
After taking a year’s hiatus, ChockABlock is back. This June the underground club night has hooked up with Housebound to give you a very special night to remember…
The rave which will be held at the Rhythm Factory in East London on 16th June will see the new club night in Leicester Housebound go back to back with ChockABlock, showcasing some of the best music in the UK underground scene.
If you get down there before midnight, entry on the night is £10, and for the hardcore ravers it doesn’t finish till 6am so you definitely get your moneys worth.
Check out the event on Facebook
April 25, 2012
Lioness Is The Next King Of The Jungle
Izabelle Fender aka Lioness is the British grime artist hailing from South London. Her skills as a lyricist match up to many male MC’s in the UK, which gives her the title as one of the top MC’s, not just one of the best female’s in the game. Spitting from the age of 14, Lioness soon joined her family members in Mastermind Trooperz. From Loch Ness Monster to Roarness, Lioness is ready to show she is King Of The Jungle.
Can you remember the first tune you ever MC’d to?
Yes I can, it was with these boys and it was called ‘Storm’ I think, it was on Channel U. Embarrassing times (laughs), I was young and at the time I thought the bar was good. When I look back now it was like oh my God, what were you saying (laughs).
You took time out of your music to focus on education for a while; did it feel weird not doing music for that period of time?
It did, I would always do music, but I would always be sidetracked and not doing it fully. For me music’s a hobby and me getting my thoughts and feelings off of me and onto paper. So I’d do that when I was stressed or whatever, but in terms of taking music seriously I couldn’t because of school, A Levels and uni. Now I’m doing it full time. I went to uni and in lectures I just wasn’t paying attention, and I was writing bars. I just thought do you know what if I’m going to be here and paying for this, let me take it seriously or let me just go.
Did you feel that by having an education it would make you a better MC?
No not necessarily not at all. I know some people that haven’t been to uni, or got kicked out of school, but they still do music. If you can read that’s it, you don’t have to go uni to be able to read. To be honest I don’t read, I do feel a little bit thick now (laughs) considering I don’t go to uni anymore and I don’t read that much. No you don’t need education to be able to do music.
When you started out you were quite young, did you feel ever that people weren’t taking you seriously being a female?
Yes I did. They would just be like what is she doing here, or why is this girl here, then I’d go to the mic and they would be like alright cool, but still why is she here. They would never be like ahh she’s actually good. One time when I went pirate radio, and a lot of the girls back in the day just used to go with the boys, and they would be like hoes or whatever. That’s probably what they thought about me, she’s probably one of them type of girls. Then when I went up to the mic they were probably thinking, why this girl so inna, like whys she near us taking the mic? They didn’t want to just be like ah she’s good.
What’s the best advice you would give to a young female MC?
I feel like we’ve paved the way. So for any up and coming female it’s alright, you’ll be able to do your thing. No one is going to tell you to get back in the kitchen because it’s accepted now. Just keep going and don’t listen to people, just ignore it.
There are many female artists that do well in the US, but often sexualise themselves and their lyrics. How do you feel about this?
Maybe that’s what they feel they have to do in order to get recognised. It is true sex does sell, but for me the reason why I do music is because I just want to get stuff off my chest. If you happen to like what I’m saying whoop de doo for me init. If you don’t there are other girls you can go listen to, that fine. I don’t think anyone needs to do it, but if you want to and you think that’s going to get you further then that’s your prerogative. I’m feminine and wear heels and stuff, people say it’s nice that I wear heels and be a girl but really you’re an MC. In the UK a lot of us are tomboys.
Yourself Lady Leshurr and A.Dot make up 367. Are there plans for an EP?
All we need to do is sit down for a day and the EP will get done, because it’s so fun the environment being around them. It’s like ‘listen to this instrumental,’ or we could do this or this, its just fun, so we just literally need a day. It definitely will happen. We all got our tops ready for the launch. We just need to find time in all our schedules to just make it work. When we do it will be big.
Are there any plans to go more mainstream with your music, and how do you think you would make the transition?
