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.