Keith murray and Canibus -Bff

Apparently Keith Murray and Canibus friendship started as early as 95, because of their mutual love for blunts. I don’t know what to think of that story to be honest. Truth is both Mc’s are underground heroes, respected for their mutual lyrical abilities, and both have also failed gaining any major success. Canibus has kept grinding it out, Murray has gone from being a quite funny redman type rapper ( i still rate tracks like “the most beautifullest thing in this world” for their humour and inventiveness)  to a harder and more gangsta image. I’m not really sure i get the point of this Ep, it’s difficult to imagine they would accomplish something together they can’t do apart. If you listened to a lot of hiphop in the nineties you might get nostalgic over this, but it hardly fits in into todays rap climate.

This shows in the tracks as well, “129″ , “Show N’ prove”, “Gotta Be Real”, and “Stop Frontin” are great, if you love that Eric Sermon Def Squad sound, but Canibus feels kinda out of place with his angry flow next to Murrays loudmouth verses. “Show em what crazy is” is the other way around, Murray don’t work like Canibus do on a horrormovie beat. “No brainer” by “Shuko” and “Rise Of The Machines” are both ok, though Keith Murray is the one that makes the most of them. None of the beats feels very modern, or perhaps it’s Murray and Canibus that makes them feel old. It’s too bad, but the clock keeps tockin, and some times your old heroes just wont be able too keep up. All in all it’s not a bad Ep, but it’s far from spectacular, and, if i am to be nostalgic, it really just makes me wish for a Def Squad reunion.

Dexplicit – Digital Kinesis

The last track on Dexplicits latest release is boldly called “I am legendary”. And certainly he is a legend. POW (Forward Riddim) with Lethal Bizzle reached No.11 in the UK National Charts 2004, which is quite possibly the biggest success a pure grime track has ever had. It defined a grime sound that is still used, and it is still great, a anthem of the scene:

For that he won a MOBO, and the 2005 UMA award for Best Underground producer. However, this was back then. Since then, things haven’t been going quite as well for Dexplicit, although making a lot of remixes for well known artist such as M.I.A, Prodigy and Dem Franchize Boyz.  Apparently he’s been making Bassline, but this i know little about. Last thing i heard of him was on Lethal Bizzle’s latest album, “Go hard” were he didn’t really impress. With Digital Kineses i hoped the freedom to explore his own music vision would result in better work, that he either would push forward and find a new sound, or take a step back to former heights. Sadly though he hasn’t. The new Dexplicit sound seems awkwardly stuck between genres. Between dubstep wobbles and RnB, between club heavy bass music and american hiphop, between ragga and grime. On occasion  it works, like on dubsteppy “Alien” and “Brown Sugar” feat ragga styled mc Stush (who does like her high pitched shrieks a bit too much though). But on most tracks the sound clash, the bass and the wobbles take far too much place and the features sound out of place. It rarely becomes great dance music, it rarely becomes good rnb or grime. It is painfully lost somewhere in between. On the next to last track “Priorities” featuring Random Impulse he gets the sound right, it’s a good track and a sad indicator of how good this cd could have been. It’s sad to see a legend fall, but hopefully dexplicit will get back on the horse and return to former glory, my fingers are crossed.

Untitled Warps your mind

I don’t usually care that much about lyrics when i listen to grime or hiphop. I would like to, but to be honest probably between 70 to 80 % of the grime/rap i listen to, and like, have rather pointless lyrics. More or less mindless braggadocio, swagger-talk, repping your current or birth location, rapping about dancing, expressing your love for some girl, or how you like to fuck. Some attempts at being witty and clever, at times some light social commentary. Usually it’s beyond cliché, and usually i don’t mind. It has it’s own peculiar charm. But it is very welcome when someone appears who actually goes beyond the customary concepts and trite sterotypes.

I don’t know much about London mc Untitled. He’s released one or two mixtapes i think, that i hardly noticed, and he’s featured in a somewhat classic youtube clip of him provoking a guy in a clash on Axe Fm enough to make the guy start wrestling. I won’t post that up as i know Untitled feels that was a long time ago, and it’s a part of him that he’s left behind.

So i listen to this mixtape without any real preconceptions.When the mixtape starts of with the tune “Drink with me” i get kinda depressed and start thinking this will be yet another in a line of disappointing mixtapes with chart ambitions and uninspired concepts. It sounds like Bashy more or less, and the lyrics are at time more odd than good; “how about a cocktail thats pink, cmon you’re a alcoholic are you scared you’ll vomit?”.  Followers “Mind Warp” Feat Messy and “I Am What I Am” are better, but don’t do much to change my mind, good, but not exceptional grime.

However, things change dramatically with fourth track “Getting Older”. Untitled reveals himself as far more than a standard grime artist, as a talented lyricist,  and a talanted songwriter. Although i enjoy the Exo Remedy remix more, this is a great tune. He continues to prove this throughout the mixtape with a number of  tracks that actually makes me stop what i’m doing and concentrate on the lyrics, something that in my case is quite rare. At times the concepts could be more interesting, the “Sneeze” track about him getting irritated with a man for not covering his mouth when he sneezes does lack something to keep my interest up, and the descriptions of the problems you can have with your moms new man over a angry grime beat on “Step parents” seems a bit odd, as his stepfather seems like quite a nice character, taking him to the footie. But other times there is evidence of both a great lyrical ability as well as a unusually great social pathos, as on tracks like “Battered shoes” about the plight of a poor mother in a third world country, “Explanation” about overcoming the difficulties of day to day life, and “Homeless” about the life of the social outcasts on the outskirts of society. And the storytelling of “Rape” might possibly be the most sympathetic tale of sleeping with a prostitute ever told.

