Posts tagged ‘UK’

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October 23, 2012

MTV Wrap Up: UK Rap Rundown [News]

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…

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October 9, 2012

MTV Wrap UP: UK Rap Rundown [News]

Nas was in London last week to play three intimate shows and brought Wretch 32 and George the Poet for support, which saw them both perform at one of Nas’ shows in Shoreditch, showing the exceptional lyrical talent the UK has to offer…

Meanwhile, one of UK raps most talked about artists at the moment will soon have something new for us; J Spades is hitting the studio tonight as he announced on Twitter that he will be finishing off an exciting new track: “Studio tonight to finish up that new  ‪@REAL_JSPADES and ‪@WackaFlocka tune! ‪#Bricksquad ‪#MMMP! ‪#MMMP2 coming soon!” As he mentioned in the tweet, his new mixtape ‘More Money More Pagans 2’ will be coming real soon.

Chip also took to Twitter to tell us when his anticipated mixtape ‘London Boy’ is due out and also revealed details on the next project that he has in store for us: ”‪#LondonBoy 25th December !!! FREE MIXTAPE ‪#PizzaBoy feat. ‪@MeekMill up next… Shutting the clubs DOWN!!!”

I previously filled you in on Rapper Tag UK; an online cypher that started with Mystro. The last one ended with M9 aka Melanin 9; their latest video is up now and sees Hackney MC Cyrus Malachi spit some bars. It is also Rapper Tag’s first birthday – we wish them many more years to come!

As well as K. Koke’s ‘Pure Koke Vol. 3 ‘dropping last week, the USG rapper also got airplay for his debut single ‘Turn Back’ featuring soulful singer Maverick Sabre. The track is about his struggles and samples Sting’s track ‘Shape Of My Heart,’ which Nas also used on ‘The Message’. The video will be dropping soon.

USG boss Squingy was joined by members Exo and Lefty to bring us the theme tune ‘Money On My Mind’ to the forthcoming movie ‘Fedz’. The soundtrack will also include tracks from J Spades, Giggs, Margs, DVS, Joe Black and more.

South London’s Colours Miyagi has returned from a short hiatus to bring us a brand new track ‘Burn’, showing us that even though he has been away, listeners are “locked down now I’m back”. His lyricism and flow has developed into something more special; other rappers can learn a thing or two from this one.

Political Peak has dropped two tracks this week in the lead up to his ‘Dreams 2 Reality’ mixtape. ‘Wise Up’ was the first one to be heard featuring Ard Adz and Blacker. The next was ‘Dreamin’, an emotional track featuring former Sugababes member Keisha Buchanan who add a nice touch to the song with her strong vocals.

Until next Monday!

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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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September 11, 2012

MTV Wrap UP: The UK Rap Rundown [News]

I’m back after a week’s holiday in the beautiful country of Croatia for Outlook Festival, where I caught Akala’s set and the Don’t Flop Battle alongside much more. I had no technology out there, which was wonderful, thus missing my last week’s rap column. I’m back now and here to fill you with this week’s happenings in the wonderful world of rap…

Whilst I was away a new Rapper Tag UK came out. Rapper Tag has been going on for just under a year and is an online cypher that started off with Mystro. You get a wide array of the UK’s finest spitting their bars before tagging another deserving rapper to join in.

Dubbledge tagged Iron Brayd for the latest one, who at the end appears to tag in North London’s M9 aka Melanin 9… watch out for his Rapper Tag video.

Political Peak released his video for ‘Tears In The Rain’ featuring Exo who sings the hook. The track is taken from his forthcoming mixtape ‘Dreams To Reality’, which is set to drop on September 29. You can catch Political Peak supporting the Maybach Music tour on Wednesday.

Ratlin and Squeeks joined forces for their new video ‘Not Gonna Change’ featuring singer Karina, bringing us into their world and discussing the past and present. True Tiger released their EP ‘Eye Of The Tiger Vol 2’ with one noticeable track for me called ‘Even In Death’, which hears Mic Righteous spitting over the producers beat.

Rap City recently released a video from their ‘Lost Files’ series. ‘Not Guilty’ comes from Joe Black’s ‘Realionaire’ mixtape which came out last year. We should be seeing Joe’s ‘Realionaire 2’ soon as he recently tweeted:, “NO MORE TWEETS UNTIL #REALIONAIRE2 IS READY.”

The multi-talented artist/radio presenter/battle rapper Mr 13 brought us a video release called ‘Kick Back Part 2’, which was shot at the 2012 Nottinghill Carnival and comes from his recent EP ‘Pain Is Inevitable, Suffering Is Optional’.

I was at the USG clothing shoot on last week with Squingy, Lefty, K. Koke and Exo for their new merchandise collaboration with Avit Clothing. Squingy was also shooting parts of his music video to the track ‘Deeper’ from his ‘Wrighty’s 1st Son Part 2’ mixtape. Watch out for the music video to ‘Deeper’ coming soon!

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, head down to Peterborough for the Boombap Hip-Hop Festival, which takes place between the 14-16 September and features artists such as Kyza Smirnoff, Dabbla, Phi-Life Cypher and Jehst.

Until next time!

