Bill Shakes - For Goodness Shakes (Review)

The infamous Bill Shakes debut ep carries on in the fine tradition of Blah Records of dropping high grade product. This is no-nonsense, gimmick free hip hop, with constant rewind moments. Lee Scott produced most of it apart from two tracks by Reklews, and it shows Lee is as sick on the beats as he is on the mic. But this is Bill Shakes moment and hes more than ready,after a brief intro/skit it kicks off with "Rise And Shine" over a lively piano laced beat and the hook of "wake up,wake up,hit the skunk get drunk" Bill kills it with quotable after quotable on the track, theres somethin very ODB about this i have to say. On the last verse particularly where he lets people know he has his "swine fried with wine".
This is followed by "Light it up" which is surely on its way to being a anthem for weed heads everywhere and im sure a lot of people will recognize elements of the beat to and im glad to know bizzy bashin's still in fashion.
After the energy that came before it calms down slightly for "Holy Smokes" featuring Bang On (Big Dada) and Sly Moon (COTD) and i love the way the beat changes up on this.
"For Goodness Shakes" probably has one of the strangest musical backdrops on the EP but thats no bad thing as Shakes off the wall lyrics really come to life on this one including "A penny saved is a penny lost,make sure your pennies drop at any cost"
Next up is "Bad Taste" where on the second verse we're treated to some storytelling Bill Shakes style and it doesnt disappoint.
The fun continues with the grimey "Smoked Out" where he goes into great detail about what he does when hes not making hip hop bangers,in less able hands the references would be overkill but the originality of the lyrics through out the EP always keep it highly entertaining which takes us to the Children of the Damned featuring "Kings of Trash" where each emcee takes turns to desecrate the mic booth with no hook just lyric after lyric of that trademark COTD sickness which ends things perfectly.
In short if you dont buy this you deserved to be bodyslammed to a car bonnet like a bizzy in blackburn!
Cop it from the Blah Records website and also grab the free downloads there if you havent already

King Grubb - Stay Put (No Picnics)

King Grubb is back with another banger produced by Reklews and with cuts from DJ LSG proving the Blah Records onslaught of quality hiphop is not gonna let up anytime soon.
Listen here and contact King Grubb on Facebook for features etc.

Suspect Packages Live October & November

Go here for more details on the Suspect Packages live extravaganza featuring, as you can see above, Children of the Damned, Joker Starr and Micall Parknsun all for only 4 pounds. That's upstairs @ Brick Lane's Vibe Bar in East London on Friday October 9th. Then same place different day, Friday November the 13th to be exact, go check out Sonnyjim and special guests and Tactical Thinking.

'Put On The Glasses' - Mr. Wrong (album review)

Another album that’s been out a while (can you tell I’m playing catch up?) is Mr. Wrong’s ‘Put On The Glasses’. Mr. Wrong, an alias of Lee Scott of Antiheroes and Children of the Damned notoriety, has created an album that lives up to his alter ego’s name.

With his punctuated, staccato Northern flow it’s easy to tell when he’s on the mic – always a plus point when there are a million and one rappers out there who sound, let’s face it, pretty similar.

The album kicks off with ode to Green party conspiracy-monger ‘David Icke’, a track which demonstrates Mr. Wrong’s wrongness – you wouldn’t want him in a position of power. The beat to follow up track ‘Dumb ILL’ proves that wrong can actually, on occasion be right (in music anyway) – it’s an exotically creepy jerky thing that suits Wrong’s voice most perfectly. The rest of the (self) production is a dense, more- blunted darker version of early 90’s Dre G Funk with hints of DJ Muggs’ beats.

The next few tracks serve to prove how vicious and twisted Mr. Wrong can be. Alongside Bill Shakes and Children of the Damned Mr. W proves his battling skills in unison with his warped, but often not disgusting, verbals. Things continue in this way for the duration – you decide whether that’s good or bad. The album is littered with awesome quotable, stand out lines – enough to keep a rap lyric geek entertained for 50 minutes anyway.

Your copy can be ordered from Mr. Wrong’s myspace – but hurry, they won’t be around forever.