Posts tagged ‘K Koke’

September 19, 2012

MTV Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]

Hey, I hope you all had a good weekend – I did! Therefore, I am going to kick off with some good news this week. Hackney hip-hop artist Mikill Pane, who has worked with Ed Sheeran and Example, signed to Mercury Records last week. He announced the news via his Twitter and Instagram accounts, saying: “I moved to a new planet today. Proud to announce that I am now signed & I’m on Mercury Records…”

Mikill is said to be finishing his debut album ‘Blame Miss Barclay’,which we should be hearing before the end of this year. Congratulations!

Plan B has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize shortlist for his third album, which was also the Ill Manors soundtrack – making history as the first ever soundtrack to get a nomination. The judges have praised the soundtrack to his film of the same name, calling it “a brilliantly visceral soundtrack to an angry, troubling and harsh picture of life on the underside of London in 2012.”

Fekky,who previously teamed up with DJ Whoo Kid to release his ‘Come On Den’ mixtape, recently released his video to ‘Bang’ featuring Young Spray and Frisco. He also announced that he will also be working on a joint EP with Slic Vic and has a track with Wretch 32 in the pipeline. Meanwhile, Young Spray took to GRM Daily to release a net video to ‘Away’ – a heartfelt track from the ‘Hard To Kill Vol.2’ mixtape.

Jaja Soze recently released his album ‘The Last Message’. He also dropped the video to his track ‘Street Paradise’, an inspirational jam; which hears him say: “The urban scene just gets nervous every time I speak and when they see me it gets worse they try and kiss my feet.” Jaja also joined Geko for his latest track ‘Slideshow’.

Play Dirty’s Yungen gave us the hard new track ‘Rapstars’, which hears him talks about the life he lives – “independent life no label.” The track is produced by Steel Banglez; sounding like an interesting fusion of rap, rock and electro.

Clixx brought us a beautiful live acoustic version of his second single ‘Only If You Want’, which features singer Jermaine Riley and is from the ‘XX’ mixtape. We should be hearing some new material from Clixx soon; he is definitely one to watch.

Last week K. Koke shot the video to his first official single featuring Maverick Sabre from his ‘I Ain’t Perfect Album’. Speaking on K. Koke’s online TV series, Maverick Sabre said: “I love universal music, music that can connect with everybody no matter what genre. I think there have only been a few rappers over time that can do that well.

“I think the best way through hip-hop you can do that is through pain and struggle. Everybody can connect with that to a certain level. People speak to the people.”

August 15, 2012

USG – Over Now

Here are the visuals to Over Now with USG’s SquingyExo and K Koke and produced by Emil Proffit.

 

August 6, 2012

K Koke “The Only One” Behind the scenes footage by Avit

Avit went behind the scenes at K Koke‘s The Only One video in a secret location in East London. We interviewed Squingy and Exo about forthcoming USG projects and managed to grab a few words from Koke himself at the end of the 14 hour shoot.

Avit have collaborated with USG and launched new USG merchandise check it out on http://www.avitclothing.com

July 24, 2012

MTV Wrap Up – The UK Rap Rundown

I’m back to give you what’s hot in the world of UK rap for the week. I went down to the premiere of Ice-T’s docufilm Something to Nothing: The Art of Rap and also to K. Koke’s video shoot for his track, ‘The Only One’. There have been some hot releases out this week too…

Tracks that caught my eye this week went to USG’s boss man Squingy, who released the visuals to his track ‘Find A Way‘. The production of the mini movie showed that Squingy is an artist in more ways than one.

Lady Leshurr and Paigey Cakey released a net video ‘Dam City’. As always with Leshurr, her energy was on point – you can always see her passion for what she does in every video. PDC’s Jaja Soze was joined by Diamond to rework the classic Warren G and Nate Dogg track ‘Regulate’, for ‘What If’, stimulating and empowering minds.

The official theme song to the Offenders film was also released courtesy of English Frank and featured Anamate. The film will be released in the cinema on August 8 and stars English FrankG FrSH and Scorcher – it is definitely worth a watch.

Thursday saw the European premiere of Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap at the Hammersmith Apollo. I spotted many UK rappers there such as Sway, Wretch 32 and Jehst. The film itself took us back to the roots of how elements like battling started and talked business and the technicalities of rap. It was light-hearted throughout and very entertaining, with cheers erupting everytime a hip-hop legend graced the screen.

 

I went down to K. Koke’s warm up video shoot for ‘The Only One’ on Saturday in Hackney. Turning up at 3pm there were so many people there, showcasing the respect and love there is for Koke – artists such as Margs and J Spades were also present. The video itself included some very nice cars, motorbikes and of course lots of women!

I spoke to K. Koke briefly about the shoot and he said: “today is my video, it was in the hood, out of the hood, we brought the hood to another hood. This is going to come out before my first single.” Keep your eyes peeled for that one! Until next time…

July 17, 2012

MTV Wrap Up – The UK Rap Rundown

Wow! It’s been a busy week in the world of UK rap and although I haven’t been to any shows this week, I have heard many stand-out tracks. There are also a few mixtapes and one very big album to look forward to in the coming months. Can you guess who I’m talking about?

