Been a while since we posted anybody else's dope videos up here so...
We've always had love for the Seclusiasis label on here but this video from Warsnare and Fille de la Lune properly blew me away. Not heard the EP yet but I'm off to get a copy as soon as I've written this post.
Dark moody swagged out business from Black Dahlia, a dope new project from one of our favourite producers, Blue Daisy and rapper Hey!Zeus.
This is probably our favourite thing right now. Pure sunshine vibes from our South Wales compadres, Metabeats, Vanity Jay and the Associated Minds family. 80 Boogie Meets 90s RNB, Meets Future Funk... and that's just the video. Complete win.
This SOPHIE track hasn't got a video to go with it as such but as their only sending out YouTube promos and I'm feeling it, here it is.
“Darkhouse Family is the product of many smokey studio hours shared by Don Leisure & Metabeats… Linking up in late 2007 the duo gelled quickly over a shared musical heritage of hiphop and uk club culture and a loose beat tape project began to grow. This later turned into DHF after the old chopped up soul sample sound was replaced by a more synthed out, smoked out & synthetic sound that the group is known for… The Family Trees EP on Fat City Recordings put Darkhouse on the map with solid DJ support from Martyn, The Gaslamp Killer, Alex Nut, Illum Sphere, Kutmah, Dibiase & more.
This mix is just a collection of some new stuff we’ve been sent and are feeling and some of our latest beats also. One of the loose ideas of the mix was to showcase a bunch of new producers who are making dope tracks who may not be household names to everyone.
We are planning an LP in 2011 but will release some more material on Fat City hopefully this year and also undertake some remix work for Frite Nite and Jon Wayne. Don Leisure also has some solo project work on the bubble and Metabeats is set to release his 2nd LP on Associated Minds and also continues to shake skirts with his CRST project.”
Metabeats and Dubbledge combine on the 'The Making Of A Slave' in honour of Black History Month. Inspired by the Willie Lynch letter, ‘The Making of a Slave’ sees Dubbledge at his most controversial, ironically morphing into the shoes of a slave owner to breakdown the various techniques used to create slaves. However he does so with an intellectual, tongue in cheek delivery and enough humour to turn the ugliest of subjects into an inspirational look at the methods used to create an inbuilt self-destructive mentality that will & has spanned generations. It's thought provoking & definitely worth a listen for some true edutainment.
The dynamically downbeat duo of Metabeats and Don Leisurewho make up the Darkhouse Family have just put this litte beat tape together for the guys over at 92bpm.com and it points to some exciting goings on at the camp with a bunch of unreleased group, solo and collabo material alongside their released tracks on Fat City.
The Associated Minds boys are canny lads. Whilst there has been something of a Hip-hop drought of late they have been stock piling some serious tunes to unleash on us all. I say this with a certain amount of guess work, a touch of faith and the slightest bit of actual knowledge. You see they've been keeping their cards closer to their chest than Nicole Kidman playing Strip Poker. We keep catching glimpses, although it might not be wise to use any kind of nipple analogy when referring to some of their rappers.
The latest snippet to sneak out of the stable is this Metabeats produced crunked up funk bumper. The Lollipop Lady’s Favourite is the first single from Willo Wispa’s eagerly anticipated Wot’s Willo On!?! album and features our favourite jazzy Welsh starlet in the making Ruby Samba.
The tune is a while heap of fun and we can't wait for the video which looks like it's going to be triple jokes galore if this 'Making of' is anything to go by...
We've been running round like a bunch of mad March hares for the last month or so and we've taken our eye off the ball a few times. One particular ball just hit us in the face when we realised that the March mix we had off our amgio Don Leisure has slipped into April. We're not the most respectful of rules or time however and this mix will remain fresh for many moons to come so for your listening pleasure...
We've been looking forwards to the new Metabeats and Mudmowth LP for longer than is polite to have to anticipate anything but looks like the wait is nearly over and it ain't gonna be pretty. The first sign of impending destruction comes in the shape of this controlled explosion from a fearsome foursome. Riding the stutter funk production is three of the UK's finest: Sonnyjim, Mudmowth and Skamma and this tune gives us that warm evil feeling inside like lacing your mate's toilet paper with chilli powder.
