I’m back after a week away sunning myself and sightseeing in Egypt and am ready to kick offThe Wrap Up‘s Rap Rundown again. I’m going to start with the man who excites most in the rap game; Mic Righteous. The Margate rapper released the visuals to ‘Up All Night’ taken off his recently released ‘Open Mic’ EP. The track is produced by TDH (Tom, Dick & Harry) and I like the grittiness of the video compared to most we see…
We caught a sneak peek of Sho Shallow’s new video ‘Bad’ as Rap Up UK released a behind-the-scenes video. The Brixton emcee reveals that this track was inspired by Wale’s ‘Bad’ because he liked the track and the concept.
Pound Sterling released his ‘Last Man Standing’ mixtape over a month ago and returned to drop a freestyle with a video spitting over Drake’s ‘5am In Toronto’ beat. This is one of my favourite freestyles I have heard as Pound Sterling sets some high standards with his flow and bars.
Paper Pabs from Bloodline took part in GRM Daily’s ‘Black & White’ where he talked honestly and openly about a few issues. One of the first things he questioned was “Is there even a grime scene? I think we need to rename it because I think UK rap is part of grime.” He went on to say they both need each other to balance and it needs to be renamed. What do you think?
USG’s founder Squingy released the video to ‘Rolling’ featuring Lefty. The instrumental draws you into the track instantly. The North West London collective are working on a USG album so look out for that coming soon.
As he gears up for the release of his new mixtape ‘King Of The Underground 2’, Joe Black drops a freestyle entitled ‘I’m Back’. You might recognize the instrumental from K Koke’s ‘I’m Back’ track. Joe Black’s tracks always sound effortless and as he says in this freestyle, he makes it look like ‘light work’.
It is bank holiday next week so there are lots of events going on. On Friday, J. Cole will be hosting LoveDough which will see Cashtastic and Yungen performing on the night which takes place in Proud, Camden.
Saturday sees Musicalize return to Indigo2 and for me it is the best line up I’ve seen from this event. Kano, K Koke, Tyler James, Sway, Ghetts, Scorcher and Lunar C will all be taking to the stage in this not be missed night.
Streetfest is one of my favourite events of the year and sees an emergence of street culture come together in a car park in Shoreditch; music, clothes, art, skating and more. This year the winner of iTunes ‘Hip Hop Album of the Year’ Oddisee will be performing, supported by Dot Rotten, DJ Vadim, DJ Nikki Beatnik, Livin’ Proof and Supa Dupa Fly.
Lastly, on Monday Link-Up TV will be having their first ever live show at XOYO in Shoreditch with a line-up so far announced consisting of Squeeks, G FrSH, J Spades, Yungen and Lady Lykez.
Last week I went down to Geko’s show in north London to find a queue and crowd of screaming, fanatical fans (mainly girls). The young rapper from Manchester who is part of USG performed tracks from his mixtape ‘Voice Of The Future’, bringing out special guests Ard Adz and Sho Shallow, also bringing in other young talent as support acts which was great to see…
Yungen dropped his ‘Topic Of Discussion’ mixtape which has 16 tracks and includes features from Squeeks, Cashtastic, G FrSH and others with production from Steel Banglez, Knox Brown, Rymez, S-X and more. The video to track ‘F**k Them’ off the tape featuring his Play Dirty family Krept & Konan was also released, with some dark visuals.
Coops is an artist I have been hearing a lot about recently, with his name buzzing around on the scene. He released his debut mixtape ‘What Do You See’ in February, showcasing his ability on the 24-track tape. Last week saw him release the video to ‘My State Of Mind’, which samples Nas’ classic joint ‘NY State Of Mind’.
From the Str88 Cash team comes Kerz ‘Real Rap’ mixtape with a good 22 tracks produced by DJTR Beats the whole way through. Kerz delivers a good tape, making more people take notice. He covers a variety of topics, showing his depth and versatility as an artist.
Mozart’s Shizzle releases the video to ‘Crown Me’, a motivational and emotional track at the same time. The track is taken from his ‘It’s Mozart Baby’ mixtape which dropped right at the beginning on 2013.
The audio to Sneakbo’s new track ‘Ring A Ling’ was put online for all of our listening pleasure and samples Shabba Ranks, fusing bashment and bass music, and is musically different to anything heard from Sneakbo before. He talked to Mistajam on his BBC Radio 1Xtra show on Wednesday where he announced he is still working on the new EP ‘Certified’ and we can expect it this summer.
