'Rising Styles The Album 2009' - VA (review)

The fellas in charge of Brighton's Rising Styles Festival have put together yet another dope compilation of tracks by up-and-coming UK Hip Hop artists and it's out today just in time for the actual festival.

There's the awesome future-hop of Asaviour and Apa-Tight's 'Gully', the fire of Tactical Thinking's 'TT Onslaught' and the madcap adventures of Elemental and Tom Caruana on 'Blind Bob's Vengeance'.

There's also a good representation of the UK's 'real' countrywide Hip Hop scene - watch out for a nice range of accents with London's Grit Grammar (& other Southern types), Leeds group Verbal Contact and Birmingham's Jimmy Davis.

Check out the Rising Styles website for news of the events that kick off on Thursday 1st October. Download the sampler here then get to Suspect Packages to download your copy of the Rising Styles compilation.

'Come Together' ft. Leon Rhymes & Source - DJ Redline (free download)

Forget that giant ghettoblaster Leon Rhymes is stood with and tune into his new track with bandmate Source and DJ Redline. You may remember this guy from last year's Queens English album and now he's back with a strange (but good) reggae/dubstep/bassline house hybrid thing - 'Come Together'. He wants you all to listen to it and vibe to it so he's instructed me to distribute this Friday-night-out tune via my blog:

'EQ' - Queens English (album review)

Queens English: A not-your-average rap group on a mission to reformat the status quo. ‘EQ’: Where serious but witty lyrics, both sung and rapped, collide with sometimes jaunty, sometimes soulful beats.

Queens English are from the school of anti-Hip Hop-stereotype (see: ‘Rude Indigo’). Tongue in cheek bragging and self centeredness also factors on ‘Don’t Forget It’ and the funky ‘Back Good’. ‘Summa Dem’ combines both these subjects but tracks such as ‘Last of England’ and ‘Just’ speak metaphorically about aspects of life – making for some intriguing lyrical imagery. ‘Triple F’ is the rock-the-party-spot track whereas ‘If?’ is the total opposite – it’s a slow burning spiritually focussed beauty. ‘Focus (Get Up)’ is totally different again – best described as Atari Grime but with production ten times better than any normal Grime track, double time raps come thick and fast.

The variety show that is the production comes from The Crate Twins and Aries and it’s sure to keep you interested. It also ensures that there is something for everyone on here (OK maybe not your Gran, but there is a mention of Gershwin on here).

This album is full of youthful energy – these guys are having fun – without it sounding like a load of immature idiots acting the goat. The addition of Source’s female vocal makes for something original; her voice hovers between gospel and Celtic. The track list could have been shortened by slimming down some repeated subject matter – but that’s all that is bad.

‘QE’ is out now so buy it.

'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.

Queens English Interview

"We aim to raise the profile of Hip Hop from the UK and help it achieve the level of attention and respect it fully deserves."

Queens English reached out to me, I reached back after hearing a lot of hype from heads and after reading HHC's review (a bad one - an unjustified 2 stars - proving that all publicity is good publicity!). I wanted to have their angle on their angle and here it is:

Certified Banger: Yo, who are you and what do you do? Who’s in the crew?

Queens English: We’re English Queens and we make folk-indie-pop music. Nah, we’re Queens English – a 6 member crew consisting of... Emcees: Sherlock, Rhymes & Mr. Chips. Singer: Source. DJ: Mr Something Else. Beatboxer: Pikey Esquire – and we make Hip Hop.

CB: What’s your mission statement? What do you stand for?

QE: We stand for Hip Hop from the UK and all its genuine and honest passion, style and skill. We aim to raise the profile of Hip Hop from the UK and help it achieve the level of attention and respect it fully deserves.

CB: How do you go about achieving that?

QE: Well, we believe that Hip Hop should be accessible to all but at the minute a lot of what is heard or the way it is heard isn’t connecting with the masses. Sometimes this is down to the content, sometimes – particularly with UK Hip Hop – this is down to the sound of the voice, sometimes people struggle to relate, sometimes it is just misunderstood. Music is a two way thing and it’s not always solely about the people making the music – you have to be aware that you are trying to communicate with the listener – if you are successful you will get something back as you invoke emotions, create images and generate a mood for the listener. We aim to make music that people can enjoy listening to because it has a clear message and is delivered in a way that people will want to listen.

Click to read more