Promo clip I made earlier today interviewing Brooklyn born hip-hop artist Kenny Baraka, who is using rap to further explore storytelling by developing it into a post-modern sci-fi production entitled The Rememberers. In part one of my interview with him, Kenny introduces the show with an acapella and goes on to discuss what audiences should expect from the show…

Some more visuals from Dom Kennedy’s From The Westside With Love II which is available from Itunes now…

New mixtape from the Philly Freezer, very underrated rapper in my opinion, I haven’t had a chance to listen through this yet, but I’m hoping for more of that Stimulus Package steez!

Hopefully Diamond In The Rough will see a release some day too!

Hit the jump to download…
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Zero Heroes is probably still one of my favourite mixtapes of the year. Here are some Dark Knight inspired visuals from that project…

New leak from Mobb Deep’s upcoming EP, Black Cocaine, which drops on November 25th (Black Friday)…

Another leak from Emilio’s upcoming Breaking Point project with DJ Green Lantern and Billionaire Boys Club. Still no word on the release date for the project, but hopefully it isn’t too far around the corner, I’ve been waiting on this tape for a good while now!

Apologies for the lateness on my site recently, as I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently I’ve been working on a big event this past weekend and therefore everything has taken a back seat! Last Monday I had the opportunity to see Wretch 32 perform at Newcastle’s O2 Academy (thanks to Marvyn at Charm Factory) and haven’t had the chance to write up and post my review until now!

It’s been great over the past couple of years to hear a group of british hip-hop/grime crossover artists breaking into the world of pop music with sounds that are fresh, homegrown and relevant. Gone are the days in which most UK artists were rapping over dusty-sounding DJ Premier imitation beats (although unfortunately some a still attempting the T-Pain style auto-tune), with acts now inspired by the US genre of hip-hop but also homegrown genres like grime and dubstep (as well as reggae- obviously not homegrown, but still a strong influence) are added to the mix to provide a sound that is fresh and very much UK (don’t tell me the production on Tinie Tempah’s ‘Pass Out’ sounds anything like what you’ve heard from the US- regardless of what you think of the lyrics.)

Seeing Wretch 32 live on stage really highlights the melting pot that is this new generation; with a tinge on metal guitar added to most of the production courtesy of his live band, alongside his usual reggae inspired vocals and grime influenced beats with hip-hop drums.
And in a time when many hip-hop gigs feel more like karaoke carried out by an artists and a backing track, the live band definitely assisted in making Wretch stand out from the rest.
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As regular readers may have noticed, I’ve been absent for a few days, working on a hip-hop festival in my area called Just Jam (which went brilliantly, selling out the entire weekend). Due to being away I missed out on most of Nickelus F’s Seven Days series, and therefore have decided to do an entire post for it right here, for anyone else who slept on it…

His next project, Faces, drops November 8th.

Day 1 – Love Me

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After dropping us a mixtape last Christmas eve, the Bawse is set to put out his latest LP just in time for Christmas 2011, when he drops God Forgives, I Don’t. After last year’s Teflon Don effort, I can’t wait to hear what he does with this!

Great to hear that Pharrell has a new label venture, and here is the first track from it by an artist called Buddy, an 18 year old from Compton. I was just listening to Clones the other day and was hoping that Pharrell would put out some new music soon, good to see him working with the new generation…