If you’re free on Saturday, April 20, get yourselves down to ‘Hip Hop Isn’t Dead’ at The Garage in London where there will be live performances from English Frank, Skinnyman, Klashnekoff, Durrty Goodz, Black The Ripper, Mic Righteous, Logic, Mystro, Genesis Elijah, Jaja Soze and others. The night will hosted by Charlie Sloth, A Squeezy and Big Cakes; plus there will be an open mic competition. See you there!
Mic Righteous has risen steadily from an up and coming underground emcee to gaining positive mainstream success, most recently with tracks ‘Hold It Down’ and ‘Ghost Town’. With the release of his third mixtape ‘Open Mic’ which is currently storming the iTunes chart, The Wrap Up’s Shireen Fenner catches up with Mic to talk watered-down music, attention from the ladies and a secret exclusive…
The Wrap Up: Talk us through the beginning – what was the thought process behind your artist name and do you feel you’ve lived up to it?
Mic Righteous: My original rap name was Mr E; that was a name given to me by my older brother – I looked up to him. It was more of a jungle MC name, so I thought I needed to change it. I was thinking and then the word righteous just came into my head – I’ve always been a fan of mic’s, like Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson and Michael Jordan. I thought Mic Righteous sounded good so I went to my manager and I asked him ‘What does righteous mean?’ he told me what it meant [and he kept the name from then on].
Now I have developed into that character… it was like that name was given to me, I never found the name because I didn’t know what it meant at the time. [Therefore] it’s not a case of ‘have I lived up to it’, it’s ‘am I living up to it?’ I’m not him yet, God keeps putting these trials in front of my way and I keep tackling them, and that will enable me to develop into it.
TWU: Your third offering ‘Open Mic’ is your first offering that isn’t free for fans – why do you feel this EP is worth paying for as opposed to the others?
Mic Righteous: One of the hardest things as an independent artist is [the lack of] money and financial backing. If you want a video to look good, that’s going to cost you thousands of pounds – but we’ll put the thousands of pounds in. That money is coming out of the pockets we have to work and hustle on the streets for.
I do feel like the effort and work I’ve put into my mixtapes is the sort of work and effort that these artists are putting into their albums – and I’m just putting that out for free. That’s costing me a lot of money and I’m not making anything back, but to me it’s never been about the money, it’s always been about the love.
It’s about real hip-hop coming through. People with an opinion will always say ‘we don’t hear real hip-hop’ or ‘people don’t play real music’ – but that is because people don’t support real music or pay for it. So, this is not me saying ‘you guys have got to pay for this’, this is a trial to see if it works. Now’s the time to support real music.
TWU: You’ve expressed the dramas of your life in your lyrics. How hard has that been, or is it therapeutic for you?
Mic Righteous: Pain is just an emotion that’s a reaction to an action that goes on in your mind. The hardest part for me is the sacrifices I have to make. I’m a 22-year-old who has a child; he has a very good mum but unfortunately I can’t be with her no more – I can’t have that life. That’s part of God’s test on me; I have to do what’s right for him.
TWU: In an interview with The Wrap Up last year, you said you knew you would ‘have to water everything down’ eventually to win the public over. Did you follow through with ‘Open Mic’?
Mic Righteous: If you listen to ‘Open Mic’, you’ll hear what I mean – that’s about as watered down as Mic’s going to get. It keeps its credibility and it’s just me playing around with hooks. Not everyone is going to feel that aggression… I’ll never, ever, ever just jump on a Calvin Harris tune; I’ll go to the studio and get a beat made for me. I’ll go in the studio with a guitarist and asked him to mash up some Slipknot and I’ll rap to that. I don’t mind that because I like that kind of music; I wouldn’t mind screaming my head off on a rock beat and going crazy.
TWU: What do you want fans to take away from ‘Open Mic’?
Mic Righteous: I just want them to understand that no matter what, I’m just going to be me – take what you want from it; but understand the work and dedication. I want them to fall in love with it and follow me on the journey.
TWU: Tell us something that fans would be surprised to know?
Mic Righteous: This is just a maybe, so I shouldn’t be saying anything but Shireen I like you and I like what your doing so I’m going to say it regardless of what anyone else has to say… As long as ‘Open Mic’ goes well, there MIGHT be a 30-track mixtape of pure hip-hop bangers. I dunno, I didn’t make it, this guy Mic Righteous did… It MIGHT be released – who knows?
