Posts tagged ‘UK Rap Rundown’

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December 19, 2012

MTV The Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]

Yesterday Clement Marfo took to Twitter to explain to what a straggler was, making myself and others laugh as he described Caroline Flack as the perfect example of one. Take note! “‪#stragglers a woman who remains at a bar long after the more attractive women have left/been taken home by men. Considered to be last resort…

“‪#stragglers a woman who has slept/dated with 3 or more men in the industry… and if this is you; I’m sorry luv, but you are a straggler!

“‪#stragglers a woman who expects a lift home just because you live in the same area… ‘You see that night bus, it’s got your name on it!’”

On to the music; there were a few free mixtapes released last week. Firstly, one of the finest MC’s in the UK Genesis Elijah released ‘I Ain’t Even Charging Bruv 2’. With seven tracks, the tape includes one of my personal favourites ‘Underground King’ and features come from Context, Loudmouth Melvin, Pyro Barz, Dream Mclean and Sibling Jointz.

He also dropped the visuals to one of the tracks, entitled ‘What I’m On’. The video was shot at the ‘Hip Hop Isn’t Dead’ night held a few weeks ago at Brixton Jamm and features English Frank, Mic Righteous, Skinnyman and more in the video.

Geko dropped his first official mixtape ‘Voice Of The Future’ last week. The 15-year-old from Manchester and the youngest USG member has impressed many with this release, showcasing his solid flow and content way above his years, which many can relate to. This should cement Geko as one to watch in the UK rap scene.

Show N Prove has produced for some of UK rap’s heavyweights including Wretch 32, K Koke, Benny Banks, Lowkey and more. Last week saw him release the free download ‘Show N Prove Instrumentals Vol 2’. He reportedly already has tracks lined up in 2013 with Tinie Tempah, Professor Green, Dot Rotten, Roll Deep and Giggs.

Micall Parknsun gave us another video last week; ‘Grade & Liquor’ comes from his forthcoming ‘Me Myself & Akai’ album which is to be released in January 2013.

UK hip-hop MC Big Cakes dropped the video to ‘4 Elephants’ where he talks us through his grievances about the rap game now and how many artists are fake. This track is taken from the ‘CCC’ album.

This combination of artists is beautiful on this one; Squeeks was joined by singer Tom Prior and MckNasty on the drums for their live session of ‘I Ain’t Gonna Beg’. The levels were high from all three artists in this acoustic version. MckNasty also released his first mixtape 12.12.12 last week.

Respected Brixton-bred rappers DVS and Jaja Soze went to Westwood’s Crib recently to lay down a freestyle. PDC’s Jaja Soze was first up and laid down some deep bars over a mellow beat, with him passing the mic to DVS who goes in deep too. They then go in over Juicy J’s ‘Bandz A Make Her Dance’.

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December 12, 2012

MTV The Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]

On Tuesday I went down to Music Is My Drug, a live music showcase which takes place weekly in east London. Blizzard and Lady Lykez were two rappers performing on the night; they received the biggest reception from the audience, who seemed to really take to them. Lykez came on before Blizzard who was last – they had brilliant stage presence and got people moving…

Dappy and his on-off girlfriend have been at it again on twitter; Dappy is currently on tour across the country and his partner seems to think he’s been having too much fun with his groupies.

“Why don’t you just f**k off with your groupies and seriously leave me alone. Ur sad as F**k…” she tweeted. She also threatened to ‘Do a Rob Kardashian’, then hacked his Twitter with some very crude and vulgar tweets.

S.A.S aka Mega and Mayhem dropped their new mixtape ‘Coming To America II’ last week along with the visuals to the track ‘Drug Flow’. Hosted By Big Mike, DJ Snips & DJ Allure, it was only right that they had a follow up to ‘Coming To America’ which really got them heard during their Dipset days.

As Ratlin geared up for the release of his mixtape ‘Crown Me’, putting out a video on Friday for the track ‘Crunch Time’ featuring his brother Shak Corelone. ‘Crown Me’ is out today and you can download it from GRM Daily.

Haze was joined by Sincere and Ghetts as he drops the visuals to ‘Where I’m From’ which is taken from his recently released mixtape ‘Loyalty, Honour, Respect’ and sees him take us on a tour of London.

SN1’s Giggs and Waka Flocka Flame took to the studio again whilst Waka was over in London for their second collaboration ‘Lemme Get Dat’. SB.TV popped down and got some visuals for the Bayoz Music produced track.

Joe Grind had something interesting for us this week as last night he released the inventive visual to ‘I’m The S**t!!!’ showing clips of his fans who filmed themselves for the video.

Yungen picks up a bottle and drowns his sorrows in ‘Off The Record’, produced by Steel Banglez. This is interesting material, as he raps about the bad times he’s been through for the first three minutes before singer Ari takes over for the remaining two minutes.

