'Heavy Rotation' - The Disablists & Foreign Beggars (Video)

'Remixes From The Edge' - Ghost (free download)

UK Hip Hop producer Ghost has been on a musical journey with his last album 'Freedom of Thought' being more focused on the instrumental beauty of non-looped beats. His latest project is a remix album entitled 'Remixes from the Edge' on which he remixes artists as diverse as Dabyre and Bonobo, The Heavy and Coldcut aswell as some UK Hip Hop mainstays (Foreign Beggars and Kashmere).

Many of the original tracks were unfamiliar to me but this neither helped nor hindered my listening. The album is a mix of quality music of different styles bound to expand the horizons of the average Hip Hop listener.

The album costs as much as you want to pay - whether that be £0.00 or £10.00, it's your choice. For the purpose of knowing which track was by who originally and for the purpose of relabelling your tracks once you've downloaded them here's a useful tracklist:

1. Foreign Beggars - No More ft. Jehst & Kashmere (Ghost remix)
2. P Money - Everything (Ghost remix)
3. Coldcut - Sound Mirrors (Ghost remix)
4. Bonobo - If You Stayed Over (Ghost remix)
5. Dabyre - Air (Ghost remix)
6. The Heavy - No Time (Ghost remix)
7. Foreign Beggars - No Holes Barred Ghost remix
8. AT Jazz - Together Ghost remix
9. Kashmere - Poison (Ghost remix)
10. The Heavy - How You like Me Now (Ghost remix)

'Seven Figure Swagger' - Foreign Beggars (single review)

You may think ‘Contact’ is a hard act to follow... unless you’ve heard ‘United Colours of Beggattron’. If you have heard the latest Foreign Beggars LP then you’ll know of their follow-up single – ‘Seven Figure Swagger’ featuring Dubbledge and Badness.

‘Seven Figure Swagger’ is a healthy serving of sparse, futuristic Electro-Hop courtesy of Holland’s Rednaz. Dubbledge comes as charismatic as he did on his ‘Lips To The Floor’ remix and Badness represents the more mature end of the Grime scene as they cheekily lambaste Rap’s obsession with material wealth and the like.

The lead track is backed with ‘Don’t Dhoow It’ (another electro production hailing from foreign shores, this time from Norway’s King Knut). The Foreign Beggars MCs get live on a mini-story telling tip.

Both these heavy productions are accompanied by remixes – Machinedrum reworks the B-side on an Electro-Disco vibe and Dubstep beast Bar9 transforms ‘Seven Figure Swagger’ into a banger bigger than most tracks in that genre – this one is the gem of the collection!

‘Seven Figure Swagger’ b/w ‘Don’t Dhoow It’ will be released via Dented Records/Essential Music on November 23rd.

Free Downloads from JC & Nicky Taurus, Pete Cannon & Foreign Beggars, Tom Caruana & MF Doom and Joker Starr!

Woah! Feel like I've not posted on here for a while and there's been nuff stuff happening in this UK Hip Hop world. In no particular order:

JC dropped a track from his forthcoming project. Nicky Taurus does the vocal duties and it's called 'Look At Me' - I'm liking the slap bass. Check the No Money Records website for me info.

Pete Cannon (once known as Mr. Dick) of the group Tactical Thinking got himself interviewed over at Rago magazine and if you didn't already, check out his remix of the Foreign Beggars track with Guilty Simpson - 'Prove It' - big.

One of my favourite artists right now Tom Caruana has gone and done a whole MF DOOM remix album and as you'd expect with Doom's rhymes and Caruana's productions it is a banger! Go get it for free here. Apparently there are more to come from Brand Nubian, J-Live, Wu-Tang and more!

Joker Starr posted up a free download called 'Clash of the Titans' which is Ex Machina's remix of a track by US MC Shadowstar (I think that's correct). Anyway, it's dope so download it.

That's enough for now but I'll be back with more yo.

'Contact' ft. Noisia - Foreign Beggars (video)

Here's the new video from Foreign Beggars - the track is awesome, about 10 light years ahead of the current scene and is taken from their excellent forthcoming LP 'United Colours of Beggattron' (which I've just reviewed for the most excellent Bonafide mag).

Ty, Wizard, Foreign Beggars, Diversion Tactics - Links and News

Ty is featuring all over the shop these days, and his latest feature is on The Beatmonkey's 'For The People' (which you can hear here at youtube). You can also buy it here with its lovely remixes at itunes.

Check out the new Cappo and Endemic track from Endemic's 'Needle Drop' EP out soon - it's on youtube.

Someone's also whacked up a whole host of rips from Wizard's 'Ear To The Beat' (Ramson Badbonez's 'Jammin On The Street' for example) on youtube - go listen then cop the CD from Suspect Packages - it's well worth your cash. Wizard also has just dropped his 'Spare Time Remixes Vol. 2' as a free download here.