About half of this mixtape consist of good grime, the type of grime i like to listen to on a daily basis. Some ups and downs, some guest-spots that fail to convince me. But also some great verses and hype beats. But that is not the half that i will come back to. The other half is the sound of a artist in the making, the rare voice of a new grime artist with lyrics worth concentrating on, with stories he needs to tell.  At best it invokes memories of old Kano, or Bashy at his occasional peaks. That is the half i will be return to.

Romo jams some shit.

Romo – “I love the music, You love the music, I make the music You play the music, How could anyone ever hate the music? I’m giving it to you, just take the music”

Well, Romo, it’s a good thing that you give us the music, cause i would never never ever pay for this. I would probably not take another record of you even if you threatened me at gun point. How could anyone ever hate the music, you ask? Well perhaps cause you’ve released a horrible piece of curiously happy, obsolete, dancefloor garbage, worse than most you will hear on radio, best suited for a birthday party for twelve year olds.

“Hate me is what they seem to do, but as for a reason why none of them have got a clue”

Ive got a clue.  It’s cause your music is piss poor, because tracks like “Lady Luck” actually makes me angry. Because this is either a cynical attempt at making money of children, or consequence of you having the most inoffensive, nauseatingly boring taste in music that is possible. And because you still try to flog it off as grime, when you should probably be marketed as, i don’t know, a uk version of fresh prince. Not that you’re that good. And because, i guess in some vain attempt of getting the respect of the grime-scene you have totally destroyed a Dot Rotten beat. Doesnt matter if someone else makes another version of it now, you have destroyed it forever. You are a destroyer of music Romo.

Don’t download this.

http://www.herosh.com/download/1691996/Romo-Jam_Your_Hype_Promo__2009_.zip.html

Cel 22 – Slang with grammar

A while back North London artist Cel 22 was sent to prison, when he got out he decided to give away his mixtape “Slang With Grammar for free”, on account if it taking so long time to come out. Which i would say was a good move. I was gonna post this up earlier but i kinda forgot. Luckily i don’t think it matters much, the sound of this is already terribly dated. This is a mixtape full of softer hiphop beats, pitched soul-samples, light grime and lyrics reflecting about the perks and downsides of a life of hustling. Cel is at times a talented lyricist, similar to his friend Wretch 32, when the lyrics aren’t to cliché-ridden, and repetitive. The beats aren’t bad either, though without any real highlights. A freestyle over a remix of Big L’s “Flamboyant”, Ciaras “Like a boy” and Kanos P’s and Q’s, if you like this kinda stuff, or at perhaps used to like it, this might be a welcome stroll down memory lane.

If so:

http://www.filefront.com/14707023/SLANG%20WITH%20GRAMMAR.zip

Legends

I was gonna review these, but i’m not gonna. Honestly i see no point. These are legends. This is the sound of grime.  High resolution snapshots of its soul in vivid colors.

Could the tracklists have been different. Certainly, doesn’t matter, there is no collection made from any artist that you will feel have perfect selection. This is not only good enough, it’s beyond that. This is the sound of the genre, of the time, of everything that is grime. Ground breaking, mercilessly cutting edge, relentlessly uncompromising. Look no further than this to what the sound of grime is, what it should be. This is the sound of the past and simultaneously the sound of the future. Bow and say thanks. Go to sleep, and sleep well in the confidence that tomorrow and the day after that and, and possibly your entire future, these cd’s will be there. Postcards from your past, proof of the unprecedented work that you used to love and the life you used to live.

- What did you listen to when you were young dad?  Hang on son, ill show you.

Do keep sending me stuff, but no more Lion Dubs

It’s nice to see this rather unpretentious blog has been appreciated enough for people to start sending me you stuff. I encourage you to do so, even if i might not review or write about everything. At first i thought me getting stuff for free could possibly compromise my position as a honest blogger, that i might feel obliged to say something nice or smooth over the harsh opinions i might occasionally blurt out. But i notice now thats not the case, send me crap and i will tell the world how bad it is, send me good stuff and i will promote it with love. Send me boring stuff and i will probably just disregard it. Just this once i will make an exception, make a precedent for you to know what kind of music there really is no point in sending to me.

The New York based, i think though they call themselves international, label LionDub were kind enough to send me some tracks off their back catalouge.  Zero G’s “Bassculture”, Pinchers “Enemies” (Marcus Vionary remix) and Marcus Visionarys “Carib Ep”. On paper it all sounds good, collaborations with Johnny Osbourne, Luciano, Jahdan Blakkamoore, and Satori sounds interesting. In my headphones though it does not. The Zero G track is… meh, ok but…meh. The Pinchers remix is some happy sunshine vibe reggae DnB that i would never listen unless off my head on ecstasy and amphetamines in some Napa night club, which i rarely am. The Marcus Visionary ep shows more promise, “The General Remix ” with Jah-Dan is actually a big track, but it was of course good to begin with. The rest of it does not reach the same levels. Never bad, never interesting, this is in my opinion really what is killing dubstep right now. Ok, tracks but never more, lacking in imagination and creativity. Probably ok on the dance floor when you don’t concentrate on what you’re listening to, but nowhere else. Well ok, the soca sounds of “St Vincent” may possibly be creative, unfortunately the track sucks.  I suppose there might be an audience for this kind of music somewhere. But it’s not me