Cons - June Bug Soon Come... free D/L

Conspicuous or Cons as hes currently goin under has put in alot of work and put out some classic material in his time, from gems like Therapy with the legendary Colony to anthems like Want Me Back hes always delivered that authentic, soulfull, true school sound. June Bug Soon Come offers a taster of his next LP proper ''June Bug'' that will be released on June the 6th, bet you didnt see that coming. Cons reunites with Colony members willo, smurf and grimlock as well as regular collaborators seanie t and TB. Cons hasnt slept on the production either with Apa-Tight, 7th Dan, Jabba Tha Kut and himself on the beats. After a quick 1st listen I wasnt dissapointed at all Cons doesnt shift to far from his usual autobiographical social commentary, hes quick to cut a popstar down and always seeking recognition and respect. The dude knows how to pick and make a dope beat too he also works-in original and catchy hooks often blending vocal samples to great effect. As a LP this mixtape is pretty good as a free mixtape, proberly consisting of tracks that didnt make the album cut, this is exceptional and free HERE

Evil Ed & Conspicuous Videos

I also got Evil Ed and Conspicuous's 'The Get Together' album, look out for a review of that very soon. Meanwhile here's two video snippets:

'Time After Time' featuring Cobane, Shameless & Sir Smurf Lil':

'The Night' featuring Willo Wispa, Iceman & Yung Blud:

'Rapsploitation Sessions' - VA - Jimmy Green & Truth (compilation review)

Do not sleep on this release. One of a few compilation/mix CDs around this moment, this one won’t disappoint. Featuring tracks from artists who have performed at Ipswich’s only Hip Hop night Rapsploitation Sessions it’s clear that Truth and Jimmy Green have good taste in music.

The artist album tracks here are the cream of the crop: Mr. Drastick’s Chemo produced ‘Give it Up’, Def Tex’s ‘Bomber’, SonnyJim’s ‘Next Generation’, Reain’s ‘Rap Game’…the list goes on. It’s great to hear a load of good familiar tracks in sequence as chosen by someone else - saves me ripping and burning my own CD. From an album I’ve not yet heard; Precise Da Analyzer and Dubbledge get hilariously mean on ‘Neverland’ (“You’ll never be friends like Joey’s new sitcom”).

The non-album tracks stand up to the already released tunes and there are a couple of proper stand outs. Kosyne’s ‘A Tale of a Tenner’ proves that he’s one to watch as he spins a sordid yarn of crime concerning one ten pound note. Ghost, Verb T and Kashmere debut as Invisible Inc on the lovely end-of-night chill-out vibes of ‘Invisible Inc Theme’. Even host Truth steps up with ‘Body of Work’, produced by Jimmy Green, the CD’s DJ. The new Vinyl Dialect cut ‘Spray’ proves they’ve truly refined their sound whilst preserving the curveball rhymes.

I could go on describing the merits of each of the track on here, I’ve not even mentioned the tunes by Sir Smurf Lil’, Verb T, Stylah, Conspicuous and all the other heads on this release. ‘Rapsploitation Sessions’ is a varied but perfectly sequenced collection of some of the newer stars of UK rap. This one I really will bump repeatedly.

It’s out now on P.Found Music and can be gotten over at their myspace for a barge-in £5 plus p&p. I’d buy it so you should too man.

New stuff at Suspect Packages

Run on over to Suspect Packages 'cause they've got a few of those releases you've read about here and have been waiting for:

Mudmowth - 'Circus in the Cemetery EP'
M9 - '144,000'
Illustrate - 'The Stuff'
Wretch 32 - 'Wretchrospective'
Evil Ed & Conspicuous - 'The Get Together'
Mystro - 'F.D.T. EP'

Reviews Coming Up @ Certified Banger

Yo! My postie has been a busy man over the last week or so (and so has my virtual postie) and I've got millions of CD's and tracks and things to review. Let me give you a list so you know what to look forward to:

Sway - 'The Signature LP'

Skreintax - 'Scene Stealers'

Illustrate - 'The Stuff'

Rhyme Asylum - 'State of Lunacy'

TB - 'The Beast From The East'

M9 - '144,000'

Chronic Redeye - 'Knowledge is King'

Geejay - 'I Came To Represent'

Dap-C - 'Street Karma'

Pyroradio.com Presents 'Top Selectors'

Occupy Your Mind Records Presents 'Grime'

Evil Ed & Conspicuous - 'The Get Together'

Jazz T - 'All City Kings'

Wordsmith - 'They Don't Seem To Care' EP

The Mantis Chapter - 'Graveyard Poets' EP

So check back regularly, add me to your reader feeder or whatever to find out what's going to be worth listening to out of this little lot!

'A New Bloodline' - Sir Smurf Lil' (album review)

‘A New Bloodline’; Sir Smurf Lil’ teams up with the current cream of UK producers – Jehst, Apa-Tight, Beat Butcha, LG, Conspicuous and Asaviour – all men well known for their dusty Hip Hop beats. Don’t take that the wrong way though; on paper ‘A New Bloodline’ may seem like a quick tracing of the UK rap outline but in reality the uniquely stylised rendering of Smurf makes this more than just a carbon copy.

Sonically and topically this is a nicely diverse album presenting Sir Smurf’s creative streak. On ‘Blossom’ man/woman relationships are explored over a beautiful backing whereas on ‘Words are Weapons’, a menacingly lilting beat accompanies determined fighting talk. The title track opens up raucously whereas closer ‘The Lord’s Chorus’ laments the loss of a loved life. Single ‘Candlelight’ still sounds fresh as does it’s B-side ‘That Sound’ featuring T-Bear and Big Cakes.

Other microphone guests are partners-in-rhyme The Colony (Grimlok, Conspicuous and Willo Wispa), Dubbledge, Kashmere and Jehst all of whom make worthy contributions to the overall piece.

‘A New Bloodline’ is a mature second album from an MC who deserves to gain recognition and momentum in this thing we call rap.

‘A New Bloodline’ is out on November 3rd on YNR Productions.

Wolftown Update

As usual the Wolftown crew are on their grind. The latest offering from their midland camp is the '100% Exclusive Mixtape & DVD'. It features tracks from everyone you'd expect: 10Shott, Tricksta, Late, Size8, Conman and Jai Boo. It also features tracks from artists recently taken uner the Wolftown wing and other up and coming UK artists. This essentially is the latest in the 'UK Runnings' series and so far they've all been fire.

As the name suggests, it also comes with a DVD featuring interviews and music videos by Blak Twang, Million Dan, Conman, Jabba Tha Kut, Late, Jai Boo, Size8 & 10Shott and more. Check back here to find out more about what I think of this CD once I hear it.

Meanwhile, you can be checking out the plethora of other recognisably presented Wolftown releases from this year:

New Tracks from The Colony

The Colony, the group consisting of MC's Conspicuous, Willo Wispa, Grimlok and Sir Smurf Lil', have dropped us all a little gift - three to be precise. Off their forthcoming mixtape 'The Empire' come 'English Kids', 'Find a Way' and 'Understand' and these are available at their myspace page. The mixtape will be released on newly formed label ,Ottomanelfmusic.

The free tracks are great examples of how the UK is producing the real Hip Hop. 'English Kids' has a brooding, electronic beat with some chilling patriotic lyrics to match. 'Find a Way' is built around a good time soul sample and has that necessary summer vibe, the group chat intelligently and with lyrical dexterity over the beat. 'Understand' follows a similar template to 'English Kids' but comes as their statement of intent.