Watson G - 'Rain' / Jonny Alpha - 'Incedible Pre​-​Me' Produced by Imperial

Check out the latest double single from Don't Talk To Strangers Records. It features the 2 MCs from Knew Jeru'slum - Johnny Alpha and Watson G. The production comes from from Cambridge's Imperial, recently signed to Illect Recordings out in the US.

The production is big and the rhymes are strong. Check out these West Yorkshire heavyweights for free right now by heading over to their bandcamp page.

'Jerus and Gentiles' - Knew Jeru'slum (album review)

Rowdy and militant – that’s how I’d describe ‘Jerus and Gentiles’. Now you must understand; I use both words with all possible positivity. Knew Jeru’slum’s debut LP disturbs the peace with its no-nonsense approach to Hip Hop although it’s not all heavy fire.

‘Intro’ featuring cuts from First Word’s Andy H, ‘Thirty Twos’ and lead single ‘Non-Apologetix featuring US MC Manchild are pure aural assault with the album’s three producers Eliphino, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Brutal Artistry each taking their turn to match the MCs’ impassioned rhymes. ‘Dreamcatchers’ featuring JND (as heard on Certified Banger’s ‘On The Radar’ series) and ‘Kaleidoscopic’, whilst remaining equally as heavy, provide a slower tempo and a rest in the trenches before ‘Speakwise’ explodes into the ear canal with renewed fervour.

Label mate Chief Wigz must have influenced ‘Move Mountains’ featuring Larbi; the interplay between Jonny Alpha and Watson G on the chorus makes for one of the most memorable tracks on the album. Another US MC, Pigeon John, joins the ranks for the summery ‘Hibernation’ on which Belinda’s vocals are showcased beautifully. ‘Aircon’ does what it says on the tin – provides a breather and a chillout moment which is backed up by the serious message and the laid back vibe of ‘One Foot In The World’.

‘Plan To Prosper’ brings the funk and the juxtaposition of the haunting background vocals with the MCs frenzied words is fairly close to surreal, and that’s before it ascends into Drum and Bass chaos. Narykcin provides a heartfelt chorus on ‘Penitent Man’ and if you hadn’t caught onto the fact that this album is inspired by the Christian faith of its proprietors by this point then this will track will point you in that direction, causing you to re-think everything you’ve heard so far.

‘Memoirs’ serves as a decoy before ‘Bobby Legion’ devastates the situation; the track, featuring singer Stevie Heath’, has the most mass appeal because of its chorus which is insane considering the earth-shattering hardcore-ness of its Hip Hop beat – definitely the album’s atomic charge, talk about saving the best ‘til last! In fact, it’s not the last; ‘Hunger’ featuring Rini of Sons of Light and Ragga artist Wizkid bring the final frontier of variety as old school Hip Hop, R’n’B and Dancehall rub shoulders making for a crowd-pleasing product.

Stand up and salute West Yorkshire’s latest offering to the UK Hip Hop scene – Knew Jeru’slum have created a piece of work worthy of decoration. Suspect Packages are stocking this, you can get it (and listen to it all for free) at Bandcamp, it’s on itunes, you can get it at label Don’t Talk To Strangers’ website so there’s no excuse for you not to have this in your collection. Oh yeah, and it's only a fiver.

'No Matter'/'Sweet and Sour' - Knew Jeru'slum & Miss Tofelees (free downloads)

Miss Tofelees + Johnny Alpha + Watson G =

Here are two new tracks from the combination of peeps in the above equation.

The first track is 'No Matter' by Knew Jeru'slum, so that's Johnny Alpha and Watson G on spits with nice production from Miss Tofelees. 'No Matter' is all about sticking at things despite trials and tribulations - something serious for you. This track is taken off their forthcoming LP 'Jerus and Gentiles' which will be released on Don't Talk To Strangers.

The second track's not so serious. This one is 'Sweet and Sour' by Johnny Alpha, featuring Watson G and produced by Miss Tofelees. If you're into Chinese food, or just food in general, get this track playing whilst you cook up a storm (or get on the phone to your local takeaway). 'Sweet And Sour' will feature on the Miss Tofelees album 'Mist Over Leeds' which will be out late 2009/early 2010.

'On The Radar Vol. 4' Track Highlight: 'Dreamcatchers' ft. JND - Knew Jeru'slum

Name: Knew Jeru'slum - Watson G, Jonny Alpha & Belinda Hards
Age: – Collectively 79 years old, mostly in favour of Jonny Alpha, don’t be fooled by his Oil of Olay looks.

