Mongrel - The Menace

Am i the only person that thinks that this may just be an Ok song that has just missed out on capturing the zeitgeist by roughly 5 years?



Props to Certafied Banger

What Chinese Democracy means for Detox

I’m still in a state of shock that Chinese Democracy is in the shops. I’m not sure I’ll even believe it until I walk into a record store and actually see it for myself. Amongst the rock crowd’s collective gasp Jimmy Iovine may have hoped the news that Hip Hop’s most anticipate, Detox, wasn’t going to drop this side of Christmas may go unannounced.

The good Dr. would do well to take a note of the reception that Chinese Democracy has received. I’ve not heard it yet but the reaction across the net seems to be one of resound mediocrity. Not something you would have ever associated with G’n’R in the late 80s. Nor is it something that anyone wants to hear from an album 14 years in the making. You want spine tingling, head nodding, juice flow inducing sounds. Can he (or more accurately the team of beat makers and ghost writers he surrounds himself with) really supply this?

Of course we’d all like to think so but the fact is that with every year that passes the bar gets higher. You simply cannot keep an audience waiting for a decade and expect them to cheer you when you hit the stage. This is the lesson that Mr Rose will be learning as he leafs through his press.

In Dre’s defence, unlike Axl Rose, he has played the waiting game before and with great success. 2001 redefined the sound of Hip Hop and for several years the west coast rapped in its shadow. But if he comes out with anything less than diamond edged excellence it will be a let down on an astronomical level.

It’s a gamble between taking an unprecedented step into the history books for reinventing Hip Hop on three occasions, or being painted as the sort of crazy ego-maniac that records for ten years to merely attain average. Either way, we’ve had enough waiting, the time has come for Dre to roll those dice.

Image by jereon020

Why can't Hip Hop be high culture, Boris?

You won't find me saying this a lot but for once I think I might just agree with Boris Johnson. Today he has called for an end to young people being talked down to and patronised by government arts programmes and for a greater emphasis on high culture not Hip Hop culture.

It's a noble ambition and not one without merit. No matter what segment of society you come from broadening your horizons is rarely a bad idea. Boris feels that too much money is spent on more street level art programmes than on trying to get young people into the traditional art forms. You might describe it as, ballet instead of breaking, Gauguin instead of graffiti and Bach over breakbeats (actually that might sound good).

The point that Johnson has missed is that all this would be fine if anyone felt that it was a choice between equals. It's not. Hip Hop and its culture have consistently been rubbished by the media and the establishment for decades. Not so long ago Johnson's own party leader was making a name for himself amongst heads for blaming Hip Hop for knife crime. Hip Hop has done its time as the politicians whipping boy of choice for all of society's ills.

In reality the culture as a whole and most likely its popularity will not be affected too heavily by Johnson's removal of funding. Although no doubt there will be some artists that suffer.

Many government funded productions often seek to capture a wider audience than traditional Hip Hop heads. It is this slight that is most damaging and all too familiar. Rightly or wrongly it will be perceived by many as further stripping Hip Hop culture of its legitimacy and will most likely only serve to alienate the very audience Boris Johnson aims to capture.

To think I was so close to agreeing with you there Boris. Better luck next time.

Image by minifig on flickr

Linkage 5 - Riz MC speaks the truth and a banger from up North.

It's impressive how much truth Riz MC manages to fit into one single.

This song is dope, simple and simply dope. Props to FatLace for the heads up.

Cappo and Stylee C - The Unwritten Rule

Linkage 4 - Xmas wackness ahoy

Christmas cash-in alert! No self respecting rapper is going to leave his fans without something to waste granny's HMV tokens on. Ghostface is no different.

Now for something for the Welsh lasses out there. If you've got a bit of spare time, and junk in the trunk, you can sign up to set gender equality back a few decades in the name of Hip Hop here.

Linkage 3 - Quoting Big Daddy Kane

One of the greatest to ever do it, Big Daddy Kane, can be seen in rude health live at his 20th anniversary gig right here.

It’s a shame no-one has yet made tear off daily calendars using this idea yet.

Linkage 2 - Cardiff graff goes digital

Rmer One of the Cruel Vapours crew has just started a blog specifically for Cardiff graffiti. It's sure to see a lot more images go up over the coming weeks, so keep checking back for your fix of technicolour aerosol art.

Rmer is also looking for contributors so if you have a camera, legs and live in Cardiff it might be worth getting in touch.

On a less fresh note, the Cardiff street art Flickr group has geo-tagged a number of it's images so you can look at them on a map. Which is geeky but fun.

Swn line-up change

According to these fellas Chipmunk has had to pull out of Friday night’s festivities and has been replace by Baby J. Not that that's anything to get too upset about as J is clearly one of the UK's top talents and should make for an entertaining show.

This has since been confirmed by the Associated Minds camp.

Linkage 1 - Chrome Kids and Videos

Just in case you miss them over the weekend, early Monday morning you can catch Chrome Kids mixing up the Welsh Hip Hop on Radio 1.

El-P's crew have uploaded a bunch of audio visual pleasures to their YouTube Channel.

Finally Ill Bill's rather nice new animated video. Thanks to Spine Magazine for the link

Swn Hip Hop Digest

Why trawl through the extensive list of acts on at the Swn festival to find your Hip Hop fix, when we’ve done it for you.

On Friday at Tafod, Chrome Kids host a UK legend so dope no prison can keep him in for long, Skinnyman. He’s scheduled to be on at 1.00am and is proceeded by local boys Dead Residents earlier in the evening. There’s also King Cannibal for those who like their beats-per-minute a little faster.

Saturday night head to the Associated Minds and Aperture bash at The Point where Metabeats, Beatbox Fozzy and the fresh faced Chipmunk will be laying down something to make the heads nod. It’ll all end furiously when Hospital Records’ High Contrast hits the stage at 2.00am.

Then rap up the weekend with an afternoon at The Point for a touch of Rob Da Bank and GLC. You can also say goodbye to welsh language crew Genod Droog as this is reported to be their last ever show.

Bring on the beats, Brains and B-boys.

Image by .digitale

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Another year, another Slam Jam

It seems that the decision to work in partnership with the Millennium Centre at this year’s Slam Jam didn’t damage turnout. There was a healthy crowd throughout the day and they succeeded in getting extra vocal for the final battle between Elemental Force and Trinity Warriors.

Co-hosting the event was Cardiff veteran b-boy 4DEE who said, “It’s really good see. It’s an eye opening experience for a lot of people who don’t understand the culture I grew up in.”

In the day’s last battle The Warriors threw down some slick steps in front of a Cardiff crowd clearly routing for the home team. Elemental force stood up to those loft expectations however with a few well oiled routines of their own. One b-girl in particular even earned herself a shout out from one of the Warriors who jumped on the mic when the action stopped.

Rivalries throughout the day caused a few harsh words between B-Boys but in 4DEE’s estimation the event was still wicked. On the tensions he said that any rivalry should be left on the floor and that they were trying to promote a positive message.

Certainly the positive, along with DJ Jaffa’s breaks, filled the Millennium Centre yesterday, you only had to look at the faces of the next generation to see that.







More Videos here.

Slam Jam 08

This coming Sunday 9th November the breaks will be banging round the Millenium Centre as Slam Jam 08 takes place. Hosted by local crew Elemental Force it should be one to check out. I'll be popping down to get some pictures from as close as i can get without getting hit by feet from those pulling headspins. Hope to have those up here soon after.

Image by Rodgrigo David on Flickr