This mix also contains the future garage track Baduka from Metabeats' alter ego Chesus and fellow Barry dweller Diverse Conceptswhich we posted earlier and is looking at getting a release sometime soon through Ten Thousand Yen.
I have to admit I have something of a soft spot for 2 Step Garage, it was the first music to come through the club speakers at the start of the last decade and thanks to an old mix CD I dugout before heading from city to city this new years it was the last music I really bubbled to at the end of the decade too. Not that this is an admission of guilt, after all I'm in good company with my ...., seems like a large section of the discerning club crowd have fallen back in love with the sound. As if to highlight the point our first post of the year is a mix of Nu-skool 2 step grooves going into a tropical leaning sound from C.R.S.T. from South Wales, whose members are made up of CK favourites Chesus & Rodski, Tony Blitz and J.D.S. All tracks are from the crew except one solo one (see below) from Chesus, who some of the you might recognise as being the alter ego of Metabeats, we told you he was gonna be one to watch this year and it looks like we're heading for a satisfied smug tone for our 2010 round up. From what we understand also, a couple of these tracks should soon seee the light of day courtesy of the fellas at No Hats No Hoods but more info on that as it comes.
Inside - C.R.S.T Me N You - Chesus Walk On - C.R.S.T Good Love - C.R.S.T Take It Back - C.R.S.T Revisit - C.R.S.T Jam For You - C.R.S.T The Bells V.I.P - C.R.S.T Mighty V.I.P - C.R.S.T Funky Flex (C.R.S.T Remix) - C.R.S.T Thank You - C.R.S.T 1 Just 4 U - C.R.S.T
Whoops the Christmas situation has thrown our days into even more confusion then usual, we only just figured out it was Monday in time to hit you with these. No tracklistings unfortunately but the first is forged from beats entirely of San Fran 'Blap' pioneer Dnae Beat's making, whilst the second is more of a straight up Hip-hop offering from the Associated Minds' catalogue, past present and still to drop including Metabeats, Ruffstylz, Mudmowth, Dubbledge and Elucid.
Regular readers of this blog will probably know by now but for years Wales has secretly harbored one of the most vibrant, diverse and talented Hip-hop scenes on the planet. This is no small part due to three forward thinking crews based in the Welsh capital of Cardiff:
Associated Minds who have produced some of the strongest UK Hip-hop releases of the past few years from the likes of Metabeats, Mudmowth, Ruffstylz and Ralph Rips Shit; Higher Learning whose nights set many a Hip hop legend next to the latest cutting edge artists,and have been the primary breeding ground for Welsh acts over the past 9 years; andMutty Wango, who have consistently supported the scene in their off the hook eclectic nights, bringing the artists to a whole new audience.
Now all three have combined to bring a killer line up of acts.
Undoubtedly one of the UK’s # 1 emcees at the moment, Kyza Smirnoff first came to our attention as part of the Terra Firma crew but was always slightly overshadowed by Klashnekoff. Since going solo he's gone from strength to strength and has far eclipsed his former compadres. His new Shots of Smirnoff mixtape is out on Foreign Beggars' Dented Records label and DJ Nonames from the group will be backing him up on the ones and twos.
One of the most consistent emcees in the game, with massive releases on Low Life and Dented Records plus a whole bunch of legendary guest spots. He’s also the man behind the hilariously sharp Grime spoof Lips 2 Da Floor.
One of the UK’s finest new producers and a man of many names, faces and sounds, all of them worth looking out for. His last album Metaphysical was one of the best UK Hip-hop releases in years and had major support from a number of BBC Radio 1 DJs. Ever prolific he's got three albums that we know of ready to drop, all of which are being kept under heavy duty lock and key for the moment. There's the Sledgehammer Kisses album with Mudmowth, an instrumental future soul type one (possibly the Darkhouse Family album with Don Leisure) and another straight up Hip-hop monster (we've been assured it will be by the label, all we know so far is Elucid is on two of the tracks).
Yup that's right, we shall be up in the place with a big bag of bass. Really looking forwards to this one, we've not played our home town as a crew for some time now.