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December 4, 2012

MTV The Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]

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…

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November 23, 2012

MTV The Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown

I hit Electric in Brixton on Wednesday night for the 2 Chainz show. Not really being into his music, I was pleasantly surprised to see him put on a good show to a packed crowd – but I was more interested in the supporting acts from the UK; J Spades and Mic Righteous. The long queue meant it was half full when J Spades was on, but by the time Mic got on the room was full and he was bursting with energy. He really won people over with ‘Sack City’…

Yesterday (Sunday) I went down to K Koke’s video shoot for his new track from his ‘I Ain’t Perfect’ album, which features fellow Roc Nation signee Rita Ora. The whole USG team were there and South London’s Ard Adz had a special role to play.

I talked to K Koke about the track and the video as he explained, “the single is called ‘Lay Down’, I’ve been working on this feature with Rita Ora. The video is based in prison and it’s just about prison life, talking to the youth and letting them know the roadside is not the way to go. It’s like a remix to ‘Listen Little Man.’”

We talk briefly about the chemistry between the two in the studio, with Koke saying, “Rita’s proper. She’s good stuff; she’s bubbly and easy going so we get along well.”

With the album out next spring, the lyricist talks about how he has progressed: “’I Ain’t Perfect’ is going to show growth, from ‘Pure Koke 1’ to ‘Pure Koke Vol 3’ there have been steps. ‘I Ain’t Perfect’ is going to be that big step that cements me in history.”

One of UK hip-hop’s rawest and realest MC’s released a video last week. We saw Genesis Elijah tell us why he is the ‘Underground King’ in his new track, explaining his views about the industry: “They don’t wanna put Elijah on lists that’s fine, I ain’t p***ed, but don’t act like the UK hip-hop scene ain’t mine when it is…”

Last week radio 1Xtra’s DJ Target premiered one of the leading tracks off Ratlin’s new ‘Crown Me’ EP, which is set to drop on December 10. The track entitled ‘Roley’ has a nice electronic, upbeat vibe and it’s going to be exciting to see what other tracks Ratlin has in store for us on the EP.

Bayoz Muzik dropped a street track ‘Soldiers’ featuring an impressive line up of J Spades,Blade Brown and Youngs Teflon. The track will be on his forthcoming ‘Death Of A Beatmaker’ EP.

Until next week!

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October 16, 2012

MTV Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]

It’s been a busy week for me as I headed to various events that were happening around London, one of which being RWD’s 11th birthday party on Saturday. Room 1 saw sets from DJ Target, Logan Sama, Fonti and Bushkin as well a live set from Boy Better Know. Room 2 saw a hip-hop takeover as DJ Semtex and Shortee Blitz and others spinned the decks. I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, including Clement Marfo and Roll Deep’s Manga…

In news, it seems that Wiley has signed another album deal for his upcoming album ‘The Ascent’, which is said to be released in February next year. Tracks on the album will include his hit No.1 single ‘Heatwave’ and second single ‘Can You Hear Me (Ayayaya)’ featuring Skepta, JME and Ms D. Standout features on the tracklist include Emeli Sande, Angel, Kano, Chip, Ice Kid and a mysterious line up of seven grime MC’s – I wonder who will make up the magic seven?

Fans were disappointed when Giggs delayed his video release by a day for NY who released her album yesterday, proving what a good friend he is. Watch out for the video ‘What N****s Want’ tonight at 8pm as it will be released via Rap City TV. I know I’m excited to hear what Giggs has in store, are you?

Charlie Sloth recently announced on his BBC 1Xtra show that he had a meeting with the MOBO’s bosses and they had agreed to let ‘The UK Rap Anthem’ be performed live at the award show. This reminds me of the epic moment when Tinchy Stryder’s ‘Game Over’ was performed for the first time there. ‘The UK Rap Anthem’ was made to celebrate the power and variety of the UK rap scene in 2012 and unites rappers from across the UK together on one track. It includes Mic Righteous, English Frank, Madhat McGore, Shotty Horroh, Flow Dem and more.

Rap City released ‘The Trap’ movie, a 48-minute piece written by Arnold Jorge, aka A Squeezy. It features UK rappers J Spades, Dun D, Margs and Fekky. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s definitely worth a watch.

Joe Black surprised me with a mixtape last week! I didn’t expect there to be a ‘Realionaire 1.5’; I expected the north London rapper to jump straight to number 2. His first ‘Realionaire’ mixtape caused quite a buzz last year and I can’t wait for the next one. In the meantime, check out the free 20-track mixtape featuring some of rap’s heavyweights including Blade Brown, Squeeks, Margs and Fekky.

In other news, Dru Blu told everyone why you can’t mess with him and his ‘Clique’ as he spat some heavy bars over the original G.O.O.D Music instrumental. We also saw two other videos be released recently; one was Cashtastic’s ‘Alarm Clock’ and the other saw Political Peak release the video to ‘Jump Off’.