There are plans; obviously that’s what I want to do. I’m not prepared to alter the way that I am at all, so I’m just waiting for a sound that’s still me, but I can pass over. I don’t know what that sound is yet, so I just need to find myself in that respect. Once I do that, I think I’ll start doing full on singles etc., but I don’t want to put out a single that I’m not 100% happy with.
What do you think about the current state of the grime scene at the moment? Do you think it’s in a healthy position?
I think it’s very healthy. I think everyone is still doing grime, but they’ve done there on spin on it. I think I still do grime, but it’s my take on it. I think a lot of people do that. Everyone says grimes dead grimes dead, but it’s not its just really evolved. What grime used to be is pirate radio vibe and anger, clashes, because that’s all it was about, but now we can see it can go much further. People just want to stick to how things used to be that’s why they said its dead, but its not dead, its healthy.
Do you think anything needs to be done?
No I don’t think anything needs to be done. I know a lot of people are trying to bring clashing back, because obviously LOTM3 has come out. I don’t see the point in clashing for fun; I don’t think that’s fun. I remember when I was young and I used to clash, it wasn’t fun, it was a real problem. For the person that I am if someone’s done something to me, I’m not going to want to write a song about it, I’m going to want to say ‘why did you do that for are you mad?’ Everyone still needs to be making tunes, and working together and bringing the UK back up there. The US can keep their tunes now to be honest, the UK were doing our thing at the moment.
Apart from London, where do you feel is the strongest city for grime right now?
Birmingham most defiantly. I rate everyone. I fully rate Trilla because I feel like he brought Birmingham completely on the map. I think Leshurr came and cemented it, and I think them two really paved the way for Birmingham. C4 I love him, all the Stayfresh love Stayfresh. There are a lot of producers up there like TRC, TC4, and Bassboy. Big up the Midlands gang!
In terms of the future, what do you think the next step is for you?
EP, iTunes, I haven’t had a CD on iTunes. I’ve been doing music for 8 years, I’ve only had 2 CD’s, and so my third CD is going to be the EP King Of The Jungle, April 18th on iTunes. Hopefully there will be some singles from there. Everyone says you should call your CD Queen Of The Jungle, and I think that’s so obvious for 1, 2 why Queen? So I’ve decided to be King Of The Jungle. All lions do is eat, sleep and beat, those three things that’s all they do, and the lioness does everything else. I feel like lioness might as well take the title, and I feel like in music you don’t need to say female MC’s, were all MC’s I’m on the level as a lot of the men out there.
There are collaborations with Ghetts, Mercston, AL, I really want to get Ms. Dynamite, probably Leshurr and A.Dot too. I want to try and put some people I haven’t worked with on there, there’s a singer called Baby Sol, I really like her.
April 16, 2012
Lil Choppa ft. SP – Game Over
Birmingham grime MC’s Lil Choppa and SP come together for this track Game Over.
April 14, 2012
Rival – Party Rings EP
Rival releases some fresh new material in the form of his latest 11 track EP Party Rings, with all but 2 tracks, Charlie Sheen and I’m On One freestyle being all unheard new tracks. Features include Clipson, GFam’ss Styler and Sicx, Sharky Major and Doller, formally Da Dustman.
Download Rival – Party Rings EP here
April 12, 2012
Marger – Rain
Marger releases the video to Rain produced by Sibling off his Cheeky EP.
March 5, 2012
Everybody Hates Slickz – Out Now
Shireen Fenner talks to Slick Don about his recently released CD Everybody Hates Slickz
Birmingham is finally getting the recognition it deserves in the music industry. Artists like Leshurr, Trilla and RoxXxan are making it more established and known, and now it’s Slick Don’s time. A young MC who has been doing his thing since he was 14, and jumped onto the bassline movement at 16, is now getting back into his grime roots, but also experimenting with other genres too. Shireen Fenner talks to Slick Don about recently released CDEverybody Hates Slickz, evolving from MC to artist, and why being from Birmingham is a good thing.
Everybody Hates Slickz is out. That’s quite a statement title, what’s the message behind this?