TWU: This is one for the ladies….do you have a girlfriend?
Mic Righteous: A gentleman never tells…
TWU: But you get more female attention now… so how do you deal with it?
Mic Righteous: When I was young I never got female attention, so when I’m out here and I get female attention I lap it all up [laughs]. That’s just the way I am… I love women and I respect them fully. I like it, I can’t lie I really do enjoy it. I like hanging with females, sometimes more than dudes. I know a couple of girls that I can chill with and we get on better than most men.
TWU: Last message to the fans?
Mic Righteous: It’s all love. I’ve got love for every single one of you, old and young. The door is always open for more fans… I don’t even want to label you as fans because you’re not; you’re just people that I love. If you love me then keep listening to what Shireen’s doing because she is a wonderful person and keep reading her articles on The Wrap Up because she’s doing something good.
Melanin 9 dropped his first mixtape ‘High Fidelity’ in 2007 and has since become one of the most respected lyricists around in the UK hip hop scene. Ahead of the release of his debut album ‘Magna Carta,’ Flavour caught up with the rising star to talk music, beliefs, inspirations and more.
In terms of UK hip hop, what do you think about the scene here and the support?
In terms of growth, its come further than it ever has throughout the history of the urban music so to speak. A lot of artists are crossing over overseas and getting collaborations with US artists so it’s definitely grown. A lot of people from all over the world have started to recognise what were doing here. I still believe there isn’t much exposure for a certain type of style here in the hip hop scene. More artists need to be exposed who are doing different things, not all artists do grime, not all artists do dubstep, there’s artists who just speak pure organic hip hop, and I feel the scene needs to support that just a little bit more.
Your music has contained influences and elements from a variety of different individuals and belief systems, including Islamic Supreme Mathematics, David Icke, Malachi Z.York and many others. With such a diverse set of influences, how do you form a cohesive philosophy, and how does this translate into an easily understandable and relevant message in your music?
My music stems from what I do, my life and certain things that I’ve been taught. It comes from all kinds of things taught, from all kind of philosophers from different backgrounds and religions. I’m coming from anything that’s worth exposing to the world. If it makes sense to me I’ll put it in my music. In terms of deciphering, if I make it a bit more accessible lyrically, make it a bit more basic, maybe people will like it a bit more. I know it’s hard to hear what I’m saying at times when the flows a bit rapid and my vocabulary ranges a bit out of the norm. The only way to make it more understandable is to break it down, use more wordplay and more familiar flow.
You are known by both Melanin 9 and the shorter M9. You have previously stated that Melanin 9 represents your identity as a black man, and that the 9 represents you and your people and the journey and struggles of black people as a whole. This is a highly thought provoking choice of name, and yet M9 also stands for a popular handgun. How do you deal with this disconnect and do you ever worry that it sometimes misrepresents you as an individual and an artist?
At first I thought a lot of people would associate me with a handgun and I tried a lot in every single interview to make sure people understood what the M and the 9 meant. At first I was using M9 a lot and I was getting that perception, so I started using Melanin 9 properly, which is why the album is coming out under the proper name. I was getting a little bit of ignorance, but not really now as I’ve built up in my career, people seem to know what it means now. I think people address me as Melanin 9 aka M9 that’s my stage name.
You have done a lot with Triple Darkness. As a group of socially aware and outspoken lyricists, to what extent do you all agree on the messages you want to put out, and how did you find such like-minded artists?
I did a few things with them back in the day; I’m trying to do my own stuff at this point. Like-minded people came from certain places I used to go, hang out. I’d just meet certain guys round my way, people my age, we all rapped the way we rapped and liked a certain type of music, that’s how we found those who were like us. That’s how we built and got collaborations, it all stems from the music, we all like the same kind of things, that why we all rap alike and share the same thoughts.
It seems fortunate that you have been able to work with producers such as Chemo and Beat Butcha in the past, and their beats have added a lot to your music. How important is it to find producers who you work well with, and what do you look for when looking for beats to write over?
Just if it sounds nice. I like nice kicks and snares just like anyone else who makes hip hop would. Nice soul samples, jazz, something smooth is always good to roll with and is the approach I like to go for. I do a lot of searching online, there’s a lot of great producers out there. I’ve found a lot of good producers on Soundcloud, a lot contact me as well on social network and I’m always checking them.
