'Lollipop Lady's Favourite' - Willo Wispa (video)

A banging beat, as you'd expect from Metabeats, and some off-the-wall lyricism, as you'd expect from Willo - it's 'Lollipop Lady's Favourite' from Willo Wispa. I know you'll want to buy it so head over to itunes now to get your download on. And then sit and wait patiently for his full length to drop - can't wait. You can also get the track here for less I believe.

Free Willo Wispa, Black Milk, Yogi, Shade 1, Mr. Drastick, Squid Ninjaz Tracks

Some UK heat for y'alls:

New Black Milk dub by Willo Wispa - these two seem to be made for each other and the track 'Panda Pops' is just eased brilliance. Can't tell you much I'm looking forward to his forthcoming recorded and released output.

Yogi and Shade 1 have dropped 'We Aint Ya Typical', some west coast sounding ishmish, via Twitter - good stuff.

Mr. Drastick sent over a new track 'Nothing To Lose' which is labelled as a Sade remix - now that I can't vouch for (although I recognise her voice on the chorus) because I struggle to be a fan of hers - one of my Dad's favourites that I couldnt get with. Anyways, Drastick's track is pretty dope so sample it for yourself.

Chrome Kids dropped a load of Squid Ninjaz tings - a Stagga remix of Joe Blow's 'Hour Glass' and two Cervantis tracks - 'Supa Human' and 'Yellow Rocks'.

That's all for now thanks.

'Same Ol' Same Old' - Willo Wispa

One of the most promising rising artists in the UK scene right now is Willo Wispa. The MC who is on the Associated Minds label has recently been picked up by Radio 1 on their 'Introducing' show - one of the best radio shows around and definitely doing good things for underground music. Even though they've spelt his name wrong they've been kind enough to make a player with his track 'Same Ol' Same Old' which is produced by Conspicuous in it:

BBC Introducing in Wales

• Click here for more Willo Wispa goodness

'New Rules' - The Colony (video)

Here's the video of 'New Rules' by The Colony taken from the LP they hope to drop this summer. It's produced by Conspicuous and for those who don't know, the crew consists of him, Willo Wispa, Grimlok and Sir Smurf Lil' - some of the illest rhyme sayers on this island.

'The Earlier Escapades Of...' - Willo Wispa (EP review + 2 free downloads)

Mentalness. Pure, unadulterated mentalness - well, it's mentalness mixed with mad lyricism. 'The Earlier Escapades Of Willo Wispa' is a 9 track release containing a selection of rare and unreleased material from The Colony member who, in 2009, will drop 'Wot's Willo On?!'.

What's Willo On? A question you may well ask yourself. What ever it is, it makes this guy unconventional and absolutely fressssshhhh! Expect the unexpected - and that's real, not just hyperbole.

'Mars to the Manor' will help you to understand Willo as well as you ever will. It's full of hilarious rhymes that will leave you guffawing for sure.

'2 Pounds' will school you all in the art of having a night out on the cheap. Again - jokes.

Sample these tracks for free, courtesy of Associated Minds then download your set of nine Willo tracks from itunes and get anticipating the album 'Wot's Willo On?!

Some Welsh Rarebits

If you're at all into Hip Hop then you should check this out:

The boys over at Chrome Kids have put together a very comprehensive selection of Welsh Hip Hop tracks. What's even better is that a mix of the tracks was played live on Rob Da Bank's Radio 1 show (listen now on iplayer).

Loads of the individual tracks are on their blog for free download which is just brilliant - there's no excuse not listen and get into it. Artists included are Metabeats, Blaktrix, Mudmowth, Willo Wispa and Dead Residents amongst many other Welsh names (some more Welsh than others - Y Diwygiad). No Goldie Lookin' Chain though - only pulling your... legs, lads!

'The Get Together' - Evil Ed & Conspicuous (album review)

At 15 tracks deep, coming in at just over 50 minutes, ‘The Get Together’ is no hard slog. I’ve already listened to it a few times today and am beginning again; it doesn’t get boring despite the outwardly conventional Hip Hop template.

Evil Ed is known for having produced for Jehst, Yungun and a whole host of other UK names. His production LP ‘The Enthusiast’ featured vocals from Kyza, the Colony, Doc Brown, Tommy Evans and Asaviour amongst others. Conspicuous (aka Conspicuous the Coroner aka Cons) a member of The Colony along with Willo Wispa, Grimlok and Sir Smurf Lil’, has previously dropped two albums, ‘Backgammon’ in ’05 and ‘The Family Photo Album’ last year.

Cons is on point with some carefully constructed verses that proudly display his rhyming ability (probably the reason why ‘81’s Favourite Son’ was sequenced first). The guests contribute only pure fire too, there are no duff appearances and no-one steals anyone else’s shine. It’s not just ‘BBQ’ that has a brotherly BBQ-ish feel; the whole album is like one relaxed cipher. Ed’s production is of a high quality, there are no hastily looped breaks here, no drums slapped on top of some old soul; this is sampling at its most professional and top that, it’ll keep your head nodding all the while.

