Riz MC feat. Aruba Red & Plan B - All Of You

And Now For Something A Little Different...

It might surprise you to know that I don't always listen to Hip Hop. Some people even send me some different kinds of music so I thought I'd give some of it some shine:

I've been noticing Nneka's name for a few months now and I got the chance to check her track 'Walking'. DJ Farhot, the track's producer, has taken a Curtis Mayfield composition ('Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (Curious Mind)' as sung by Major Lance) and made it into fat slice of headnod Neo Soul with a hint of the old Negro spirituals. Nneka's voice is sweet and her message is positive, also with a hint of the old Negro spirituals. Lovely stuff.

I've also got possibly the strangest thing Stones Throw will ever release. 'The Minimal Wave Tapes: Vol. 1' is a compilation of Minimal Wave - an 80s genre of "underground DIY electronic music". Some tracks are more minimal than others, some sound like the soundtrack old school computer games (but with real singing voices) and some really remind me of the old school cinema infomercials. Whatever your preferred genre, this will certainly expand your mind! Personal favourites are Linear Movement's 'Way Out Of Living' and 'Blurred' by Turquoise Days. It's out on 15th March.

Next up is The Last Skeptik's latest project. It's a remix album on which he does nothing like he's ever done before. There are no dusty samples only original electrofied compositions. Some of the tracks he tackles are unfamiliar to me so I can't comment on whether he's done them justice or not - Marina and the Diamonds, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Daniel Merriweather, Hong Kong in the 60s, and David's Lyre all get unconventionally remixed in a way that requires loud playback. These particular remixes made me wonder whether I would keep listening if they came on the radio or whether I only like them because of a knowledge of the artist behind them - hmmm, thought provoking. The rest of the remixes are more in the Hip Hop vein with Loudmouth Melvin, Joe Budden, The Streets, Brad Strut, Lowkey, Mudmowth and Eslam Jawaad all getting reworked with varying degrees of electro-funk. That's going to be available for free on 5th April but you can go here to check out many of the tracks.

Finally, Distiller Records sent me an interesting thing: 'Flush' by Losers. It features feisty female MC Envy alongside Riz MC on a dance floor shaker all about falling out with ones other half. It won't be to everyone's taste (including mine) but Skism's dubstep remix is exceedingly heavy as is Sukh Knight's meaning that it might just appeal to those into that kind of thing. 'Flush' is out on 5th April.

'Shifty - The Mixtape' (free download)

Promoting a movie with a mixtape - now there's an idea eh? Shifty (which I didn't manage to get to last night) is out in cinemas on Friday and the crew have put together a mix of tracks and film dialogue for you to download.

It kicks of with the gorgeous strings of Roots Manuva's 'Dreamy Days' and then Burial kicks in - nice! On the UK Hip Hop side of things Riz MC, Sway, Plan B and Fallacy & Fusion feature. A fair few other genres are represented too by the likes of Bjork, Shy FX & T-Power and Toasty. Get it and bump it now for the general beats.

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'Shifty' - Riz MC, Sway & Plan B

'Shifty' is a British independent film which stars Riz MC/Riz Ahmed and Daniel Mays (from 'The Bank Job' which I watched only last night!) and "sits somewhere between Kidulthood and Snatch". The film is release on April 24th. See the trailer below for a taste of what to expect.



Riz MC has teamed up with Sway and Plan B to record the theme song also entitled 'Shifty' which is produced by True Tiger. Production wise it's what you'd expect of any Hip Pop track at the moment (it should appeal to the radio listeners) but the intelligent and quality social commentary courtesy of the 3 MCs makes this a great track. See the video below to hear the track.



The guys behind the film are also running a Bedroom Producer competition at www.shiftyfilm.com/bedroom.php. The stems from the Shifty soundtrack are provided for download and budding producers are being asked to remix the original track with the winner bagging £500 plus studio time with a producer to complete the track.