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August 24, 2012

MTV Wrap Up: The UK Rap Rundown [News]

In last week’s column I gave you some info on Professor Green’s Twitter rants. This week, he and Akala went head-to-head with one another on the social networking site. Pro Green hit out at Akala after he used him as an example of white rappers depicting black culture in music, referencing Pro Green’s ‘Jungle’ negatively. Akala threw Maverick Sabre’s name in, who featured on the track, during the heated twitter discussion which led him to release a statement – read more here…

Clement Marfo also went on Twitter to show his frustration at his record label recently, explaining that him and his band The Frontline’s album should have been released last autumn; yet there is still no release date. He then leaked five of his album tracks for free to his fans.

Last Monday I headed down to the Jump Off Finals at Scala, London. The MC battle was a very close one, but in the end Tenchoo was the winner of the 5K prize. The producer battle wasn’t quite as close and most people had decided on the winner Loko (Black Ice) from the first round. Dance crew Prototype won the 10K prize, the biggest of the night. Congratulations to all of the contestants for getting so far.

Squeeks has been releasing a lot of visuals this month; this week alone he has put out two. The first one is ‘Meet K’ where he talks us through a story of a female. The second one ‘I Got You’ was released yesterday and is a refix of The Weeknd’s ‘Rolling Stone’ – it’s definitely one for the ladies!

Wretch 32 released his freestyle ‘Drinking In The Sky’ featuring Chip, giving us a teaser of what to expect from his mixtape ‘Wretchercise’ the next day. This was his first full-length project in a year since his album ‘Black & White’. I have to say every one of the 17 tracks on it is strong and makes me excited for his next album.

SN1’s Gunna Dee also tells us why he likes ‘Bad Girls’ on the first video from his ‘Happy Hustler’s Day’ mixtape. The track features Angel who gives us a catchy hook.

There was said to be an interesting mixture of people in the studio last week as Shystie, Scorcher, Exo and Red Skull Beats joined Vince Kidd for what I believe will be a remix of one of his tracks – as usual, keep your ears and eyes peeled ‘til next time!

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August 15, 2012

MTV Wrap Up – The UK Rap Rundown [News]

To kick this week’s Rap Rundown off, lets talk gossip. Professor Green went on a bit of a Twitter rant last week, lashing out at his label, writing: “Why would your own record label hinder you? Answers on a postcard.” He then went on to say “Dignified silence is pointless. A rushed second single, the ‘Remedy’ video a month late and now similar problems with the ‘Avalon’ video unfold…”

Answering some people’s tweets, he added: “Just to reiterate something for the stupid, my problem isn’t that they take that money, it’s that there are people not working for it.” Obviously he was frustrated, but he did point out that “there are a lot of people who are amazing at their jobs @ EMI.” I think Pro G was just about to quit smoking and was rather stressed at the time, so maybe his label won’t take it to heart!

London has been buzzing with energy and major events since the Olympics began. On Saturday I went down to Puma Yard in Brick Lane to catch one of my favourite bands, Clement Marfo + The Frontline. They wowed the crowd yet again, bursting with energy and getting us all moshing. Professor Green headlined the gig; but we got a surprise as Usain Bolt turned up to DJ with Manny Norte. I also attended the RWD x Adidas party, which was at a secret location in Shoreditch. Performances there came from Wretch 32, Scorcher, Bashy and more…

The USG team have kept the tracks coming strong, with Squingy releasing a track featuring Preecha entitled ‘Everyday’. Their youngest member Geko also released a net video for the track ‘Life Ain’t Easy’. It’s safe to say that the team are definitely putting in the work.

 With the Olympics closing ceremony taking place and the Paralympics due to start, Calibar showed some love for his hometown, giving us ‘It’s A London Thing’ featuring Splurgeboys. We also saw an SB.TV Warm Up Session from him over the ‘Stay Schemin’ beat, where he spat: “Excuse me for being late on this beat, I’ve been away for half a year, meeting after meeting just planning my career.”Squeeks talked about the developments in his music career when he dropped the visuals to ‘Changes’. Political Peak had a similar theme in mind as he talked progress and perseverance on his new track ‘Tables Turned’, which is the first track from his forthcoming mixtape ‘Dreams 2 Reality’ which will be available on September 1.The rapper everyone has been talking about, J Spades, has been in the studio with Tinchy Stryder and they have already shot the video to their new track titled ‘Lead Role’ – make sure you watch out for that one coming soon!

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August 6, 2012

Tinie Tempah Talks Stereotyping To More Magazine

Tinie Tempah wants people to not stereotype ‘urban’ artists, saying not all of them are from broken homes.

“I was well brought up, my parents are still together. When people listen to hip hop, they think everybody’s from a broken home; that it only appeals to people from broken homes and those on drugs. But the majority probably do live with their mum and dad. They probably do go to good schools, and I just want to represent that.”

On his official website biography he talks about growing up on the Aylesbury Estate in South East London…

“London is one of the only places in the world where you can live in a council block and see a beautiful semi-detached house across the street. Growing up around that was inspirational, it kept me motivated.”

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July 31, 2012

MTV Wrap Up – The UK Rap Rundown

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!

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July 9, 2012

Chris Brown Tops UK Album Chart with ‘Fortune’

Multi-platinum, Grammy award winning, superstar Chris Brown has reached the top of the charts, securing his first ever UK number one for his fifth studio album ‘FORTUNE’

The singer sold almost 30,000 albums, outselling his closest competitor, Maroon 5’s Overexposed, by 11,000 copies .The album features his UK number one single ‘Turn Up The Music’ as well as his current release ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’. It is Chris’ fastest selling album to date.

He tweeted:

“I’m thankful for my fans! I love you guys! I appreciate the hard work my fans put in every day! ‪#FORTUNE”

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