Stand out tracks come in the form of UK/US posse cut ‘Ill-Out’ and ‘Big Headed’. The former for its jazziness, cuts, contrasting accents and sick lyrics. The latter for the pianos, Willo Wispa’s inimitable slackness and Mudmowth’s mentalness.

‘The Get Together’ serves as a great follow-up album for both artists. With a multitude of big guests, including some from over the pond, the duo has crafted a comprehensive body of work that should garner many spins by any Hip Hop head fortunate to pick up a copy of this.

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:

'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.

Mudmowth - 'Circus In The Cemetery' 12" review

You have to chuckle - Associated Minds are hilarious. They're just edging into the scene, loudly mind you, bringing Welsh Hip Hop to the ears of the still London-centric UK Hip Hop listeners. It's just pure comedy value, given that the Hip Hop plus Wales thing that most people think of is Goldie Lookin' Chain's idiotic banter, that their releases are all so RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME!

Mudmowth's latest offering, a shexy white vinyl with dopey-dope-dope artwork, is just so hardcore it's mental. Mudmowth is a tremendous MC who mixes clarity with humour, seriousness and sickness in perfect measures.

Essentially, this release is a 5 track EP featuring labelmate guests Willo Wispa and Ralph Rip Sh** and production by P.L.O., Devize (from Australia) and Sam Rockwell. The overall feeling is of hard, dark but outright bouncy and jouyously heavy Rap music. Next time I get a chance to see Mud perform live, I know my trainers will get stepped upon, one part of my will be body bleeding and there will be a HUGE grin on my face; this is mosh pit inducing stuff.

'Skullcrackology', produced by P.L.O., opens up proceedings and is orientated around live rock drumming, synthy, filthy bass lines and screaming guitars. Mudmowth comes across most vehemently with millions of quotables e.g. 'The only police record you've got is 'Every Breath I Take''. It's great to hear such a brilliant Rock infused track that suits the MC'ing down to a T.

'Return of the Cavemen' is fresh, Devize offers a jaunty beat that somehow has an Australian sound to it - there's something about it that sets it's sound apart from the UK or the US. Willo brings a more chilled out contribution, his style is so lazy and laid back compared to Mudmowth's - it's great to hear MC's who sound different - usually you can't tell when one has stopped and the next has started! ('Shouts to Steve Irwin, Down Under - Literally'!!!)

The intro to 'Circus in the Cemetery' must have been robbed from some bad 80's horror movie and it heralds perfectly what's to come. The title track is menacing both in lyrical content and delivery and the two MC's have come up with a nice concept with plenty of scope for more classic lines. Not my favourite track on here but nonetheless a banger.

'Knuckle Down' is another Devize jobby and the beat is on the lighter side of things whereas the verbals are still gnarly. I like the fact that even though the lyrics are classic battle material the beat is not a doom-and-gloom, dreary sounding backdrop. This track really showcases Mud's overactive mind; I don't know how he thinks up this stuff!

'The Broken Home of Mr. Jones' is a lovely but sad track and the title says it all. Mudmowth takes on the persona of an alcoholic man whose life is in tatters and he paints the picture real well. As Mudmowth says himself: 'The sad thing I know is that half of Britain understands me'. This is an insightful examination of the state of many people in our country.

I can't really say anything I didn't already say in the intro to this review. This is simply brilliant Hip Hop that reveals new treasures on each listen. For the price of a couple of beers this could be yours and if you buy it right off Associated Minds they'll no doubt throw in a load of free stuff; don't be a Mr. Jones - buy this EP!

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.

Associated Minds

Big up to Mayor from Associated Minds, the Welsh Hip Hop label currently impressing fans and journos alike with their roster of artists. He got in touch a few weeks ago and has since provided me with some goodies. And best believe, this is one email and package I was very glad to get!

One of the goodies was 'Metaphysical', the LP from producer Metabeats. This has been garnering great praise from all the big UKHH publications and websites and I only didn't have it because I'm really poor at the moment! It's an awesome album and I may follow this up with a proper review but right now I thought I'd let you look at the proper professionally made videos for two of the albums biggest tracks. 'Live and Let Live' is definitely my favourite track on the album whereas the video for 'F**k with Me' is an absolute killer - big up Ryan Andrews for these:

If those tunes tickle your fancy then get steppin' to somewhere that sells it and buy it! Look out for more mentions of Associated Minds, they're going to do all right for themselves! Here's a taster of what they do (these downloads also available on their myspace page):

Metabeats - Live and let Live
MudMowth - The Most Colourful Years
Beatbox Fozzy - Tuna Fish ft. Willo Wispa