Also on the itunes front: you can now get hold of Diversion Tactics' new single 'Can't Swim'/'Back To School' which features production from J-Zone.

Also on the Suspect Packages front (support them, they support our scene more than anyone): you can pre-order 'White Noize' by Orphans of Cush, 'United Colours of Beggatron' by Foreign Beggars and 'Alphabetix Anonymous' by Alphabetix - all worth gambling on for sure. LDZ's 'The Puppa Murc EP' is now available there too. Disorda also has news of a Dubbledge mixtape coming soon called 'One Inch Punch!' - sounds good.

'Overload' ft. Foreign Beggars - Baron Von Alias (Review)

Over the type of futuristic, electro-y beat that usually only the likes Foreign Beggars could get away with, Baron Von Alias joins the boys for his latest single 'Overload'.

Rapid fire spits (some Geordie, some London), half time and double time beats and egotistical lyricism make for a track destined to be played loud in the club or the car - bigness.

The single isn't out until 20th October on itunes but mark that date in your diary and buy it then.

Foreign Beggars Tour Dates

Foreign Beggars have announced a UK tour to showcase the ridiculously big tracks from their upcoming album “United Colours Of Beggattron”, which is released on October 19th through Dented Records/Essential Music.

The tour will kick off in Plymouth before hitting London’s superclub Fabric, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, on October 9th for the launch party for the album which promises to spin heads, move feet and wind backsides. The group will then head across the country touring the new album throughout October and November before culminating with a show in Derby on December 4th.

Having made their name through high-paced delivery and non-stop action in their live shows, the Foreign Beggars juggernaut is one not to miss. The tour dates are below and provide the perfect chance to see just why the Foreign Beggars are one of the best live acts around.

Outlook Festival - Petrcane, CR - Sat Sep 12
The White Rabbit - Plymouth, UK - Sat Sep 26
Beijing, CN - Wed Sep 30
Shanghai, CN - Fri Oct 02
Cheng Du, CN - Sat Oct 03
Mojo's - Newport, UK - Wed Oct 07
Fabric Live - London, UK - Fri Oct 09
Digital - Brighton, UK Thu - Oct 15
Cox's Yard - Stratford upon Avon, UK Fri - Oct 16
Oxford Academy - Oxford, UK Fri - Oct 16
Barry vs Secret Warz @ Rainbow Warehouse - Birmingham, UK - Wed Oct 21
Supa fly - Leicester, UK - Fri Oct 23
Leeds Urban Festival @ Beaver Works - Leeds, UK - Sat Oct 31
Conservatoriumplein - Kortrijk, BG - Fri Nov 06
Tuesday Club - Sheffield, UK - Tue Nov 10
Thekla - Bristol, UK - Fri Nov 13
Ponana - Norwich, UK - Fri Nov 27
Cardiff Student Union, CF10 - Cardiff, WALES, UK - Sat Nov 28
The Rockhouse - Derby, UK - Fri Dec 04
Thessaloniki HipHop Festival Block33 - Thesoliniki, GR - Sat Dec 19

Suspect Packages Radio Show September

More Suspect Packages news - I'm currently locked onto Disorda's latest podcast - September's Suspect Packages Radio Show. It features newness from Tactical Thinking, Contact Play, Phoenix Da Icefire, Krate Krusaders, Crucifix, The Thunderclaps, Shameless, Wizard, Unfriendly Neighbours, JVF Clique, Foreign Beggars, Yosh, Danny Spice, Rapskallions, Alphabetix, Joe Blow, Orphans Of Cush, Redbeard, SonnyJim, Delusionists, MCM, Sigher The Gutter Snype and Monkey Sons. It's great to know that Disorda is constantly ahead of the game and that he'll always be supporting up-and-coming artists to the maximum.

Anyway, visit his blog for the tracklisting, visit his mail order site to buy some of these records and visit Sensei to download and listen to the show.

Best UK Hip Hop Video Ever - Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc.

Crikey! Have I just witnessed the best UK Hip Hop video ever? I think so! Scratch Perverts, Shlomo, Foreign Beggars, Dr. Syntax and Stig of the Dump all feature on this groundbreaking short - more like this please!

Suspect Packages Radio Show August

Suspect Packages Radio. August. Free Download/Stream. Features Tactical Thinking, Micall Parknsun, Orphans of Cush, Karl Hinds, Lowkey, Koaste, Elemental & Tom Caruana, Juice Aleem, Contact Play, Big Cakes, Double D Dagger, Foreign Beggars and loads more new stuff that even I've not heard yet - lucky I'm on holiday and can just blast it then.

As Disorda says "No special guests though due to shear amount of tunage to get through (which gives me more time to vent my anger at bootlegging blogs), but wait 'till next month on the guest tip". I'm not a bootlegging blog so I'm in the clear.

