Last week saw the four headed monster known as the Slaughterhouse machine rearing it’s head toward London for the group’s first ever UK show, and (as expected) they definitely tore the place down!

After a well placed support slot from up-and-coming UK rapper Smiler, who performed tracks from his latest All I Know effort, as well as finishing up with a live performance of his SB.TV F64, and some less welcomed hosting courtesy of UK veteran Mystro (more due to the excitement and rowdiness of the crowd over anything else) Slaughterhouse Tour DJ, DJ Frequency took to the stage and played a brief mix introducing each member of the US super-group and their quotables one-by-one. Leading the group to the stage was Royce Da 5’9’ closely followed by Joell Ortiz and Crooked I with Joe Budden following up a couple of minutes into the show.

Despite some mishaps, Crooked I having left the stage to get a drink and missing his verse in the ‘Shady Cypher,’ and Joe Budden being ridiculously high and proposing that they sing and dance rather than rap, leading to Joell Ortiz performing a hilarious karaoke version of Michael McDonald’s ‘I Keep Forgetting’ (a.k.a the sample from ‘Regulate’), it was the spontaneity and camaraderie that really made the show hip-hop in it’s essence and these were more than made up for by Crooked’s epic acapella freestyle and Joe Budden’s impromptu performance of his breakthrough commercial hit ‘Pump It Up.’

Each member sounded exactly as they do on record, and lived up to expectations, with their natural approach to live performance and flexibility with tracklisting meaning that the fans got exactly what they wanted out of the show; each member performing some of their own stand-out solo tracks, and the group covering cuts from their self-titled album, EP and the latest tracks ‘Hammer Dance’ and the Cee-Lo Green featured ‘My Life.’ Despite this being the second time this year that I’ve said this (the first being Action Bronson- and I still haven’t seen Watch The Throne yet) this was one of the best hip-hop shows I’ve witnessed in a long time…

As you can see from the videos, I’ve recently acquired an iPhone and have been going mad with the camera. Although obviously the quality isn’t great, you get the idea. Hit the jump for some instagrams from the show…
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In a time where Twitter followers and Youtube views are more important that lyrical skills, hip-hop’s obsession with social media and marketing leaves little room for true gangsta rappers. However, this hasn’t stopped Freddie Gibbs. Breaking through in 2009 (with projects like The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs and midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik) due to sheer technical ability and lyricism, Gangsta Gibbs has gone from strength to strength, securing an XXL Freshmen spot without the use of a co-sign, signing a deal with Young Jeezy and at the same time working on albums with legendary underground producers Madlib and Ski Beatz.

I had a chance to chat to Freddie whilst he was out touring the US, to talk about his new deal with Jeezy, this year’s XXL Freshmen, his upcoming projects and how he developed his intricate flow patterns…

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Today would have marked the 40th birthday of one of the G.O.A.T’s of hip-hop, the Notorious B.I.G, and although this is a pretty morbid song choice, it’s one of my favourites, so I’m going with it…

Notorious B.I.G – ‘Suicidal Thoughts’ (taken from 1994′s Ready To Die)

Oddly enough Kendrick Lamar has been selected to join Ubisoft’s Team Ghost celebrity gaming squad, in order to help promote their upcoming ‘Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’ video game. Can’t complain as long as it brings with it a free download track like this one…

Props To SoulCulture

Delilah kills (pun intended) Rita Ora’s original version of the Drake scribed track on her Radio 1 ‘Live Lounge’ session. If you don’t already have her mixtape 2-4am then I’d recommend heading here immediately to download it…

To mark what would have been Biggie’s 40th Birthday today, Yasiin Bey (yeah, I’ve given in to calling him that now) drops the latest in his Top 40 Underdog series, celebrating B.I.G’s legacy over Lil Wayne and Rick Ross’ ‘John’ instrumental…

I’ve been playing this all week (particularly the ‘Scrabble’ track featuring Manga and JME) and featured it on my ‘Mixtape Monday’ column at the start of last week. Coming from a completely new perspective than any rapper I’ve heard before, Elro is definitely representing an unspoken voice in hip-hop music and is definitely one to be looking out for.

Hit the jump for tracklist, stream and download, as well as a new visual from the project…
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Childish Gambino has a new mixtape (title to be confirmed) on the way, last week saw him unleash a couple of tracks from the project, including a SchoolBoy Q featured cut that Funk Flex premiered on Hot 97…

Detroit producer Black Noi$e gives gritty makeovers to a few of the standout cuts from Danny Brown’s XXX for this new remixes EP which also features the instrumentals.

Hit the jump for tracklist and download…
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To warm up for the official return of Darkman X when he drops his new album, Undisputed on June 26th, he unleashed a new EP of eleven new tracks last week featuring input from the likes of Snoop Dogg, Tyrese and Big Stan.

Hit the jump for tracklist and download…
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While we await Devlin’s upcoming album A Moving Picture dropping in October, the Dagenham, UK representative unleashes a free new EP featuring five brand new original tracks including the sequel to his breakthrough single ‘London City’ and the Rawz Artilla and Ghetts featured ‘Scary Movie.’

Hit the jump for stream and download…
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