What happens in the future if your current ideologies and beliefs change? What does that mean for the validity of the music you are making now?
My ideologies and beliefs are always growing it always evolves. I don’t limit my perceptions to one thing, I’m always learning, everyday I’m learning something new so that will never happen. I’m always adapting and looking at things differently, always researching. My beliefs are always growing, I don’t believe in one thing, I take whatever makes sense to me and I learn from it. I don’t stick to one religion, I believe in spirituality.
Your soon to be released album is titled ‘Magna Carta’. If you were to create a ‘great charter’ that would apply to the UK hip hop world, and its fans, industry and record labels, what key points would be in it?
Whatever I stand for freedom, spirituality, learning to grow, to read, to explore, to be creative, always try and work on your craft, believe in yourself, be you, be real. Be all the things that would be in the charter, that’s what I stand for.
Can you talk us through the inspiration and the reason behind the name?
I’ve done about 4 mixtapes and a lot of people thought the last releases were albums. A lot of magazines marketed it like it was an album. This is my first album, its all original beats from producers that I like. I wanted to make it the best out of all the other releases so I put a lot of effort into it and it took roughly about a year and a half to make. Hip hop inspired me, the purest form of it, all the people I looked up to when I was young, all new comers like Jay Electronica. I’m always a student of hip hop, so I’m always studying artists and what there doing, and what’s going on in the scene. ILife inspired me, knowledge inspired me, growth inspired me, my people around me inspired me, my daughter inspired me, just life.
What are your plans musically for after the New Year?
I want to drop a new mixtape. I’m working with quite a big guy from LA an artist. Next year you’ll see an album with me and him and a mixtape from me.
There were quite a few video and track releases last week. Let’s start with Political Peak, whose buzz has been massive already this year. ‘Get Lean’ is his latest video and the visuals are really slick, which sees Peak walking round South London rapping. This is only the beginning for the young rapper and shows off his ability…
People’s Army representative Logic asks a lot of questions in ‘Question Everything’, a song that made me re-evaluate a lot of things in life that we just accept as the truth. It’s a very deep track from the conscious rapper who makes us realise we are not as smart as we think sometimes.
MashTown’s Margs compares himself to football player ‘Rooney’ in his new track, showing off some of his skills on the pitch in the video too. It’s a clever track which sees him using skillful lyricism.
Carns Hill, one of UK rap’s finest producers, brought out the second installment to ‘OT’ – ‘OT2’. He released the video to the intro which sees Blade Brown, Youngs Teflon and Mental K spitting some real life street bars in this hustler’s anthem. You can get the 18 track mixtape ‘OT2’ from iTunes now.
Rapper Fuze had some fantastic news last week after his track ‘Too Much Swagger’ dropped featuring Sneakbo, which is an extremely catchy track that would fit perfectly in a club. He then signed to Alwayz Recordings, the independent label responsible for some of the UK’s biggest talents such as Wretch 32 and Chip. I can guarantee there will be much more to expect from this rising rapper.
Rap duo Krept & Konan released with the video to their track ‘Numb (I Can’t Feel My Face)’ produced by Rymez (‘Heatwave’). This is definitely going to do well as a summer club anthem.
Ratlin’s ‘Crown Me’ mixtape was one that got a lot of people talking. ‘Back On My Bulls**t’ is one of the strongest tracks on the tape and Ratlin released the video featuring a hook from singer Vee.
Mic Righteous gave an outstanding and passionate performance on SB.TV’s new #3rdDegree series, and Mic is the first one on there. The Margate rapper stuns with this performance, but it’s no surprise as he always does.
S.A.S Mega and Mayhem along with two thirds of Eurogang, Bigz and Skrilla Kid Villain took to Tim Westwood’s crib and absolutely killed the freestyle session. I think this is one of the best I have seen this year…
It has been over a decade since the crew first launched in the early 2000’s and last Thursday saw them reunite for the So Solid Crew Reunion Tour. The tour sold out and this was no surprise as the crew were instrumental in the development of the UK music scene. In particular, ’21 Seconds’ went straight to No.1, proving that this type of ‘urban’ music could reach commercial success and is still a well-known song in pop culture…
Ms Dynamite joined the crew for track ‘Envy’ getting the audience hyped to see the female MC joining the crew. Chip also joined them on stage and you could tell he was excited to be on stage with the crew who inspired him. Skepta unfortunately was meant to be performing with Megaman on ‘We Begin Things’ but police would not allow him into the venue.