Until next week!

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September 24, 2012

MTV Wrap Up – UK Rap Rundown [News]

Hey guys. It looks like winter is back; hopefully my news will cheer you up on this gloomy day! On Saturday night (22nd) I went to the East Ender Festival in Shoreditch where newbies such as the Bakery Boys, XO Man and Joel Culpepper joined some old-school heads like Blak Twang, Mystro and TY. I had a chat with TY about why events like these are important to the scene… He said: “Hip-hop events like this are important because in a time when mainstream pop-rap is so readily accessible in the charts, you need somewhere where the real lovers of all forms of hip-hop music can see artists from all over the world on the same stage.”

Saturday’s co-hosts Supa Dupa Fly said: “It’s important to put out quality hip-hop from the UK. Having legends TY and Blak Twang on the line-up made it really special for us. We plan to do more events like this – watch out for the Jazzy Jeff show at Jazz Cafe on October 15!

The booking of Doom had nothing to do with us, but its big shame and let down for the audience that he did a no-show. This just makes us want to support British music even more – TY, Blak Twang, Big Ted and Emily Rawson saved the day!”

I also picked up Mystro’s debut album ‘Mystrogen’ from him on Saturday night. The album reflects the set of skills he is renowned for; it is witty, humorous and has a great mix of wordplay, punch lines and social commentary – I think it is set to be a classic. It’s now available from all good digital outlets and includes features and production from Si Spex, Show N Prove, Mr Thing, Big Al and Homeboy Sandman.

Let’s take a look at tracks and videos of the week now. Genesis Elijah released ‘Underground King’, an honest and hard-hitting track where he spits his views on the music industry. Klashnekoff alsoreleased his highly-anticipated album ‘F**k The Long Talk’ last month and last week he gave us one of the tracks ‘Got To Be Right’ produced by Show N Prove to stream.

Ard Adz and Sho Shallow were due to open up for the Maybach Music Tour earlier this month; sadly, it was postponed. However, the pair covered their track ‘Actin Up’ with a version of their own in true Windy Music style. The duo also visited Link-Up TV for a session, giving us some deep and honest bars.

Melanin 9 released a video to his second track ‘Organized Democracy’, which is also a trailer for his ‘Magna Carta’ album which will be out on December 3.

Lastly, USG’s boss Squingy released the video to ‘Deeper’ from his ‘Wrighty’s 1st Son Part 2’ mixtape. I was a part of the video shoot so see if you can spot me in the visuals…

Until next week!

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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.”

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August 8, 2012

MTV Wrap Up – The UK Rap Rundown

Last week I informed you that Tim Westwood had put in a complaint to YouTube to have the Mic Righteous ‘Sack City’ audio track removed. Mic didn’t let this bother him, because on July 31, he released the music video he had filmed whilst out in Ayia Napa for Fire On The Beach. The ‘Sack City’ video was filmed by SB.TV and included cameos from Wiley, Mz Bratt, Sneakbo and more. The video has now been made private; now the question is – is this due to another complaint from Westwood…

Now it’s time to look at the standout tracks and videos from last week. The first thing to catch my eye was Haze’s ‘Freedom Writers’ featuring Renee Soul, Mike GLC, Logic, and Cerose. The track is a powerful one and comes from the ‘Loyalty. Honor. Respect’ mixtape from Haze.

Ard Adz and Sho Shallow really are putting in the work, as I’m seeing a lot of new tracks and visuals from them. Their recent one ‘Love Live Life’ is a reflective and thoughtful track from the South London rappers.

London Ivy worked with respected producer Nutty P for his brand new track ‘Do You Wanna Ride’, which will be on the rapper’s forthcoming free project ‘C.A.R.C.D’ (The Conquer and Rule CD).

UK rap maestro Sneakbo joined Vybz Kartel to provide the first remix of Orange Hill’s new single ‘Pon Time’, giving the track a homegrown flavour.

North London rapper Squeeks is the second person on the GRM Daily website to release a Daily Duppy. He uses the numbers 1 to 10 in some of his first bars, showing off his lyrical skills. Meanwhile, Young Spray talks us through how he has become the man he is today on the new track ‘Came Up’ which is the first release from his forthcoming album ‘Hard 2 Kill part 2’, set to come out on August 27.

Influential artists Akala and English Frank have joined together for ‘Educated Tug S**t’. The message behind the track? If you’re not educated and have no principles, street reputation and living a gangster life means nothing. The video shows clips of the ‘Spartan Fam’ exercise group in the background, with the rest kept simple.

Lastly this collaboration is the one that’s been on many peoples lips for the last couple of months. Was it going to happen? It seems the answer is yes as a 17-second teaser was released on the Benny Banks official channel. ‘Who’s The Daddy’ featuring Dappy should be released in full in the next few weeks – keep your eyes and ears peeled!

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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 Frank, G 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…

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