ONLY £6 ENTRY SATURDAY 17th OCTOBER THE GLOBE ALBANY ROAD, CARDIFF DOORS OPEN 19.30pm (close 12.30am)
The Squid Ninjaz crew are definitely not resting after putting the finishing touches to their their deadly Revenge Of The Blowfish album. We've already kept you up to date with Metabeats' movements but here's some fresh tracks from two more members: Joe Blow who's working on the follow up to his excellent Smoking Skills EP and recieves a Stagga refix to one of his latest offerings; and Cervantis aka Lousain Hekla who drops the even more sinister 6 track Face Boglin EP.
At an exhibition in the Edinburgh Festival I saw a great painting where the artist had turned a young group of rough looking Scottish council estate kids into majestic centaurs. For me Cervantis carries the same raw imagery of mythology meets harsh reality in his rhymes and paints a similar picture of South Wales. It certainly seems as if the Barry Town residents are getting ready for a long, cold and harsh winter, actually it sounds like summer never quite reached the beach there in the first place.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Those Fidgity Cardiff B'more brothersChesus & Rodski have now been taken under the wing of the Bigger Than Barry boys and will be heading out to Ibiza with them from March 23rd - 26th alongside Toddla Tand Tomb Crew. They will also be playing alongside the DJ wing of Chrome Kidsand the mighty South Rakkas Crew outta Miami on Wednesday 4th March at 10 Feet Tall in Cardiff.
As I'm sure any regular readers will already be aware, last month we recorded a Welsh Hip-hop mix for new music guru - Rob Da Bank's BBC Radio 1show. If you did happen to miss us showcase the wealth of talent and diversity apparent in the scene in Wales then worry not as here it is in it's full glory. It's still radio friendly but also includes a track at the end which might not be... more is explained after the tracklisting.
Metabeats / Ralph Rips S**t / Ruffstylz / Mudmowth /Cervantis – F**k With Me (Radio Edit) (Associated Minds) Metabeats ft Cesto – 'Meta's Cypher' (Associated Minds) Qred ft Opus One – 'Dungeon Siege' (White Label) Qred / Joe Blow / 4Dee / Skamma – 'Lunar Burn' (White Label) The Incredible Torture Show – 'God Told Me To' (LURKMUSIC) Secondson & Humurak D Gritty – 'Rags' (SFDB) Beatbox Fozzy ft Willo Wispa – 'Tuna Fish' (Associated Minds) Metabeats ft Pergyl & Cervantis – 'Live & Let Live' (Associated Minds) Diverse Concepts ft Mind Kontrol – 'Any Means Necessary' (White Label) Y Diwygiad ft Daedelus – 'W.E.N.G.L.I.S.H.' (Dockrad) Ralph Rips S**t ft Dubbledge – 'Kiss The Guns' (Associated Minds) Me One ft Durrty Goodz – 'Pay Me No Mind' (Frenemy) Sweet & Tender Hooligans – 'I Have Seen' (White) Flow Of Thought – 'I Got My Boyz' (Flow Of Thought) Blaktrix ft Vocal Recall – 'Trouble Trouble' (Dial Up) Brigzy – 'One For The Money' (White Label) Hoax Emcee –'Rhymin' Son' (White Label) Lews Tunes & Nobsta Nutts (Headcase Ladz) – 'Get What You See' (Wonky Wax) Parker & Conrad Watts – 'Western Soul' (Good Groove) Ninjah – 'Woman In Control' (White Label) Ming Dy Nasty & Redeye Knight (Shadow Law) ft Ruffstylz – 'Damage Done' (White Label) Dead Residents – 'Smash Robot Vs Pacman Ghost' (Cuthulu Nation) Mudmowth - Skullcrackology (Associated Minds)
Mudmowth's 'Skullcrackology' was chopped from the original mix for being too damn offensive by the BBC in a post Manuelgate environment, but we figure you lot are made of stern enough stuff to handle it. The PLO produced banger was taken from Mudmowth's new 5 track EP 'Circus In The Cemetry' which you can grab now, on collectable white vinyl, complete with cover artwork from the incredible Mister Shrew, from the Associated Minds Store(including a free signed CD copy)or digitally on iTunes.
