Recommended Listening: Lewis Parker, Reggiimental, Fallacy & Ramson Badbonez

Lewis Parker is always going to be a UK Boom Bap fan's favourite. He's long gone from these shores but is still doing his thing. 'The Unseen Trap', which will be released on the HHV.DE label, continues his penchant for espionage-tinged beats and concepts with the title track seeing him team up with John Robinson, an American MC who is nowhere near as plain as his name sounds. 'International Hitmen' is a solo track (and I think, my favourite) and 'Super Scientific Weapons' features Eastkoast and Tah Born. IT's coming out on download and 10" vinyl - I highly recommend that you get it when it's out on 26th February.

Reggiimental's album 'Something For The Strive' has some really great tracks on it - my two favourites are 'For The Life' and 'Weighing My Brain' - two very different tracks. I love the former for its use of a favourite Paul Simon track ('Mother and Child Reunion') - Baby J (who also produces on this album) will be kicking himself for not getting his hands on this one - props to Swift 89 for the production. Not forgetting to mention that Reggii, SC and Brisko do the tune justice with their delivery. 'Weighing My Brain' features and is produced by Gadget, it also features Unfriendly Neighbours - a West Coast type beat with some chat about women and a silky sung chorus. 'Grown Ups' is an old favourite of mine and 'Family Life' featuring Cipher J.E.W.E.L.S. is a tune too - inspiration for a dad-to-be. You can download this album for free here.

Fallacy, another UK legend in my eyes (if you haven't before, check his album 'Blackmarket Boy') has dropped a little download-only EP 'Gracefull In Death' (spelling mistake artist's own) mainly produced by Strategy of Broke 'n' £nglish. On 'Once Upon A Time' he chats about his past and how he got to where he is now - a different story to most. 'One For One' is a dubstep-ish banger and the rest of the beats are the type of hybrids that Fallacy is used to riding. Fallacy sounds hungry - hopefully this won't actually be his last. Scratch up a few quid to buy this.

Another freebie now: I'm not sure when Ramson Badbonez and DJ Gone sleep - they are constantly putting out more music and videos and all of that. Their latest collaborative effort is a mixtape collecting together some of Raomsons recent freestyles: 'Bone Marrow Vol. 1'. If you've heard Ramson Badbonez spit before then you'll be clamouring to download this, if not, download it and check one of the UKs most entertaining MCs doing his thing.

'Hat Low' ft. SkinnyMan & Fallacy - Inja (EP review)

I always thought of Inja (or on myspace) as a pretty traditional MC but his 'Hat Low' EP put an end to that. This new track sees him, SkinnyMan and Fallacy go in over a well executed Grime style beat. Whether or not he's trying to cash in on the fact that Grime is a better-selling genre right now (just check any HMV), it can't be ignored that these 3 MCs actually really put it down on this.

I can't say I'm a fan, not even a Mr. Thing remix does it for me (it's still pretty grimey) although the Dubstep remix by Chimpo and BioViolence's Drum & Bass remix are pretty nice. Loads of people are gonna be feeling this one though and Inja will no doubt appeal to a different audience.

'Police Don't Like Me' and 'Deep Within' are again in the Grime vein with the latter vibing in a more mellow, melodic way. 'Hat Low' will be out on 20th July on In Records.

'Hat Low' ft. Fallacy & Skinnyman - Inja (video)

A case of tapping into popular markets? I think so! Inja goes all grime with the music, the look and the Granny-scaring subject matter. Man he's even got backing dancers (I like dancers though)! Not sure what I think of this yet...

'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.

• Click here for more 'Shifty' related news

DJ Step One - New Blog

DJ Step One (no I'd not heard of him before either) has just joined the geeky world of Hip Hop blogging at his nicely titled 'Only Built For Zshare Links' site.

He's basically posting up a load of material that no other blogs have ever posted and in doing so is providing a valuable back catalogue of 90s Hip Hop radio shows and the like.

The thing most relevant to this blog is his own 'UK Bubblers' mix which is "a selection of some of [his] favourite UK tunes. Mostly they're from 2001 -2005." It features tracks from all the big boys: Lewis Parker, Rodney P, Roots Manuva, SkinnyMan, Klashnekoff, TY, Fallacy and loads more.

Another thing he's just posted is again, some of his own work. It's a mashup/refix of the Ultramagnetic MCs' 'Poppa Large' and Ronny Jordan’s ‘So What’. It's a jazzy banger!

'London Go Hard Vol. 17' - DJ MK (free download)

Featuring UK artists (Kyza, Ramson Badbonez, Sway, Inja, Fallacy, Terror Danjah and Newham Generals) alongside the biggest US names (50 Cent, Q-Tip, Dr. Dre, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z etc) DJ MK's latest installment in the 'London Go Hard' series is now available as a free download!

Volume 17 (not to be sniffed at eh?) can be downloaded here and if you want the full tracklist then go to DJ MK's very own blogspot (see they're all doing it!)

Joker Starr Interview

"...you have a lot more people who can’t produce or rap becoming the sound that is being recognised as the main music makers when they are not musicians."