'Elbow Grease' - Percy Filth (EP review)

Why should you buy ‘Elbow Grease’? Well it kicks off with a collaboration surely every UK Hip Hop head wanted to hear – SonnyJim and Foregin Beggars on the big and bouncy ‘Out To Getcha’ anybody? Percy Filth doesn’t let up in quality of production or guest calibre – next up it’s about-to-return Juice Aleem, Madflow and Lotek on ‘Electronic Music’ which somehow manages to use digital sounds on a track reminiscent of the 90s era.

It’s not just UK MCs and DJs who have been invited on board – ‘Livin’ Trife’ features Maylay Sparks, K-Skills, ‘That’s Why (Remix)’ features K-Skills and J-Sands and ‘Flesh n Blood’ features (the probably quite eccentric) Arsun F!st.

Over the remaining four tracks SonnyJim, Redbeard, English, Stig of the Dump, Dr. Syntax and Kosyne ensure that there is not a bad track on this EP. The wealth of DJs on this release take care of the very welcome cuts – props to DJ Cro, DJ Weetamix, DJ Roc-1 and DJ Jodo. Percy Filth has got the skills to pay the bills, your head won’t stop nodding for the duration and the skip button will be underused, so make sure you pick up a copy so that he actually can pay for gas and that.

‘Elbow Grease’ is out on Aerosolik/Eat Good and is available now from Suspect Packages.

Kyza 'Shots Of Smirnoff' Launch and Free Download

Friday 12th June sees Kyza's long awaited project 'Shots Of Smirnoff' launched at London's prestigous Jazz Cafe, 3 Parkway London, NW1. Kyza will be there, Foreign Beggars will be too. Will you?

If you're not sure then download this sampler of 'Shots Of Smirnoff' to see if it's your flavour:

'Elbow Grease' - Percy Filth (free downloads)

Aerosolik Records and Eat Good Records bring you their latest release, 'Elbow Grease', the EP from UK Hip Hop producer Percy Filth.

The EP features vocals from SonnyJim, Foreign Beggars, Stig of the Dump, English, Dr. Syntax, Redbeard, Kosyne and Juice Aleem all repping for the UK as well as a few American guests including Maylay Sparks and J-Sands.

The EP will be out on 22nd June on limited 12" vinyl, CD and digital download. If you can't wait 'til then then you can check out two leaked tracks and some snippets:

'Elbow Grease' ft. Stig of the Dump, SonnyJim, Dr. Syntax & DJ Weetamix

'That's Why (Remix)' ft. J-Sands & K-Skills

'Elbow Grease' snippets

'Alpha' ft. MC Kombo - The Earlyman (single review)

Nah! A non-conformist, pretty leftfield UK Hip Hop production is actually heavy? Yeah! The Early Man has what you need regardless of whether that description appeals to you or not.

Edmund Cavill is the guy behind The Earlyman and late 90's soul/indie/Hip Hop outfit Spacek and he's readying the release of 'Lola Una', his debut LP under his new guise. The album features Mr Ti2bs as well as Infinite Livez and Foreign Beggars (who feature on this release's B-side 'Slinky') and MC Kombo who raps on the A-side 'Alpha'.

'Alpha' is all about the rapper's brother's alcohol and narcotic abuse and deteriorating mental health - not normal subject matter for a banger but it works at the same time as highlighting an important problem in our society.

'Alpha' is out now on Stopstart Recordings and can be bought here. Click here to hear more music from The Earlyman.

'Soundspecies' - Soundspecies (album review)

Those Foreign Beggars are popping up everywhere at the moment! Their latest jaunt is with instrumental experimental Hip Hoppers Soundspecies on the track ‘CDR People’ taken from the self titled album (‘Soundspecies’, der!). The track is a groovy tribute to the club night of the same name (‘CDR People’, der!) and it also features 2Tall. The track is a gem and is something really different for the discerning UK Hip Hop head.

On the album it’s followed by the melancholy ‘Beautiful not Suitable’ which boasts the vocals of Black Spade and is a tale of love and disappointment. Elsewhere things are a little less Hip Hop and more ethereal although tracks like ‘Relax’ featuring Deborah Jordan manage to combine the two. ‘Mask’ and ‘Moog Jam’ manage to combine the above formula with some dirty electronica. Other tracks reveal world music and jazz influences.

‘Waiting For The Sun To Come Up’ evokes the exact feelings you’d expect to experience whilst doing what the title suggests. Imagine a long night of good partying, hitting the beach in the early hours and just being content to lie and wait for the morning to come.

The album ‘Soundspecies’ by Soundspecies is out now on Burnt Progress. The EP (which features Foreign Beggars) is also available now on 12” at Phonica Records.

