Aaaaarrrrggggh!!!!!!

I just have to start it like that this time round peeps,I wrote half of this column and the shizz didn't save so now I've got to start again and its clean set me back!

Not that you needed to know that but I'm one of these go with the flow type writers so now I need a new flow,bit like an mc whose lost that dope rhyme they wrote somewhere and lost.

Big up to all the mc's giving up that nu flow to the grimey Uk beats,you're big and I see the sound slowly merge into what's considered traditional 'hip hop' more and more as time flies.
I write a lot about that sound (especially writing for a heavy mag like HHC where everything is more or less covered in hip hop terms) because I consider rap to be rap regardless of the tempo of the beats,its all a part of hip hop 'culture'.
I mean the miami bass sound isn't considered any less hip hop than the east coast sound because they're on some party shizz is it?

I had to school some ladies from Liverpool on the finer merits of the emerging grime scene and the importance of supporting this boom area of fledgling homegrown talent.
These girls, who for me come under the category of 'older birds' (no disrespect,just being real) decided to give me some real scouser energy due to the fact that in the club I had just battered with tunes ( salute to the Castle club - no.1 spot for that international flex in ayia napa) I had played Lethal B's Forward riddim, Dizee's I Luv U, SLK's Hype Hype and Kano's P and Q's ,just a likkle back to back Uk flava amongst all that other commercial hands in the air type shizz that a brother has to suffer through some of these 'holiday' sets.

Now I consider that little combo of trax to be as lukewarm as it gets, a real 'everyone should know these' type selection as they've been in the charts and had lots of airplay and the vids made it to Mtv Base etc.
The ladies however considered it to be that 'grime' music ,aggressive,non progressive and negative and particularly noisy.
Fair enough but what did they think early rap music sounded like to a generation coming off the back of acts like Shalamar and Earth,Wind and Fire etc circa the early 80's with all them 808 drum machine sounds hitting straight raw,less melodies and peeps tallking about 'my 9mm goes bang....' and such?
Probably a bit aggressive,non progressive and particularly noisy at times but looking at where the rap games at now, we have to admit,fledgling sounds need time to grow so I'm all for getting with the program and supporting this homegrown style of grime! Its just early days so give it time.

A couple of hot albums should be touching the roads soon,namely Kyza out of Terra Firma's 'The Experience' on indie label Pepa is particularly heavy, check out the track Porno,I don't think anyones put their heart into the whole gal flex theme like Kyz does on that track for a hot minute plus a very nice double time flow on 'Sick' and D.O.A with Scribbla. Tuff,well worth a flick through and consideration to purchase.
Then there's Baby J's Fight the Power 2 with the heavyweight Dynamite Mc on Young,Gifted and Black ( I'm always gonna feel a track sampling Bob and Marcia's reggae classic,a childhood fave) and Moorish Delta 7 on School Days too. J's done some hardcore digging in the crates to come up with some tidy breaks for the album and uses them quite raw with not much added.
The showcase cipher the guys put down for my Radio 1 show was heavy featuring Tibbs,Yogi,Rukkus,Tor,Bruza and TB amongst others,salute and do check the album out late October.

Kano's new single features Vybz Kartel and is called Bus It Up,a big tune you may well have heard by the time you read this,new albums due Feb '07 and apparently is a big return to his Jamaican roots amongst other things. UK rap and reggae are definitely intertwined as evidenced further on the Blacknificent 7 album 'Ridin thru tha Underground' the 7 mc's indeed forming a superhero group with Rodney P,Skeme,Jeff3,Karl Hinds,Estelle and Roots Manuva,the project having been put together by Seani T and 4 years in the making.
Standout joints for me are Stay Black (heavy beat by Drew of Ty fame) and The Exit featuring Masta Ace. Its out now on Dark Horizons.

Watchout out for a session with the guys on my 1Xtra show plus a female mc special backstage from the 1st Female UK Hip Hop festival happening at londons South Bank this month.
Peace never decease.

TEN TO ONE

10. Ruff Sqwad - Xtra
9.Lee Ramsey - Bring me Down
8.L.Man - Fly with me
7. Soweto Kinch - Everybody Raps
6.Blacknificent 7 - Tha Exit
5.Dj IQ ft. Foreign Beggars - Welcome. 2 tha Circus
4.Doc Brown - Nuthin to Lose
3.Dynamite Mc + ftp - Young Gifted an Black
2. Tor + Klashnekoff - Strivin Harder
1. Blacknificent 7 - Stay Black