Showing posts with label british. Show all posts

When Skitz dropped Countryman back in 2001 it marked a strong time for UK Hip-hop. His guest emcees such as Rodney P, Roots Manuva, Task Force and Skinnyman seemed to be on course to break through into the everyday consciousness of the nation. Although they definitely made a dent, it seems in hindsight that the only artist from the album to have 'crossed over' as it were is Estelle and since then the scene has been on steady decline. The long wait for the follow up album is nearly over and despite the less than hospitable environment, the first signs are that this could be just what the scene needs (unless the idea of an actual single genre music scene is slightly passé, in which case it will hopefully find some favour in the unclear space between worlds). The first single Requiem Of The Gods dropped a while back and thankfully showed that Skitz hadn't been ignoring Grime and Dubstep like many Hip-hop artists and there was definitely a more bass heavy, electronic tint to the production. The same goes for his latest single Born In The System, which despite being a straight up Hip-hop / Reggae hybrid that pre-cursors both the other scenes mentioned, still manages to hint at the sound of now, especially with the inclusion of Bristol's Buggsy on mic duty who rips a double time rasta rhyme that is straight fire. The whole album is due to drop at the end of May with the single dropping at the start of the month.

Skitz ft Buggsy - Born Inna System by Skitz

Thanks to a certain popular sitcom Barry is finally on the map and has even tidied itself up a little bit over the past year or so, but it ain't all Gavin & Stacey in the small Welsh seaside town known locally as Basra. Still, just like the social problems in 70s South Bronx helped to spawn Hip-hop, there's a certain energy in Barry that keeps the culture going when all around scenes are dying off, albeit in a rather darker and sinister cerebral form that embraces rather than tries to escape it's surroundings.

Out of this raw creative scene comes the Squid Ninjaz family, consisting of heavyweight artists such as Metabeats, Joe Blow, Cervantis, Skamma, Cesto and a whole heap more both direct and extended family members. Mudmowth, Ralph Rips Shit, Ruffstylz, Dead Residents, 4Dee, Imakemadbeats and Beretta 9 from Wu Tang affiliates Killarmy, all make appearances on their impressive forthcoming album Revenge Of The Blowfish and make it one of the heaviest, grimiest and also most lyrically creative Hip-hop releases of 2009.

Check this Metabeats produced head cracker from the album that also features our man Stagga on the cuts and drunken style rants courtesy of another of our favourite new producers Shadow Law's Ming Dy Nasty.

(YSI) Squid Ninjaz - Wowzers / alt link


You can catch most of the Squid Ninjaz live in the Cardiff area next month (see above flyer) alongside one of the most influential UK crews of the past few years, Task Force who I'm pretty sure haven't reached the city since their last controversial visit to Higher Learning near the start of the decade (except for supporting Super Furry Animals a few days later).


Unfortunately it doesn't look like honourary member Ramson Badbonez will be there, a man we've been watching rip battles since before he was old enought to enter them. It does however give us enough of an excuse to post up some of his recent tracks that have all found their way onto his blog in the past few weeks.

(YSI) Ramson Badbonez - Black Mags (Badbonez Remix) / alt link

(YSI) Ramson Badbonez - Here Today Gone Tomorrow Dub / alt link

And hell seeing as we're on a UK Hip-hop tip, here's a couple of tracks from those good fellas over at HHC Digital who have made something of an impressive shift online after the sad, but perhaps over due demise of their printed version earlier in the year.

(YSI) Kyza - Sin City / alt link (From the Shots Of Smirnoff Mixtape)

(YSI) Charlie Sloth feat. Rodney P and Killa Benz - We Run Everyting / alt link

If any of you are starved by the lack of UK Hip-hop out there at the moment then you could do worse then check out Jyager, whose Encrypted Scriptures drops on 23rd March on Y'N'R. The only one we're really feeling is the track with Foreign Beggars and Kashmere (who's playing at The Globe in Cardiff alongside Verb T and The Last Skeptic on February 7th for all the heads here), but then we kinda got bored of most UK Hip-hop acts a while back (along with everybody else if sales and releases are anything to go by). This isn't gonna resurrect the scene but it might keep some of the die hards happy for a while.

(YSI) Jyager ft Foreign Beggars & Kashmere - Frozen In The Night