Godfather of grime Wiley leaked what is set to be his last album ‘The Ascent’ nearly two weeks before its release date. His decision to do it was due to iTunes not letting him change something on the album and communication problems with his management. Let’s hope his album sales still rocket as he deserves it.
Known for his hot freestyles and well-respected tracks, and with a constantly growing street buzz, Nines has always supported and represented his NW home of Church Road to the fullest. Unfortunately he is now reportedly in prison at Wormwood Scrubs for reasons unknown and unconfirmed at present. He tweeted “If it’s peak for me @ court make sure you give my new mixtape 2 skinny black and dem n***rs make sure I hear dat on da yard.” Let’s hope he’s out soon and we hear it too.
One of UK raps respected Fekky joined Charlie Sloth for Fire In The Booth, proving why he has earned this status and it’s not going anywhere. He lays down hard, truthful bars lighting up the booth.
Pound Sterling dropped his ‘Last Man Standing’ mixtape which sees a solid 19 tracks and contains some strong features from Skepta, Fekky and Jaja Soze. The tape shows his elevation and progress as an artist keeping the real, authentic rap there.
G FrSH released another video to a track off his forthcoming ‘Legoman 2’ mixtape. This time we see Sincere and Fekky join him for ‘18k’ with all of them dropping some big heavy-duty bars.
South London’s Political Peak has been on his grind, releasing quite a few videos recently. We saw him refix Drake’s ‘Started From The Bottom’ over a week ago. A day later and wasting no time he dropped motivational track ‘Get Money, F**k B***hes’ which saw another STR88CASH representative Kerz join him.
Rap Up UK this time look at young rapper Geko. From messaging K Koke from the age of around 11 and sending him tracks to going on UStream with him to make his voice heard and the next day joining USG. The documentary talks to his fans, USG, Ard Adz and Sho Shallow where they talk about his hunger, him being inspiring to the next generation and how he is going to be a success.
Colours is back with a new street track It’s Going Down spitting some heavy bars over a nice bassy beat. Colours should be bringing out some new material very soon including a mixtape.
I hit G Shock Sessions on Friday evening, the first one of 2013 and this was definitely one not to be missed. With a heavy-duty line up, people braved the rain to head down to the shop in East London and catch the live acts which included Scrufizzer, Saskilla, Mic Righteous, Dru Blu, McLean and Trilla…
When Shystie dropped the ‘Control It’ video featuring Azealia Banks last Sunday evening (March 3) to positive feedback, no one could have expected that her (ex?) friend Azealia was talking with her label about removing the video from the net. Whatever reasons she had for this, the New York diva did not come across well, as most people were backing Shystie and the video was re-uploaded. ‘Control It’ comes from Shy’s forthcoming ‘Pink Mist’ EP.
There was a lot of new music and videos out last week. We heard Wretch 32’s new single featuring singer Shakka. The track is called ‘Blackout’ and is the first tune to be heard from Wretch’s new album, giving us a little taster of what to expect. The album is expected to be released at the end of 2013.
Scorcher’s latest project ‘Simply The Best Vol 3’ was released in December last year and was heavily rated. A newly-released video sees him and Fekky going in hard over a trap instrumental called ‘One Time’ produced by Slic Vic.
In the lead up to the release of his single ‘Lay Down Your Weapons’ featuring Rita Ora which came out yesterday (March 10) K Koke did a bit of promo, which included an SB.TV twitter hijack, a USG cypher from himself, Aystar, Geko, Squingy and Lefty and a music video for ‘Do Dis Ting’, dedicated to the USG supporters. ‘Lay Down Your Weapons’ got to No.17 in the charts last night.
The USG team’s youngest member Geko along with their newest recruit Aystar dropped the video to ‘Play Around’, which sees the two proving that even though they are young, they can go in and lay down bars along with the best of them.
Sho Shallow and Ard Adz revealed the tracklisting to the general public for their new EP ‘G.H.E.T.T.O’ which is set to drop on Tuesday March 12 and will see 13 brand new tracks from the duo. Their video ‘Brixton Boy’ was due to be out last night, but due to technical difficulties it didn’t get released – I’m sure it will be out soon.
Link-Up TV put together a documentary on UK rap recently. The documentary was done in light of the UK rap scene gaining a lot of attention and to praise its success. It looked at the past, present and future and talked to rappers including Wretch 32, Mike GLC and Giggs. Make sure you check it out.
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