BNP vs The EMCEE

Until now I've avoided getting all political on here but a situation has arisen which requires some action and Hip Hop is the perfect vehicle.

I, like many others across the nation this week, received this BNP leaflet through my door promoting their cause for the European elections on June 4. As much as I have a deep seated loathing for racist criminals I don't think you can ever censor these people, they have to be countered with coherent critique.

That's where we stumble upon a problem and I think it's a problem for UK Hip Hop in particular. While there's been plenty of critique in the media, much of it comes from politicians, who lets face it aren't exactly in everyone's good books. That's bound to turn many off the subject straight away.

This is a situation whereby Hip Hop can step up to the plate and make a contribution to exposing racism and hatred and motivate positive change in ordinary people as we so often like to claim whenever someone criticises the culture. Remember Blak Twang on This Morning? Instead what do I see? Nothing. There's no Hip Hop blogs picking-up on this issue, no hastily recorded freestyles about Nick Griffin drinking tea with the Queen and no discussion.

Well, it is just music after all. But it's not is it? One of the things I've always loved about Hip Hop is it's ability to encompass more that just the music it's a culture and that extends to a consciousness about society. How many raps have you heard about prejudicial police stop and search policies, knocking the war in Iraq or widespread poverty, drugs and social deprivation? Thousands. But it seems recently we've dropped the ball.

This silence is a bit too reminiscent of Cameron's outburst over the evils of Hip Hop a few years ago, a speech which only Rhymefest (who's from Chicago!) addressed. Then there was Boris Johnson's belittling of Hip Hop last year which again seemed to go unnoticed. Where were emcee's as voices of the people and keepers of the culture then? Come to mention it what is K-lash up to these days? He seemed pretty pissed about this sort of stuff before he dropped off the radar. Or Skinnyman for that matter? He was quick to jump up about his right to smoke in public.

I'll make it easy for you, the BNP candidates for Wales are Ennys Hughes, Laurence Reid, Clive Bennett and Kevin Edward. Surely we can find a few rhymes in there somewhere? I'd do it myself but we all know that wouldn't be pretty. If you're not from round here you can look up your local mob over at the BBC.

Now I'm not one to try and tell people what they should do with their art, time or money. If you're a rapper and you simply don't care that's fine, you can't be what you're not that's not what Hip Hop's all about. I'm just saying it would be nice if someone gave a shit.

Photos courtesy of Mia!

Two more music magazines close

Following on from the print demise of Hip Hop Connection, two more British magazines which covered Hip Hop, amongst other musical forms, have gone out of print.

Drum and bass centric magazine Knowledge has taken the decision to go online only after its final issue is published on 12 June. In a statement on the magazines website they said, "We've been busy building our new website for some months now and we were initially planning to run it alongside the magazine but the further down the road we've gone with the site, the more potential we have seen for the magazine online."

The new site will contain a Hip Hop section complete with regularly updated content.

Hipster music magazine Plan B has also folded after five years on the stands. The magazine which has previously featured Wiley, Roots Manuva and Lycra-clad hipster favourite MIA on the cover is reported as saying it would have to compromise on frequency, size and quality to stay in print which it was not prepared to do.

Whether the illegibility of both their brand logo and cover-lines is a factor in not gaining enough readers has not been confirmed.

Image courtesy of Rainsoaked

In anticipation of the new Kyza record

When Mr Sayso left Terra Firma I was guilty of thinking that it was all over for the dude. His album had some great tracks but I was still yet to be convinced he could hold his own without Klashnekoff, especially given that his album was stronger from top to bottom.

Since then though the world has gone through a few rotations and things have shaken out in a way that reminds me of the Brit Pop battle of Blur and Oasis. Those cheeky southerns suffered a bloody nose and lost the battle but histories are not written in a day and years after it was clear they were the only band with their credibility in tact.

Getting back to the Hip Hop, where's K-lash? He's been absent without leave since his last release, not so much as a guest appearance or, so it seems, a live one. Kyza on the other hand has been popping up on other people's records with the frequency of Jadakiss in the late 90s and is very much be on his grind. What's more it seems he's better than ever now he's doing his own thing. I've long believed that hard work wins out over talent every time and while I'm a fan of both it always seemed K-lash was the more natural emcee. Kyza though as carved himself a style and a niche and is working it well.

So with that here's the real reason for my excitement Kyza and Wretch 32 (who I'd not really rated much until I saw this but granted the guy's no slouch, even if he does mess up his first chomp of the beat), on the Big Dog's 1xtra show last month, which I have to thank DJ MK for bringing to my attention.

Lakers beat the Rockets

Oh yes, it was a good day when, "The Lakers beat the Houston Rockets," to misquote Ice Cube. With that tenious Hip Hop link i'll leave it with a couple of videos.

First the series highlights...


Then my personal favourite...

Mos Def back on top?

Remember when Mos Def made decent records and wasn't just the budget Don Cheadle? Well those days could be back if this new track, which has been doing the rounds like a ADD milkman, is anything to go by. Or, will it be a big let down opening the inevitable slurry pipe of forth quarter releases?

This the first glimpse of the official video, tastefully understated it looks kind of like some sort of Apple ad.



Link courtesy of FatLace

Hip Hop's career advice

Now you could well be forgiven for thinking that the only career advice you could learn from rap records is the intimate details of how to be successful at rapping, how to (as Biggie put it) "sell more powder than Johnson and Johnson", or how all government's are bad and out to screw you over. Maybe if you're lucky you might pick up a few tips for the ladies from Too $hort, but that's about it.

Hip Hop career advice ain't for the everyman right? Wrong. There are many things the average Joe can take away from the world of Hip Hop to advance their own careers, you've just go to know where to look.

1. Do one thing well

Ghostface has been schooling you all to this his whole career. He makes sure to remind you on every album he makes. As soon as his raspy voice starts crooning in his usual mock soul stylings you know he should just stick to what he does best. If you're still in doubt check out that deleted scene from Ironman.

2. Don't give your mates a job
If there's anything that you should take home from a Memphis Bleak record this should be it. Rappers have been filling up label rosters all over with guys who used to be their security guards and it doesn't make any of you look clever.

3. "Even if you've only got 1 target aren't you better off with two darts?"
J-live breaks down having a back-up plan. No jokes.

4. Don't know how to do something? Blag it
The rap careers of The Beatnuts, J-Zone and Lil Wayne are just some of the examples of how you can get around not being very good at something as long as you carry it off with enough swagger, you'll be fine. And you best believe it took a bit of blagging for a couple of college kids to build the biggest label in Hip Hop. Note: This does not apply to heart surgery.

5. Get your mates to give you a job
Just because you're not going to fall into this trap is no reason to not trick some of your more gullible circle into hiring you, at the end of the day it's not what you know. Think Estelle would be huge in the US without a Kanye verse, unlikely. Sad but true.

Image courtesy of Steve and Sara