A few days before Azealia Banks dropped her ‘Fantasea’ mixtape, we were given a taster of what was to come with ‘Neptune’, featuring London MC Shystie. Shystie was only one of two featured artists on the 19 track mixtape, the other artist being Styles P. Last Monday the south London hip-hop collective Caxton Press released the video to ‘Big Buck Star’ from their debut LP ‘Shame The Devil’ which is out now. Another collective from London, Piff Gang, also released their third 11-track mixtape called ‘Plant Life’. This will be the first of three projects we will see from them in the coming months, so watch this space.

The USG boys have been busy as we saw three tracks released from them last week. The first was K. Koke’s ‘Roc For Life’, featuring MMG’s Wale. I loved the rocky beat on this track and the video was a perfect match. K. Koke tweeted as it premiered, writing: “This ain’t no music video. It’s my journey from streets up!”

Next up was Exo who released the video ‘Way Back Home’ featuring singer Tom Prior – again this had a rocky beat and shows a very different side to Exo. Youngest member Geko slowed it down for ‘Best Friend’ as he reaches out to his old friend. Look out for K. Koke’s album ‘I Ain’t Perfect’ and Exo’s 7 track EP ‘The 7 Day Mile’ due in October.

Ard Adz and Sho Shallow jumped on Sneakbo’s ‘Still Breathing’ to give us a banging remix of the track, complete with a video. These two have been putting in a lot of work this year, so we should be expecting big things from them. G FrSH was joined by Yungen and Cashtastic for ‘Grown A** Boy’; giving us a taster of what is to come from his upcoming ‘Legoman II’ mixtape.

Lastly The Jump Off team recently had a debate, asking: ‘Should Grime Artists Make UK Rap?’ LaLa asked the question ‘If he keeps doing grime, is he not allowed to ever, ever experiment?’

Some of the team thought it was okay to make a few one-off tracks out of their genre, but came to the conclusion that their fans would be upset if they were to completely cross over. However, examples of artists that have crossed over successfully such as Chip and Tinie Tempah show that it is more than possible to start off as a grime artist and move to rap.

July 10, 2012

K Koke – Roc For Life ft. Wale

K Koke releases his warm up record Roc For Life featuring MMG’s Wale. USG member Koke tweeted last night..

‘This ain’t no music video. It’s my journey from streets up!’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zoCEBLy4Pk

July 9, 2012

MTV Wrap Up – THE UK RAP RUNDOWN

This is my first UK Rap Rundown column; here I will be bringing you the week’s highlights in the UK urban scene – I hope you enjoy it! I haven’t even been back from the BET Awards in L.A a week yet and have already attended a festival – Hyde Park’s Wireless. I was pleased to see underground rappers Political PeakSho Shallow and Ard Adz get a packed out tent and an amazing crowd reaction – it proved how well UK rap is doing…

Of course, Sneakbo smashed his set too. Sway did an old school hip-hop style set, with verses from Wu TangTupac and Mobb DeepRoc Nation signee USG member K Koke also performed on the Sunday supported by his fellow crew members.

In other news, Scorcher has replied to Dappy’s ‘Tarzan 2’ diss which hears him say: “I still roll for my hood and I wear my chain, f**k a Top Boy Scorcher he can’t do the same. Real recognise real, how many albums have you sold to date?”

Scorcher wasn’t too happy with Dappy and replied via an SB.TV video called ‘Rockstar’. The MC dropped punchline after punchline, saying that he is an “underground king, you could never be my equal” and “you could have a mill still look like a tramp.” He also mentions Tulisa and the now infamous tape that her ex-boyfriend leaked to the world.

Personally I liked Dappy’s ‘Tarzan 2’ video; unfortunately he had to re-shoot and re-release the video due to the heavy controversy it received. Props to Scorcher; he went in on the diss track and I feel he is the better man in this situation.

The video that caught my attention last week came from Donae’o. I was at the video shoot for the track ‘YDKAM’ and know there’s going to be a lot more to come from the ‘Party Hard’ singer on his album. He told me: “It’s going to have a lot more hip-hop and R&B, there’s a want for it, so I can put it out.”

The song ‘You Don’t Know About Me’ features some of UK rap’s hardest lyricists, such as Joe BlackSqueeksDru BluRatlin and Lethal B.

Another interesting one was the Labrinth produced ‘Watchtower’ by Devlin featuring Ed Sheeran. It is the first single from his forthcoming album ‘A Moving Picture’.

Leicester based R&B singer Luke Bingham was also recently joined by Play Dirty’s Krept & Konan for the track ‘Shut It Down’. I really like the beat to this track and Krept & Konan really give the song that hip-hop edge it needed. I predict big things for Mr Bingham; he has the voice, the style and looks to match.

