Hexstatic and Nextmen Live AV @ Videocrash 3

The whole concept of video-jockeying is still pretty new and exciting and there are few better places to see it in action than at a Videocrash night. The third event is due - on Saturday 6th June to be exact.

Koko and Videocrash 3 (£15 in advance) will be playing host to Hexstatic, UK Hip Hop production duo The Nextmen (their DJ sets are awesome) and DJ Cheeba, all of whom will be doing a live AV set. Also playing will be live UK Hip Hop band The Anomalies.

To win a pair of tickets and a copy of Hexstatic's latest release on Ninja tunes 'Hexstatic presents Videos, Remixes, Rarities'. Simply answer the following question:

What was the name of Hexstatic's first album?

Send you answer to: seun.soundcrash@googlemail.com and make sure you place 'competition' in the subject title of the email.

Predator Rap

Mouthmaster Murf and DJ Mayhem of The Anomalies have spent 9 months creating this 6 and a half minute rhyming rap summary of the Arnie action film classic, 'Predator'. The lyrics fit with actual footage and soundbites from the film with amusing results - even the quotes rhyme!

You can even download it here for free.

Watch out for these guys, they could be coming your way real soon. In fact, click the The Anomlaies tag below for another track by the band.

GTA's Second Single

GTA, of Oxford, are soon to release their second single, the title track from their pending album, 'The Way'. At the moment, you can hear a snippet at their myspace page or if you are lucky enough to be a student at Birmingham University (where Chima Anya studied), you can catch them live tomorrow (10.6.08) at Valefest (as well as The Anomalies).

Back to the lecture at hand: 'The Way' is a powerfully built juggernaut that many a MC would kill to spit over. The bass pounds, the horns riff, the lady sings with all her might and Ineff and Chima fully enjoy riding the production with some triumphant, 'We're the bomb!', type of raps. 'The Way' will leave you feeling up for it (whatever it may be); it's got a real motivational feel to it. If they do a video it should have a training for victory theme a la any film where the underdog works hard and comes out on top (see Rocky 4).

'The Way' will be out digitally later this month, watch this spot for news on where you can get your digital paws on that. And whilst your waiting, feast your lug holes on these:

GTA - Same Shh (Jon Dutch Remix)

GTA - Ball Room Dancing

GTA - Freestyle ft. Soweto

Musings and Music from the Witching Hour

I haven't just posted a collection of music for a while now so, having found myself awake with a laptop and not much else to do I have decided to listen to some music and post good stuff up as it comes through the 'phones.

First up are a couple of tracks from Atlantic Connection, this cat is apparently well known in the UK Drum 'n' Bass and dance scenes (I wouldn't know) but is from LA. Do US D'n'B producers long to break the UK market in the same way most UK artists ache to conquer the US? I don't know, answers on a postcard please. Anyway, I really do digress. 'Touch This' featuring Kemst, is a soulful and chilled break beat Hip Hop affair and you'll be glad to know that, despite the title, it's not about touching anything rude so you wont have to cringe for 6 minutes and 7 seconds. Instead just let the silky vocals and vibes wash over you. 'Heat of the Groove' does have a title that suggests some new jack swing-esque shenanigans but actually it's another chilled but more straight up Hip Hop track with a simple sung chorus and an MC (Mental Sharp - cool name) with an unoffensive voice chatting his thoughts. Nice stuff, I wanna hear more. Check his myspace page, the track 'Good Hood Review' on there is a bit of banger! Flippin' 'eck, so's 'Can't Destroy Love'! Download the sampler for the 'Tomorrow's Not Enough LP' here.

Then, today I went on 7Digital where you can download 10Shott's tracks and I downloaded some free stuff, and I downloaded some really cool stuff! Take a peek yo!

I got the 'True School Cypher' by long time UK Christian Rap favourties ZionNoiz. Ah, some top quality lyrics on this funky, minimalistic beat...proper Hip Hop from loads of real unique sounding MC's.

Then I got an amazingly jaunty jazz Hip Hop track, seriously it's like Charlie Chaplin did the beat, called 'Howz That' by The Anomalies. I've really got to find out more about these funksters cos the music is sooooo happifying and the rappers are skilled and the girl who half sings, half raps has a truly luscious voicebox. Man, you better go check their myspace for more goodness on a more indie-ish vibe.

I also got from there a new Bashy track on which he vents his dissapointment and anger (in a very controlled manner) about the fact that he's made some big moves and he's not reaping the financial benefits - 'Where's My Money At?'. And that's all I got from there.

I rang my G'ma today and even she'd heard this next track but I'ma go ahead and post it anyway 'cause for some reason I really like it. It reminds me of Outkast and that's a good thing andI don't care what it's about. The Knux - 'Cappucino remix'.

Speaking of Outkast, have you heard their new track? It's called 'Royal Flush' and it's just lovely, classic Outkast and it has a weird sample break that I have on a 12" by Tony D. Welcome back Big Boi and especially Andre 3000 (my, how you can rap!). Oh and it features none other than Wu-Tang's very own chef, Raekwon.

I know this track is bare old but this amazing remix is amazing, oh and did I mention, it's amaz...yeah I did. Really freshens it up, and yeah, the track is 'Next Episode' by Dr. Dre and it has been remixed by T.Smythe beats. Think of this as a demo for how good this guy could make your raps sound cos his other beats are nice too, they reminded me of Hi-Tek and Ty beats.

And since we're on that remix thing, here's a remix of Busta Rhymes' 'Woo-Ha' in a funk reggae style. It's called 'Rappoors Delaaght' and is by Taggy Matcher who has released a whole series of these 7 " beauties on Stix Records.

I think that's enough for now although I've got so much more to give you! Stay tuned, aight?!