'From London To Berlin' - Manny Moscow (free download)

Don't ask how he does it - just accept that he does. London's Manny Moscow, hot on the heels of 'Live From The Kremlin', has dropped 'From London To Berlin' - a 21 track mixtape from himself and Germany's DJ Easy.

The mixtape kicks off with two tracks from his ‘The Three Piece Exkursion’ EP before moving onto a selection of exclusives, produced tracks and freestyles featuring guest verses from LATE, Conman and Shepherd and production from Mr. Bills, Spectral, 9Lives, J Romes, Loko from Hill Productions and of course Tricksta who makes these things happen the way they do.

If I had to draw a comparison (and I'm not in the habit of doing this) then I'd say fans of Klashnekoff should grab a download to hear some serious, lyrical street observations.

'Certified Banger Presents On The Radar' - VA (free download)

Certified Banger, a blog (almost) dedicated to the art of Hip Hop in the UK proudly presents this 21 track compilation of some up-and-coming artists and their music. Taking in many different angles of UK Hip Hop 'On The Radar' attempts to bring some new music to your ears, all for the princely sum of nothing.

It features never heard befores, heard before but hard to get hold ofs and tracks already available on the respective artists own pieces of work. With 21 tracks, you're bound to find something you like, and for free, you can go much wrong by downloading it and giving it at least one virtual spin.

This compilation should appeal to Hip Hop fans and people of other persuasions alike, so if you fall into one of those categories (and I think you do), you should right click, left click, save target as with the quickness.

Once you have and you've heard it, be sure to keep coming back here for more features on, and free downloads from the artists involved. Check the 'comments' section in the song tags for the artists website addresses and give them a shout. Drop me a line at certifiedbanger@gmail.com and let them know how you feel about this (wonderful) release.

Download it now! (alternate link) - WinRAR files

Download a ZIP file

Tracklisting:

1. Queens English - Mind The Rap (produced by Skinnista aka Nu Balance)
2. Safron - Nightbreed remix ft. Kyza, Jehst & Klashnekoff
3. emceeKillah - The Guns of Britain (produced by Zoutr)
4. B'Tol & Jagos - Finish This (Rassclat Rappers) ft. Da Herbalis of FDB
5. JVF Clique - Those Dudes (produced by Pappa Doc)
6. Spee 69 - Lemonade (produced by Jay Large)
7. Grimlok - Magic (produced by Shears)
8. Revilo - Mr. No Names
9. TLG - Let Me Be ft. Reggiimental, Ras Supa, Biggaman,S.C, Joe Gutta & Rukus
10. Skillit - Talk of the Town (produced by Cable)
11. Conman - Streets Unsafe (freestyle)
12. Loudmouth - Real Talk (produced by Loudmouth)
13. Manny Moscow - You Can't Tempt Me ft. Shepherd
14. Size8 - Watchin Me (freestyle)
15. Skandal - Venom (produced by Chemo)
16. Truth - Been a Long Time (produced by Prolifik)
17. Late - The Villain Man (freestyle)
18. Antmysta - Taste of Ink (produced by Shadowville)
19. Beit Nun - The Music (produced by Illskilz)
20. Reps - Spit ft. Jid Sames (produced by OSTR)
Bonus Track: Uncle Dicky - Neighbourhood Star remix ft. Witchdoctor Wise

A big thanks goes to all the artists and label peeps who contributed to this, without you it couldn't be done - hope it's all helpful promo for you!

If you are an artist or PR or whoever and want your tracks on the next one, start emailing me!

'Certified Banger Presents On The Radar'

Download 'Certified Banger Presents On The Radar' here from Monday 1st December!

'Certified Banger Presents On The Radar' is a 20 track, free to download compilation of UK Hip Hop featuring JVF Clique, Revilo, Spee 69, Jay Large, Conman, Safron, Antmysta, Loudmouth, Manny Moscow, Queens English, Late, Skandal, Chemo, Truth and more!

'Certified Banger Presents On The Radar' - a collection of free Hip Hop tracks from UK artist.

Wolftown Wednesdays #3

This was in my inbox this morning so it seems fitting to put this up as this week's Wolftown Wednesday:

It's a whole mixtape this week courtesy of 10Shott's twin Conman and Belgian DJ Makasi.

Download it here!

Wolftown Wednesdays #2

The second in the series where I give you a classic Wolftown track from one of their many quality releases. Last week Tricksta chose, this week I get to.

I'm choosing from 'Extended Family Hustlers Edition' which is hosted by 10Shott's twin brother Conman and Pennsylvanian MC Big Skeem. The CD was put out by Wolftown and The Hip Hop Village. I'm actually going to choose two tracks this week because they're both so good:

Big Wayne & Conman - 'Why Do U Rap?' (on which bass voiced The Streets collaborator chats sense about reasons for rapping)

Conman - 'Bonifide Bredrin' (on which he shows much love for Tricksta and Late)

Wolftown Wednesdays #1

The first in the Wolftown Wednesdays series sees Wolftown main man Tricksta picking out a tune from the vast back catalogue:

Late - 'So Serious' ft. Conman & Size8

This is taken from Late's excellent '2Thousand & Late' which was a mix CD released in the run up to the release of his latest album 'Below Street Level'. It features loads of Wolftown and SPC guests and is every bit as good as the album, if not better!