July 9, 2012

LIVE REVIEW: WIRELESS FESTIVAL – LONDON (7-8 JULY 2012)

This weekend was the one everyone was waiting for… Wireless Festival! On Saturday, I caught a few tracks from the beautiful Rita Ora, which included ‘How We Do (Party)’, ‘Hot Right Now’, and ‘RIP’. She looked every inch the Roc Nation princess in camouflage combat trousers, black crop top and black beanie hat…

I had to run to see the amazing UK act Clement Marfo + The Frontline, who sent everybody absolutely mental as one of the first acts on at the Pepsi Max Stage. Frontman rapper Clement and singer Kojo exuberated energy, gaining lots of new fans.

Tulisa was up next on the main stage after Rita, opening with N Dubz songs. She showed her ex what he was missing by wearing a black low cut bra style top, with her midriff bare and a high waisted, short black star print skirt. She then dedicated ‘Titanium’ to her ex, saying “this is to my d***head ex-boyfriend, Justin f****** Edwards!” She also performed a track from her new forthcoming album called ‘Leave Me Alone’.

I then ventured to Barclay’s Unwind Stage to catch Sneakbo, where I saw Political PeakSho Shallow and Ard Adz performing. Sneakbo then came out and the crowd went even wilder. He performed ‘Yo Sexy’, ‘Call Me A Naija’, as well as doing covers of ‘Imma Boss’, and ‘Oliver Twist’. Of course he then ended with ‘Show Me The Wave’, and recent release ‘Sing For Tomorrow’.

UK hip-hop’s savior Sway was next up on the Barclays Unwind Stage; again you could tell there were hardcore fans in the audience as he performed ‘Up Your Speed’. ‘Still Speeding’ was definitely a crowd pleaser and his latest single ‘Level Up’ left the crowd unable to control their high.

I then went to see Taylor Gang general Wiz Khalifa who looked very indie in a bowler hat, long t-shirt, black skinny jeans and denim jacket, performing his well-known tracks ‘Roll Up,’ ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’ and closing on ‘Black & Yellow’.

Fans gathered early to see The Weeknd. From the ‘House Of Balloons’ mixtape he sang ‘The Morning’, ‘The Party & The After Party’ and ‘Wicked Games’.  He also played tracks from the infamous ‘Thursday’ mixtape, which the crowd enjoyed the most. His solo performance for me was the best of the night; his vocals were 100% and you could hear every word of his stunning voice.

Next up was Ms Nicki Minaj. She got carted to the stage kicking off her set with ‘Roman’s Revenge’, ‘Did It On Em’, and ‘Beez In The Trap’. When ‘Moment For Life’, and ‘Starships’ came on, everyone was singing along. Near the end she did a dancehall inspired set, singing and dancing to songs like ‘Who Am I’ by Beenie Man and Tony Matterhorn’s ‘Dutty Wine’, where she showed everyone how it was done by wining on stage. ‘Superbass’ and ‘Monster’ were the closing tracks for the first lady of YMCMB.

Despite the rain, it was then time to see the artist everyone was waiting for – Drake. Coming on looking every inch the superstar, he was dressed all in black with touches of gold. He opened with ‘Underground Kings’, and ‘Lord Knows’ before quickly moving onto ‘I’m On One’ and ‘Over’.

He then said: “London is like my second home, I don’t give a f**k about the rain tonight.” The Weeknd came out to join him on ‘Crew Love’ and ‘The Zone’. Drake almost brought tears to The Weeknd’s eyes when he put his arm around him and told him, “I remember when I met you in Toronto, I knew you were going to be the greatest musician alive.”

Nicki also came back on stage for ‘Proud Of You’. The crowd joined in with Drake for ‘Take Care’, filling in for the missing Rihanna. He made the females falling for him judging by their love struck eyes! Despite the bad sound quality from the main stage, Drake put on a brilliant performance and proved why he was the headliner for Saturday and no one else.

Sunday’s Wireless saw Hyde Park become a lethal mudbath. The day was an eventful one, with the ‘King Of Hearts’ Lloyd taking to the stage to wow the ladies in the afternoon. UK soulstress Cleo Sol also represented in the afternoon, performing her new smash ‘Never The Right Time’. Other memorable acts included rapper K-Koke, StooSheLabrinthFlux PavilionRizzle KicksJessie J and J Cole.

Rihanna headlined Sunday’s event, which unfortunately was impacted by the poor sound quality, as it was for Drake’s set. Kicking off her set late, the star demonstrated her love for Egypt with an Arabian themed stage. The singer performed tracks like ‘Hard’ ‘Live Your Life’ ‘What’s My Name’ ‘Where Have You Been’ ‘S&M’ and finished off with ‘Umbrella’, at which time it was actually raining.

The 24-year-old’s headlining set was finished off with fireworks and bouncy balls being thrown into the crowd, before she told her adoring crowd: “Thanks for staying to watch me in the rain… Only in London would you guys stay to watch this show.”

 

 

June 12, 2012

Josh Kumra – Helicopters & Planes

One of the UK’s finest singer’s Josh Kumra releases the visuals to debut single Helicopters and Planes featuring USG and Rocnation’s K Koke over this Naughty Boy produced track from his forthcoming album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQy-s_21pG4

May 7, 2012

K Koke ft Lilas Lafleur – Take My Breath

K Koke releases the video Take My Breath from the mixtape #PureKokeVol2.