I’m from Birmingham, and I feel like an artist whose just doing their thing, but a lot of people from the scene don’t like me. It’s mostly people from within the industry MC’s and that, I’m probably one of the most hated. It’s the local MC’s, people from Birmingham; I get more love out of town. There’s grime, a bit of hip hop, a bit of experimental stuff.
You have no bassline tracks on the album, even though this is your music background. Why did you make that decision?
The way the scene is at the moment, it’s always changing, and it’s never at a standstill. At the moment bassline is not as peak as it used to be. I think people’s head have been turned to another genre. At the moment grime is at the forefront. It’s always changing so I just thought that if I start to brand myself more as an artist, rather than just doing bassline tracks, which everyone knows me for already, it will benefit me more.
You’re quite a versatile artist and don’t just stick to one genre. What are the pros and cons of this for you?
I’m able to work with more producers and artists, and I’m able to get myself out there on a bigger scale. Judging by the feedback I’ve had on Facebook and twitter, my fanbase want to hear me on more stuff, I always get people asking me when am I jumping back on grime. I started on grime originally when I was 14, and then when I was 16 I made a bassline track, and my career kind of took off from there.
Why do you think London artists are getting mainstream success and Birmingham artists aren’t?
London being the main city has much more of a support than Birmingham. When you’ve got artists like Chipmunk and Tinie Tempah who have been doing their thing for a good 5 years and have been going consciously ever since. For Birmingham artists its not impossible to go down that route, its just a lot harder. Say if I want to go on 1xtra or Kiss, I’ve got to go all the way down the motorway and put petrol in. If I lived in London I’d just get an oyster card for £5.
How do you think you can take your music mainstream and do you think it would involve changing it?
I would just do myself, the same kind of lyrics. I’ve just been working with different producers that are on the border of mainstream. Its all about the backing track, you can still be yourself on the tune. Look at Tine; it was that one backing track that crossed him over.
What sets apart the Birmingham music scene from the London scene?
I think the artists and the producers from Birmingham have got something new to offer. Everyone from out of London has always been kissing artists from London’s ass. Now that Birmingham is coming through, it’s a new thing to everyone.
You say you have made a transition from MC to artist, can you explain this for us?
I’m in the process of doing that really, that’s what the CD is about. That was the point of putting out the separate bassline CD, because people will notice on the main one there isn’t any. They’ll get the message, and notice what I’m trying to do, and that I’m trying to do something different rather than the same thing I have been doing for 2–3 years.
So you have a manager now. Why did you decide not to build a team around yourself?
If I could have had a team I would have. I have good people around and good producers, and people I could talk to about my music if I needed to. I could see the bassline scene going downhill, and I just needed some direction. I needed a good manager to point me in the right direction. I’m happy I’ve got management now; they’ve put my whole mind frame in the right place. The projects I’ve got lined up for 2012 are exactly what I wanted to do, but because I didn’t have management, I didn’t have certain links, and I didn’t know how to go about it.
You’ve worked with many talented DJ’s and producers, who would be your ideal person to work on a track with?
Labrinth, Chase & Status, Lil Wayne and Timberland
If you weren’t an MC what would you be doing?
I’d like to say something related to music, something within the music industry, but I can’t see myself doing anything else apart from MC’ing. When I was younger I wanted to be Batman (laughs). Nah at first I wanted to be an electrician, and then I wanted to be a doctor, but that was when I was about 12. I only had that in my mind because I had pressure from my parents so I just chose that.
Which MC’s do you rate from the North of England right now?
Lady Leshurr, Sox, K Dot, there’s a few from Manchester too.
What advice would you give to upcoming MC’s that come from an area that doesn’t have a big scene?
Be consistent. If music is what you want to do and you have a passion for it, just keep going and don’t let people get you down. There’s going to be people that say your rubbish on YouTube, but you cant let that get to you, you’ve just got to keep going. For all them people that are saying s***, there are another 100 or 1000 people that like you.
January 19, 2012
Rival – Just A Dream Ft. Dot Rotten
Rival and Dot Rotten collaborate on Just A Dream off the Lord Rivz EP for this tune produced by Flava D. Who said Grime was dead?
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