Having heard good things both muscially and via word-of-mouth it was high time that I interviewed Joker Starr, a hungry and ambitious MC from Slough. He deserves to be bigger than David Brent so check this interview and get to know!

Certified Banger: Can you tell us your necessary background details so we can build on basics for the rest of the interview? For example: who you are, projects you have worked on, people you have worked with.

Joker Starr: My name is Joker Starr Supercilious, the baddest emcee you might not know too well. I have a colourful CV of people I have worked with so let’s start at the beginning: I will give the main names because I have worked with a lot of people - Soliheen and James Yarde are my producers and mentors, DJ Dynamite of Dynamite Deluxe in Germany, Seanie T on the Dark Horizon mixtapes, DJ Blufoot's ‘Ablution’ album, Keith Lawrence's ‘Coming True’ EP, production credit on Ty's ‘Upwards’ album, collaborations with Fallacy, Genesis Elijah, Terri Walker, Estelle, Sway, Micall Parknsun, Jehst bla bla bla the list can go on and on and on - Google it!

CB: What are your current or upcoming projects? ie albums, singles, tours, guest spots…

Click here to read on!

'Street Karma' - Dap-C & Dirty Sweet (album review)

Armed with a plethora of guests Dap-C alongside producer Dirty Sweet brings you ‘Street Karma’ on NGU records. This could be an album but apparently it’s not - it’s a mixtape.

After the intro (which features real scratching - yay) proceedings proceed with Blak Twang featuring ‘Music Game’ which is good. Then his NGU compadres drop in on the well produced but just a little bit silly our crew is the best boasting track. The reason why it’s silly is that following this you get tracks featuring Lewis Parker, Fallacy, Sir Smurf Lil, Stylah, Mr. Drastick, Late, Tricksta and Conman and I don’t need to tell you that their crews are actually better.

Dap-C, in my opinion, is pretty nice with his on most outings and the more established guests here complement his concepts well. There are a nice range of sounds here; Dirty Sweet is more than just competent behind the boards as he harmonizes with the emcees and their content.

The version of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ on offer here (featuring Skinnyman, Supar Novar, Emceekilla, Karisma and S.Kalibre) is nowhere near as good as the one on the video included on the DVD, it’s disappointing that the album cut makes it boring. ‘Passing Me By’ sees Dap-C take on a track alone with slightly less effective results than when backed up by guests of ilk.

On the whole ‘Street Karma’ is worth picking up and you can get it now at most of the usual places.

'Baby Food' - Baby J (album review)

From the opening out-of-tune bars of ‘If I Could Do It All Again’ through to the rambling ‘Midlands Anthem’ one can’t help feeling disappointed with ‘Baby Food’. Sure, the album has its good moments, but for someone considered a pro, it’s awfully amateurish.

The ‘100% Sample Free’ approach was an admirable idea but, you know, if it aint broke, don’t fix it. Some of Baby J’s usual vibe is captured on this new record; his ear for a catchy tune and his ability to attract good guests are the evident remainders of his past work.

Singles ‘Lies’ and ‘Wake Up’ have obvious crossover appeal and are the more polished fruits of Baby J’s labour. ‘Love and Peace’ featuring Task Force’s Farma G and some school kids suit the low level production whereas other tracks come off at best as sounding ‘homemade’. Belfast MC Jun Tzu provides a welcome stroke of genius madness with ‘Wee Jonny’.

Had Baby J stuck to sampling for this release, whilst refining his new formula for future ventures, I’m sure my words would have differed. As it stands, traditional ingredients are out of the window leaving not a sour taste, but one lacking in flavour.

'Heaven' - Dap-C

If 'Heaven' is anything to go by, 'Street Karma' by North-East spitter Dap-C is a great CD. Heaven features Mr. Drastick and Stylah and is produced by Dirty Sweet, as is the rest of the album. This is on some straight up, head nod vibes and Dap-C actually raps last, an unusual move but one which works.

He's also been busy with other stuff too. Check out this video with Geejay for his track 'Fresh' and whilst you're there you can click some more links for more Dap-C vids.

Dap-C has also made last years 'The Richest Misfit' mixtape available for absolutely nowt. That means its free so download it, ya can't go wrong!

'Street Karma' features big names like Blak Twang, Fallacy, Skinnyman, Lewis Parker (and the list goes on) so you know with support like that it can't be bad. Stay tuned here if you need more convincing, I may review it if I get a copy!

Freshhhhhh (ish)

If you haven't already, go to Kid Acne's Website and try to work out how to get on the mailing list. If you do then you could get emails from him and I wont have to tell you what he says in them. Here's a sample:

"They asked me to paint a wall in Rough Trade East last month so i turned up with a couple of cans of paint and drew a picture. Someone decided to film it so now you can see it on You Tube. Who'd have thought watching paint dry would be so minty? Well Arty. Check it!"

Worth it eh? If you have been ignoring him so far, well, the time is up, you need to take notice. Oh and that's his picture up there and do watch that video for his kooky artwork. Ah what the haybales, I'ma put one on here:

Reet good. That's enough about him, let's do listen to something else now. This music isn't a secret or anything so don't think that I think that I'm magic or special for posting it, just have a listen and write me a nice comment about something because I miss getting comments.

