'Hey' ft. Sincere - Chima Anya (video)

'Hey' ft. Sincere - Chima Anya

Easily my favourite track from Chima Anya's 'New Day' album (which is a cracker by the way - seriously good LP), 'Hey' has been chosen as the next single and this time it features Sincere - another MC who is pretty underrated, actually. Buy the album here.

Nemesis and Arrogance Launch 'Da Real Sho'

Nemesis & Arrogance, whose latest project is ‘Da Real Sho’, are holding a launch party at the Carhartt Warehouse in Hackney (18 Ellingfort Rd, Hackney, E8 3PA) this Thursday 11th June between 18:00pm – 21:30pm.

The night will showcase music from the mixtape with performances from some of those featured alongside the boys: Mr Ti2bs, Jelluzz, F.L.I.P [Supar Novar / Big Ben / Rapper Ragz] and live Hip Hop band Lazy Habits! Form and Charlee Brown will be DJing and there will be free drinks courtesy of Meantime Brewery.

Da Real Show mixtape is out now and features: Sincere / Wretch 32 / Faith SFX / Bashy / Mr Drastick / Skinnyman & others...

'Sin City' - DJ Gone (mix CD review)

The tracklist for DJ Gone's 'Sin City', out now on Kung Fu, kinda speaks for itself to any UKHH head. Featuring the cream of the scene and in the vein of Kung Fu's showcasing 'Sin City' is over an hour's worth of exclusive freestyles and tracks - it's basically a must for those fans who strive for more than an artist's album and single output. It's also pretty essential for anyone who just wants to bump quality Hip Hop for an hour.

Poisonous Poets, Mystro, TB, M9, Charlie Sloth, Million Dan, Mr Ti2bs, Sincere, Mr. Drastick, Task Force, Ramson Badbonez, Teef, Harry Love and Wretch 32 all pop up here.

Lesser known artists drop just as credibly - check Kulture's 'Whoops' or 'Big Deal's 'Sun Up To Sun Down' for perfect examples of my statement.

Check out DJ Gone at his myspace, go to his myspace blog for the full tracklisting and a link to buy it for only £6.99. Check out Kung Fu's myspace too.

'Once Upon A Time' ft. Joell Ortiz & Natty - Sincere (video)

Here's the video to the remix of one of my summer anthems. New York's Joell Ortiz has hopped on board and provides a cheeky verse on an all new video. The hook-up is a result of DJ Semtex being a don and working on a mix CD called 'Pounds & Dollars' with Joell Ortiz. Brap.

Summer's Shaping Up

With Summer showing it's face early at the beginning of May in Britain I got my yearly craving to create the perfect CD for summer cruising, BBQ's and step-sitting. Last year the CD was a beast and combined favourite summery tunes past and present (well, present at the time) but this year has to be something completely new. I may post up last year's tracklist at some point but for now I'd like to chat about how this year's is shaping up.

One of the main tunes features a group who have previously had a prominent track in my summer listening. You'll remember 'Aww Naw' by Nappy Roots, and I hope you remember it as fondly as I do. Well this year they've hooked up with Greg Street to bring us 'Good Day'. Any given day, you listen to this and I can almost vouch for the fact that you'll have a good day! This is the new 'It Was A Good Day' (from last years CD). Even the instrumental without the lyrics is just as if long evenings, cold beers and beaches have been converted to soundwaves and burnt to a CD!

The Game's new track is also going to feature. It's called 'Game's Pain', features Keyshia Cole and is bound to be a hit. I'll admit right now, I'm a proper fan of The Game, both his albums have been brilliant (just listen to his last one in the summer, tracks like 'California Vacation', 'Let's Ride' and 'Too Much' are custom-made for dropping your hood or at least winding your window down). This one is much in the same vein - West Coast Riding music that is ALL about the bass as The Game reminisces about Hip Hop's past. He also extends his name dropping beyond the confines of N.W.A although don't worry, they don't go without a mention!

Other tracks that shall certainly feature are 'Once Upon A Time' by Sincere and Natty, 'Futuristic' from Million Dan and 'Yesterday' by Atmosphere.

Sincere - 'Once Upon A Time' ft. Natty

Check out the latest single from rising stars Sincere and Natty. It's produced by First Man Productions and is a super happy bit of summery, trumpety UK rap with that radio twist. I don't say this often (never said it yet) but I will put my personal stamp of guarantee on the fact that you WILL hear this on your wireless (if you live in Britain that is). Sin hasn't just jumped on Natty's recent radio/itunes success, they go way back and Sincere already has some sterling, sterling work under his belt including tracks with Skinny Man.

'Once Upon a Time' tells, I suspect, a brief story of Sincere's life. With a sing song rap style and an even more sing song chorus it's just a real pleasure to listen to. Check the video too, it's not just the same old, same old rap video. The first part is set on a theatre stage with a fish and chip shop on it!

The single is out on the 26th June and on the 2nd June hotstep to Sincere's myspace page to get a link to a free mixtape download.

UK Royal Fam Vol. 3

When it comes to walking the fine line between Hip Hop and Grime in the UK there a few names that might spring to mind. Someone whose mind it obviously sprung to was the guy who track listed ‘The UK Royal Fam Mixtape Vol. 3’. Lethal Bizzle, JME, Skepta, Wiley, Ghetto, Klashnekoff, Roll Deep, Bigz, Bashy, Sway, Pyrelli…the list does go on. Believe this mixtape is big, if this type of music is your bag.

Also it’s not so much of a mixtape, more of a tape, well, a CD. It’s just the full tracks collected and sequenced – and I like it that way. And don’t make the mistake I did when I had the 1st instalment (which actually was pretty poor): I thought it was called the ‘Royal FARM Mixtape’! Ha! What an idiot I am.

This particular sub genre of Hip Hop is probably at it’s apex right now. It’s so full of energy yet it’s not as underdeveloped as it was and it’s not got too big for it’s own boots (that’s why Dizzee aint on here!) – it’s in that good old middle ground like Hip Hop was in the 90’s; it’s just coming of age.

It’s hosted by Manchester bod Solja too, who I once encountered outside of a J5 show in Manchester as he hustled his CD to my brother. Solja, shows promise here as one who may ride the dual waves of interest in the Manc scene and the aforementioned impending maturity of Hip Hop/Grime crossover music – usually poorly labelled as ‘Urban’.

It’s actually hard to pick a standout track here, it’s all surprisingly quality! Sincere’s ‘Once Upon a Time’ which features one of radio’s current pets, Natty (even my Dad liked him after seeing him on Jools Holland) is pretty jolly, it’s just annoying that it fades out (good job I've got the full track already then). Either of the Ghetto tracks display that raw rawness that can only be described as raw – check out 'Who's Got'. ‘What’s Your Grind’ comes courtesy of Swiss and has a beat that makes me say ‘Yeah, nice’, so that’s good innit? He talks about something we can all to relate to – the 9 to 5 grind, I know it’s been done, but, he does it well so it’s OK. Lethal Bizzle’s genre bending track ‘Police on my Back’ is here too - a fantastic ode to TWOCing. Skepta's tune 'Blood, Sweat & Tears' is awesome for managing to reference Rosa Parks and Pogs in the same track amongst other great things too.

The last point I must make is that this is free. A great chance to see what this side of UK things is really about because this does feature top album tracks and not just hastily recorded ‘exclusive’ freestyles over someone else’s beats. Go get it.

Download 'UK Royal Fam Mixtape Vol. 3' for nowt