Free Jon Phonics, Ramson Badbonez, Foreign Beggars, Infinite Livez

UK Hip Hop producer Jon Phonics has been busy on his Uni project and has created this instrumental gem: 'Passing Spheres'. It's somewhere between Breaks, Jazz and Hip Hop and it's reet nice. I'm not sure whether the title refers to some strange case of excreting 3D shapes or not.

Ramson Badbonez dropped his latest free download, it's called 'Yeah (Da Reminda)' and his brutal lyricism is choice, he kicks off with "Here's a reminder: Saw off your hand with an angle grinder" - ouch. Last week's track was 'Play It Back' with M.A.B. - laid back and very 90s-ish.

The second track off The Early Man's forthcoming EP 'Alpha' (which features MC Kombo) is 'Slinky' - a track on which mad-cap Infinite Livez shares mic time with UK Hip Hop heroes Foreign Beggars and it sounds EXACTLY like you'd expect it to! The Early Man's production is futuristically funky and 'Slinky' is available to you for free - now buy the single on May 25th!

Engine-EarZ perform 'Hydroactive vs Stay Seated' with Foreign Beggars (video)

And with Nathan 'Flutebox' Lee:

'Encrypted Scriptures' - Jyager (album review)

Every now and then something really fresh comes along, something that little bit different that makes it stand out from the crowd. Newcomer Jyager’s raps and Cee Why’s beats have that thing; ‘Encrypted Scriptures’ is a striking album. It’s still Hip Hop as we know it but, as you’d expect from YNR, it’s finely tuned and well polished and that’s what sets it apart.

Jyager, a trilingual MC who does everything from laid back delivery to rapid fire lyrics, keeps things interesting and unpredictable. After kicking off with mission statement banger ‘Eyes Open’ Mr. Maktwist speaks on the streets, joins Foreign Beggars and Kashmere for some hard talk and then… he spits some fairy tale character featuring story rhymes on ‘Yellow Brick Road’. Things get even more abstract on ‘Tipsey Silent Monkey Man’ and then on ‘Actors in the Frame’ the Portuguese kicks in – see what I mean about interesting and unpredictable? The Cypress Hilly ‘Never Bring Me Down’ is the real display of linguistic skill – French, Portuguese and English lyrics ensue.

If you need any more reason to get this then look at the slimline guestlist: YNR bossman Jehst features on ‘The Session’ and Verb T and Kyza guest on ‘Seconds, Hours & Minutes’. The fact that these trusted MCs endorse this but don’t crowd the 12 tracks here is a seal of quality.

Cee Why, who’s been largely silent over the past couple of years, dips into a diverse palette creating a nice range of individual beats - what I really mean is, you can tell one track from another! Stripped back and hard (‘Eyes Open’, ‘Frozen in the Night’ and ‘The Session’) nestles with melodic headnod (‘Somewhere in Paradise’ and ‘Seconds, Hours & Minutes’) whilst everything in between makes it all cohesive.

‘Encrypted Scriptures’ is out on 23rd March on YNR Productions and will be available at all the best places for buying UK Hip Hop.

'In Pursuit of Harmony' - Wordsmith (album review)

Nearly 4 years has passed since Wordsmith dropped his debut LP ‘The Roadman Showcase’. Now he’s back with follow up set ‘In Pursuit of Harmony’, an album sure to make a mark on UK Hip Hop this year.

Wordsmith takes a mature approach to many issues – the ins and outs of weed smoking (‘The Cro Debate’), being a father (‘Son’), gun crime (‘Never Would’ve Thought’), the ups and downs of life (‘Carry On’ and ‘Beautiful Life’) and today’s youth (‘They Don’t Seem To Care’). When he’s not proving he could teach an MP a thing or two he’s straight illing out with his partners in rhyme – check ‘Lok Dat’, ‘Runaway’ and the ridiculously tense ‘Leave It Alone’ for a few examples of that.

With perfectly crafted rhymes Wordsmith proves he’s not a one trick pony – he’s a well rounded artist who has fashioned an actual album, rather than a collection of songs. This LP really deserves one of those track by track breakdowns; every one is of such high quality.

With a list of producers like this (Apa-Tight, Vee Kay, Chemo, Beat Butcha, Ido, Tom Caruana and Show n Prove) I don’t have to tell you that the beats are proper, heavy Hip Hop with an emphasis on the uplifting. The fact that there’s not a skip-able track on here speaks volumes – you’ll wanna listen right through.

Mic duties are shared with Foreign Beggars, Dr. Syntax, Dubbledge, Micall Parknsun, Skribblah, Diamond Ruff, Big Ben, Genesis Elijah, Supar Novar and Ahmos –all of whom put in sterling work.

‘In Pursuit of Harmony’ is out now and is available from Suspect Packages as a download or on CD. Support the music, pay the pounds, don’t download! Check the snippets in my last post to get a taste of greatness!