From: Hudds and Halifax

Track on ‘On The Radar’: ‘Dreamcatchers’ ft. JND

Tell us the story behind the track: The track’s produced by Eliphino (9 Livez), and features one of our extended fam, JND. He's dope and always comes with some freshness, so we asked him to jump on this as we’d been talkin collabos for a minute. I watched a film with the same title, and thought it’d be good just to write to a title, get three different perspectives on the word. We took too long from start to finish with gaps inbetween movements on it - a year must be a record!

Record label: Don’t Talk to Strangers fam.

Who you roll with: The main fam are Bane, Mury Poppinz (No Pretense) Chief Wigz, Optics, Spida Lee, Brutal Artistry, Mega Mouth, Ball-Z, Deadboy,TCB, Guvnor, Mikey 3D...We like to think were pretty tight with a certain Miss Tofelees (Biggin’ her up so we get more beats!)...couple of mans further afield like Iz-real, Naryckin, Turtle hands. We're working a bit with Whichcraft too(the artist, not the pastime!).

Favourite album: Jonny - Personally, I’d throw Gravediggaz '6ftDeep' up there, along with 'Illmatic' (Watson – “me too” and 'Baduism')

Describe your style in three words: Watson - “Completely – Mixed & Diverse,”..Jonny – “True – imaginative - Poetry!” Belinda – “Timeless – soulful – real”

Past/Present/Future projects: You can check the DTTS myspace for all previous releases and who's whos. As far as Knew Jerus goes, our album ‘Jerus & Gentiles’ will be the first project, out very early 2010, featuring production mostly from Miki B, and featuring beats from Guvnor and Eliphino, Our first single on Download only –‘Non-Apologetix’ came out a bit ago ft. Manchild from Mars Ill Available on i-tunes, next single is a Double A side 12” Hibernation ft. Pigeon John, and on the flip No Pretense ft. Prince Po – Elevation.

We got an album entirely over Guvnor beats in the pipe line for 2010, an EP called ‘Plastercine’ ft. Some very special guests, and we’re each working on solo material too, keep check on the DTTS myspace for schedules, and other interesting ish happening - we’re busy bees!

Watch out for a couple of guest spots from us here and there...watch out for WYdeboi’s EP!

Watch out for the DTTS releases in the next 12 months, it’s getting BIG!

Peace!

Beats, Rhymes & Christ - Knew Jeru'slum Interview

"It’s very important to us to be ourselves in this, to speak about what’s important to us and let people get an insight to our lives, none of that’s any good if its confined to the bottom shelf in a Christian bookshop – who’s gonna hear it then? We make hip hop for all heads, where ever you come from."

With an agenda like few others, West Yorkshire based UK Hip Hoppers Knew Jeru'slum bring it hardcore on their new single 'Non-Apologetix'. The boys answered a few of my burning questions about their music and their faith:

Certified Banger: Introduce yourself please:

Jonny Alpha: We are Knew Jeru’slum: Myself and Watson G on the spits, my beautiful missus Belinda Hards on the vocals, and on the most part, production from Yorkshires illest - Brutal Artistry. We’re from various ends of West Yorks - Hudds, Falihax and Bradford. Knew Jeru’slum is a project we started a couple of years ago really, me and Watson were getting some ideas together, then he and his lass introduced me to Belinda – her sister, and when I was chatting her up I found out Belinda’s an amazing singer too, it all linked there, then we met Miki B and loved what he does plus we all got a love for the gospel, so that’s us.

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'Non-Apologetix' ft. Manchild - Knew Jeru'slum (single review)

A change of review style here today. Instead of writing a new review I thought I’d let you know exactly what feedback I gave to Knew Jeru’slum about their new single ‘Non-Apologetix’:

Big bad beat (courtesy of Brutal Artistry), Public Enemy/Bomb Squad-ish but with that Eastern twist - it's a good look, reminds me of some the tracks off the latest Styly Cee/Cappo 12". Cuts in there too (from Andy H) - good to hear!

Title and subject matter is clever, playing on the two meanings of the word 'apologetics' - comes across well. I think you have actually managed not to compromise your message whilst still making it sound totally acceptable to every Hip Hop head - I just hope they listen exactly to what you're saying on the track and subsequent tracks.

Lyrics and rhymes wise - it's all good too, no whackness and the Manchild hookup is big! Mars ILL know how to keep things underground and hardcore for sure!

I’m totally feeling this track right now and it deserves some big support, go cop it on itunes – it’s out on Tuesday 31st March. Have a download of a 45 second snippet!