Last night we showed off our roots a little bit and did a Welsh Hip-hop Mix for Rob Da Bank & Friends on BBC Radio 1. The mix is probably the most definitive yet for the Welsh Hip-hop scene and incorporates a wide variety of styles. It also shows that far from being an isolated and backwards country as many people in the rest of the UK, and even some in Wales itself would believe, we have emcees from all over the country, from all over the world infact who have congregated here and helped to add to that rich diversity. There are also some great collaborations by Welsh artists with emcees from California, Philadelphia and London on the mix too. Take a listen, we have also included many of the tracks for download via YouSendIt here as well.
Any questions about the artists or the scene in general then hit me up on whosthecaptain@hotmail.com
Metabeats / Ralph Rips S**t / Ruffstylz / Mudmowth /Cervantis – F**k With Me (Radio Edit) (Associated Minds) Metabeats ft Cesto – ‘Meta’s Cypher’ (Associated Minds) Qred ft Opus One – ‘Dungeon Siege’ (White Label) Qred / Joe Blow / 4Dee / Skamma – ‘Lunar Burn’ (White Label) The Incredible Torture Show – ‘God Told Me To’ (White Label) Secondson & Humurak D Gritty – ‘Rags’ (SFDB) Beatbox Fozzy ft Willo Wispa – ‘Tuna Fish’ (Associated Minds) Metabeats ft Pergyl & Cervantis – ‘Live & Let Live’ (Associated Minds) Diverse Concepts ft Mind Kontrol – ‘Any Means Necessary’ (White Label) Y Diwygiad ft Daedelus – ‘W.E.N.G.L.I.S.H.’ (Dockrad) Ralph Rips S**t ft Dubbledge – ‘Kiss The Guns’ (Associated Minds) Me One ft Durrty Goodz – ‘Pay Me No Mind’ (Frenemy) Sweet & Tender Hooligans – ‘I Have Seen’ (White) Flow Of Thought – ‘I Got My Boyz’ (Flow Of Thought) Blaktrix ft Vocal Recall – ‘Trouble Trouble’ (Dial Up) Brigzy – ‘One For The Money’ (White Label) Hoax Emcee –‘Rhymin’ Son’ (White Label) Lews Tunes & Nobsta Nutts (Headcase Ladz) – ‘Get What You See’ (Wonky Wax) Parker & Conrad Watts – ‘Western Soul’ (Good Groove) Ninjah – ‘Woman In Control’ (White Label) Ming Dy Nasty & Redeye Knight (Shadow Law) ft Ruffstylz – ‘Damage Done ’ (White Label) Dead Residents – ‘Smash Robot Vs Pacman Ghost’ (Cuthulu Nation)
If you want a quick idea on what the mix is about then here’s a quick interview between Rob Da Bank and Kaptin that precedes the mix.
Only a week til the Swn festival and our official DJ premiere as the Chrome Kids. Still have a bit more info to post about the weekend but one of the nights I’m looking forwards to most is High Contrast, Y Diwygiad, Beatbox Fozzy, Metabeats and Chipmunk at The Point on Saturday night (15th).
For those who aren’t aware of Metabeats, he produced one of the stand out hip-hop albums last year with Metaphysical on the Associated Minds label. Here though he shall be doing a DJ set and I’m not sure what kind of set he’ll be playing but he’s currently smashing up clubs round our way under the name Chesus playing a mix of Baltimore, Garage, House, Juke, Fidget and Baile. Not only this, but he has collaborated with Rodski out of the Skinny White Boys to put together a phat selection of dancefloor fillers to suit the vibe of their DJ sets. Check some of their more Baltimore outings below and go visit them at their Chesus & Rodski Myspace.
Some brand new poetic agginess from Joe Blow's heavyweight EP 'Smoking Skills'.
Don't know the full story about this video but heard some of the fellas got caught up in the middle of a fight outside a club the night before filming and the blood you can see on the towel covering Cervantis' face belongs to Joe Blow's cousin who had his ear ripped apart by a knife. Cervantis himself could barely stand as he was run over by a police car in the madness.
Unless specified, any mp3s linked to on this blog are purely for promotional trial purposes only and should be deleted from a computer within 24 hours. If you like what you hear show respect to the person who made it and go buy the album.
If an artist or label spots material of theirs on this blog and is not pleased by this, contact me and I will remove it immediately.
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