'100% Exclusive' - VA - Tricksta (compilation/mix CD review)

Back once again for the very third time; UK Runnings and The Urban Shop drop a bigger and better CD. This time every track is new and never heard before, hence the name: '100% Exclusive'. Now who else could do that? No-one, only Tricksta. To add to the largeness there’s a DVD that almost deserves a review of it own.

Not only has Tricksta orchestrated the whole thing, he’s also produced exactly half of the tracks on here, recorded most of it and then released it on his own label: the famous, 50+ release deep, Wolftown Recordings. Anyone who’s ever listened to any of the UK Runnings releases knows what to expect from ‘100% Exclusive’ and they wont be disappointed.

Featuring UK wide artists as well as the home grown Wolftown talents this CD is chock full of bangers. I’m not going to list the artists involved but you can click this link to see the full track listing. If you’re into discovering new music then listening to this wouldn’t be a bad thing, many of the acts here are of a high quality but as yet are not too well known – once more, Tricksta is one step ahead.

The DVD features videos from Million Dan, Supar Novar, 10Shott, Conman and more. It features interviews with Late, 10Shott, Kid Rad, Jai Boo and more. You also get a tour of the HHB.com radio headquarters and Tricksta’s crib. It’s an entertaining documentary about the UK’s hardest working; it had me hooked. It also features some art and some snowboarding. Here’s to more DVD’s like this.

All in all: buy this and you’ll get your money’s worth. 30 great tracks that you won’t find anywhere else and an hour’s worth of visual entertainment. Can’t say fairer than that.

Check out some of the tracks from this CD in the player to the right.

'Street Karma' - Dap-C & Dirty Sweet (album review)

Armed with a plethora of guests Dap-C alongside producer Dirty Sweet brings you ‘Street Karma’ on NGU records. This could be an album but apparently it’s not - it’s a mixtape.

After the intro (which features real scratching - yay) proceedings proceed with Blak Twang featuring ‘Music Game’ which is good. Then his NGU compadres drop in on the well produced but just a little bit silly our crew is the best boasting track. The reason why it’s silly is that following this you get tracks featuring Lewis Parker, Fallacy, Sir Smurf Lil, Stylah, Mr. Drastick, Late, Tricksta and Conman and I don’t need to tell you that their crews are actually better.

Dap-C, in my opinion, is pretty nice with his on most outings and the more established guests here complement his concepts well. There are a nice range of sounds here; Dirty Sweet is more than just competent behind the boards as he harmonizes with the emcees and their content.

The version of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ on offer here (featuring Skinnyman, Supar Novar, Emceekilla, Karisma and S.Kalibre) is nowhere near as good as the one on the video included on the DVD, it’s disappointing that the album cut makes it boring. ‘Passing Me By’ sees Dap-C take on a track alone with slightly less effective results than when backed up by guests of ilk.

On the whole ‘Street Karma’ is worth picking up and you can get it now at most of the usual places.

Wolftown Update

As usual the Wolftown crew are on their grind. The latest offering from their midland camp is the '100% Exclusive Mixtape & DVD'. It features tracks from everyone you'd expect: 10Shott, Tricksta, Late, Size8, Conman and Jai Boo. It also features tracks from artists recently taken uner the Wolftown wing and other up and coming UK artists. This essentially is the latest in the 'UK Runnings' series and so far they've all been fire.

As the name suggests, it also comes with a DVD featuring interviews and music videos by Blak Twang, Million Dan, Conman, Jabba Tha Kut, Late, Jai Boo, Size8 & 10Shott and more. Check back here to find out more about what I think of this CD once I hear it.

Meanwhile, you can be checking out the plethora of other recognisably presented Wolftown releases from this year:

10 Shotts to the sky

10Shott is rapidly becoming one of my favourite UK MC's. Tricksta's UK Runnings mixtapes have brought him to my attention although I previously heard him on a Wolftown mixtape. I'm not really going to say much about him because these tracks (Culled from 'UK Runnings vol. 1' and 'UK Runnings: The National Anthem') give some background.

Conman & 10Shott - Nothin' but Love - Don't really get the 'Cheese' bit in the chorus.
10Shott - All in the Blood - A track about his musical background.
10Shott - Haters - One of the best flows I have heard for a long long time.
10shott ft. Conman - Vicious Circle

This track, also from UK Runnings and Wolftown, deserves a big mention, I love the laid back lazy flow of Reload.

Reload, Late & Conman - Old Skool

Go to Datpiff and search for 'UK Runnings' and you can download 5 of Tricksta's mixtapes, I seriously think they are probably the best UK mixtapes out there.

And...as a parting shot(t) I love Sways verse on Baby Blu's remix, especially the line "You'll have to come to terms with that, like a school bag". He's a clever boy. Go get 'The National Anthem' mixtape to hear that.