Atmosphere have made a nice summery song for you to listen to. You may also like to bemoan the lack of a British summer this year (or the fact that it came and went at Easter) OR you may like to construct one of those false hazy day memories and pretend summer actually occured here. Nice anyway.

Still on a feel good vibe (Thanks to HHC for reviewing a thouroughly unsuitable track for a Hip Hop mag for bringing this one to my attention) is Andrew Thompson with his 60's sounding ditty 'In This Town'. Your mum will like it.

If you were Ed OG and you just had made a new crew and you needed someone to do a sing-song rap chorus and you didn't have enough dollars to get Nate Dogg or Cee-Lo, who would you get? Yeah you would, it's Devin the Dude who makes Special Teamz 'Long Time Coming' fun.

Big Shug is from the Gang Starr camp so it makes sense that DJ Premier would give him a few beats. This year he has and it sounds like this: Big Shug - Play it (download it then play it and it will sound like it should)

Modulok is from Canada and he makes moody but not angry far out alternative rap music. This one is called 'Jungle made of Glass'. Y Society also do a similar line of more leftfield underground Hip Hop. The MC is Insight and the beat maker is the superbly named Damu the Fudgemunk, yeah! They have a track full of almost wrong sounding, nearly clashing notes (and raps) called 'Never Off (On & On).

Future Cut have a done a remix/versus thingy with Fallacy (who I touched (no homo - I shook his hand really)the other week, how good?!)(I use alot of brackets don't I?)(Maybe I should go into shelving) I think the vs. means ft. but anyway its called 'Drug of Choice'.

Sorry the tracks aren't all id3 tagged up, I forgot to do them, do it yo' delf

Y Society - Never Off (on & on).mp3
Atmosphere - Sunshine.mp3
Modulok - Jungle made of Glass.mp3
Future Cut vs. Fallacy - Drug of Choice.mp3
Special Teamz - Long Time Coming ft Devin the Dude.mp3
Big Shug - Play it (DJ Premier).mp3
Andrew Thompson - In this Town.mp3

Task Force/Broke 'N' £nglish review

Last week, Tuesday night, 10.00 pm; yes, I should have been in bed on account of the fact that I am a working man whose day begins at 7.00 am. Alas, I was just queuing up outside the Stylus venue in the bowels of Leeds University’s student union waiting to see some Hip Hop heroes. Here is a brief recount of the happenings down there that night in the form of a top 5 of things that happened:

5. Local Hip Hoppers Dot to Dot’s (couldn’t really hear if that was their name, you know hip hop sound systems are rubbish), Chief Wiggum, awesome beat boxers Mega Mouth and Balls Deep and crew Don’t Talk to Strangers repped the city. DTTS were blighted by numerous problems; they had forgotten a backing track and only had the vocal track (they should have lip synched) and then the power on the stage went off leaving them to rhyme freestyle for a hot minute. Sadly the girl they had brought along to sing was drowned out by the beat due to the lack of experienced rap gig sound engineers.

4. Sinical of DMC fame gave us the pleasure of a pleasantly technical DJ set.

3. Broke ‘N’ £nglish played their game where they freestyle about 3 topics suggested by the crowd. One guy who seemed to have paid his entire ticket price to make this happen lunged to the stage and made sure they heard him shouting ‘orange, orange’. Now orange, as we all know, is a word that doesn’t have any proper rhyming words. Yes Eminem did rhyme it with ‘syringes’ but that didn’t really work and it was annoying to boot. Basically B’N’E obviously have encountered this guy’s counterparts before as after ending a line with ‘lozenge’ Strategy totally berated the ‘t**t [who] asked me to rhyme orange’! Backed up by DJ/MC Konny Kon they gave a good, energetic show. Check out their myspace and their radio 1 podcast (that was the first time I heard them).

2. Task Force slightly annoyed the security by announcing ‘the rowdy part of their set’ (after a pretty rowdy first half) and encouraging people to do all sorts of unruly things such as starting a mosh pit, pogo jumping (a la the punks) and stage diving. Heads took them up on their offer and the big ol’ bouncers begun to bounce very angrily. The show was stopped after they dragged one guy outside and Chester P announced that he was getting stomped outside, this notice concluded in half of the gig-goers and half of the artists and their entourages rushing the security out the back. Task Force were accompanied onstage by Inja (and his big grin) and DJ Louis Slipperz and they basically rocked in a truly rock ‘n’ roll style.

1. Fallacy was there (and he shook my hand)! Pretty much all night UK legend Fallacy was stood at the back of the stage admiring the energy of Broke ‘N’ £nglish and Task Force. Task Force passed the mic for a guest verse at the end of their set.

Big up to New Bohemia who know how to throw a party and how to book a good handful of artists. Check out their myspace to see the other events they have organised in Leeds. It was a shame I had to go at 2.00 am because DJ Format had just kicked off his set in fine style with ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, maybe next time eh?

Here a couple of tracks so you can get a flavour of the music if you've never heard it before. The Task Force track is actually my favourite tune at the moment:

Broke 'N' £nglish - Manchester Sh__
Task Force - The Last Tune