'Good Writtenz' - Stappz (review)

Coming from Sermstyle’s camp is something for the true Hip Hop head: ‘Good Writtenz’ by Stappz. With a sound similar to (and I absolutely loathe making this comparison usually) Eminem in his ‘Slim Shady LP’ days, this Geordie MC flows effortlessly over one of Sermstyle’s many production styles (in this case West Coast Dre style done to a very high quality). With a focus on introducing himself as a rapper and claiming his spot lyrically, Stappz big himself up, puts other rappers down and basically just shows us what he’s capable of when it comes to making words rhyme.

There are a lot of great tracks on here, I started making a list but it started to get too long: ‘Give Up’, ‘How I Live’ (featuring American Livin’ Proof) and ‘Alright’ are mellow tracks based around acoustic guitar loops whereas ‘Rockstar’ adds a distortion pedal and some heavy drumming to the formula. ‘Good Writtenz’ adds a British edge to the West Coast sound whereas ‘Fall 2 Pieces’ has that wonky sonic. ‘Get To Know’ sounds like Nate Dogg, Snoop, Warren G and maybe even 2Pac should be rocking the mic but Dretonio and Stappz do a great job instead.

Buy it now as a download or as a CD at the venerable Bandcamp website!

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Free Downloads from Mr. B, Kulez, Wizard and Sermstyle!

I'm back with more!

Kulez has dropped this free download featuring the menacing 'Creeep' and the hyperactive 'Bo!' on which he flips some skateboarding vocabulary. Download it here.

Mr. B rips up an old skool beat on his free download 'Step Up To It (Mr. Brown)' which can be downloaded at Bandcamp. James Brown gets sampled one more time whilst Mr. B makes himself known. Check the video here.

Wizard dropped a new beat tape called 'Massage Parlour Music' which can be downloaded here.

North Easterly producer Sermstyle has also dropped a free download featuring his beats but this time some big name US MCs are riding the beats. Expect rhymes from Jadakiss, 50 Cent, Eminem, The Game and more. Download it now.

If it's video type stuff you're looking for then Doc Freud and Gadget have 'Lost', the Organix heads have them live in the centre of Bolton annoying the shopppers no doubt, Jaisu's got his sixth beat tape for you to watch (always entertaining and inspiring) and Jah Digga's got 'Black and Proud' up on youtube for you all to earpeep.

'Everything' - Jaycee Payaso (single review)

Sermstyle's poppy/urban current production style suits Jaycee's R'n'B type singing and with the right push I can imagine Jaycee Payaso having a reasonable go at the pop charts. Apparently Cheryl Cole has already invited him to work with her so who knows?

'Everything' is a typical smooshy love song about trying to be the best you can be in a relationship and in its own little way it's quite catchy. Silvar provides a rapped verse and proves to be easier to take in a small dose and whilst his lyrics remain simplistic he does flip some nice flows.

The second track 'My Girl's Blessed' employs autotune and appears to be pretty hard (in an R'n'B-ish way) until the chorus - then unfortunately, it flops.

'Everything' is out on 23rd November on Razeone.

'Searching' - Silvar (single review)

I could write this review with one line: Silvar - not for fans of Hip Hop. I won't just leave it at that though; you need to know why. If I'm not mistaken 'Searching' is produced by Sermstyle who can produce decent Hip Hop beats. Instead for this release someone decided that synthy-dance-mulch based beats would do. It's obvious this is aimed at folk who listen to the radio and go to see X Factor winners in concert but I doubt this will even cut it with them - it's a bit too mundane.

The beat for 'Too Famous' panders a little less to the latest urban trends but it's clear from Silvar's simplistic lyrics that he has limited scope - he talks about a girl wearing his rolex in both tracks on this single.

'Searching' is probably out sometime soon (possibly November 2nd) on Razeone.