A pixie's everyday writing adventures
Rap Up UK return with another mini documentary this time looking at the Art Of Rap where they talk to emcees such as Jaja Soze, Political Peak, Fem Fel, Dru Blu, Pepstar, USG, Young Mad B, Yung Meth, Sho Shallow, Lyrican, Mike GLC, Pane & Yardz, Wholagun, Pound Sterling, Marger + More
Harry Shotta joins Lyrican for his brand new video Take Me Alive.
Last Monday I hit the Jazz Café in Camden to catch one of the world’s best DJ’s, Jazzy Jeff. DJ’s Emily Rawson and Big Ted kept us entertained, spinning some old school jams as we waited. MysDiggi gave a witty performance and Blak Twang came on afterwards to show the crowd what UK hip-hop is all about. Jazzy Jeff gave us an outstanding performance mixing some modern hip-hop with classic tracks…
Azealia Banks was in London for the Mermaid Ball gig recently and Shystie was there to support and perform with Azealia, who later tweeted: “Shystie is better than any female with a mic in her hand right now”. Last Monday Shystie and Ms Banks got to shoot the video to their track ‘Control It’ and I can only imagine how great it’s going to turn out. With not many female collaborations as it is, these two have great chemistry and this is going to show on screen. I can’t wait to see the video!
Giggs told the world who he wanted to help settle his frustration last week since his release from prison, as he tweeted: “Da cover drive chick need to bring that sexy body over here, always wining up her self on TV stressin me out when I was locked up, she owes me”
Giggs also revealed his first video since his hiatus, ‘What N****s Want’; it was the moment a lot of people, including myself, had been waiting for. The track is set to be on his album ‘When Will It Stop’ which is due out next year.
Now it’s time to look at some standout tracks and videos from the week. Manchester rapper Lyrican enlisted 15-year-old USG member Geko to feature on his new track ‘Falling Down’. Geko also had his own track that came out last night, which hears him talk us through some of his life and trials and tribulations in ‘From Young’.
London MC Melanin 9 who has a reputation for his conscientious rhymes and intelligent wordplay has a new release called ‘Landslide’. This is following on from his recent video ‘Organised Democracy’ off his new album ‘Magna Carta’ which is due for release on December 3.
Young Spray dropped the video to ‘Forgiveness’ from his ‘Hard 2 Kill Vol 2’ mixtape, which is out now. Mr. RTM’s new mixtape ‘Realer Than Most Vol 3’, hosted by Mykal Million will be also be dropping very soon, so look out for that.
Tonight I’m off to see Clement Marfo + The Frontline at Barfly in Camden for their headline show, and from what I’ve seen from them before, it’s definitely not one to miss. I’ll fill you in on what went down next week…
Manchester rapper Lyrican has enlisted the help of 15 year old USG member Geko also for Manchester for his brand new track Falling Down.
The Olympics is what everyone was talking about last week, with the opening ceremony on Friday being rather explosive and extravagant. We saw familiar faces such as Mr Bean, James Bond and the ‘Queen’ jumping out of a helicopter…
Dizzee Rascal was given the honour of recording the official Olympic Song of the London 2012 Olympic Games. At the ceremony, he performed the track ‘Scream’ which features the first lady of Dirtee Stank, Pepper along with ‘Bonkers’. Wretch 32 opened the Olympic Torch Relay Finale in London’s Hyde Park. This was a great moment for the urban music industry, showing the popularity and strength it has.
Margate rapper Mic Righteous previously released a diss track to Tim Westwood called ‘Sack City’ which has now been taken off YouTube after the ‘Big Dawg’ put in a complaint about it. Mic tweeted a picture of the video, which has a message on it stating, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Tim Westwood.” Considering the track came out over a month ago in June, it has taken quite a while and everybody has probably heard it by now anyway…
Hip-hop collective Caxton Press have been hard at work releasing video after video. Last week the visuals to ‘Touch The Sun’ came out, which is the eighth video from their ‘Shame The Devil’ album.
Sho Shallow showed us another side to him as he took a more laid back and melodic approach for new track ‘Weed In My Lungs,’ a refix of Kirko Bangz’s ‘Drank In My Cup’ – which has also previously seen remixes from J. Cole and 2 Chainz.
Manchester’s Lyrican put out the first joint US and UK hosted mixtape ‘The Problem Child’ with Charlie Sloth and DJ Drama. The 15 track project includes the internet hit ‘Simon Cowell’. He is becoming one of rap’s most promising figures and the mixtape proves why with his intelligent wordplay and strong delivery.
There are two freestyles that have caught my eye this week; the first one goes to USG’s youngest member 15-year-old Geko, who brought heat to Charlie Sloth’s Fire In The Booth. He tells us a few stories through the first track and then gets into an emotional freestyle.
With the re-launch of the Grime Daily website and the name change to GRM Daily, rapper DVS was the first artist after the re-launch to put out a Daily Duppy. He slows it down with some deep bars for the first half before switching it up over the ‘Rack City’ beat – check it out!
Lyrican enlist’s the UK’s very own people’s prince Charlie Sloth and the US’ infamous DJ Drama to host his Problem Child mixtape.
Tracklist:
1.Joint Operations 101 – Words by DJ Drama x Charlie Sloth (prod by Kone x ManuMan)
2.Bright Lights (prod by ManuMan)
3.Fuck A Redlight! (prod by ManuMan)
4.MamaMia (Prod by Hayzeus x ManuMan)
5.The Problem Child (prod scratches by icekream x ManuMan)
6.Faded Zombie (prod by Troyboi)
7.Lord Knows 2.0 (prod by ManuMan x Hayzeus)
8.Simon Cowell (prod by ManuMan)
9.Separation (prod by ManuMan)
10.Ask About Me (prod by ManuMan)
11.Strippers In Paris (prod by icekream x ManuMan)
12.Grindin (prod by HD Hitz x ManuMan)
13.On My Hiphop Shit (Remix)
14.Strange Clouds (Remix)
15.Selfish (remix)
Download Lyrican – The Problem Child here
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