Great Britain, I love Great Britain. The weather is shit, the people are rude and anti-social and everything is small. Damn! We have always lived in the shadows of our American cousins, and we do pay more attention to them than we do to ourselves. This is very apparent in Hip Hop and rap music. But i, Joey Pixel can assure you that we are as good at them at strapping bars, swear down.
Here are some CD’s straight from the UK you must get yourself fully involved in before you are deceased!
Jehst – Nuke Proof Suit
Lets kick off with a white boy, Jehst is an OG in this thing, he has been a pioneer of underground UK Hip Hop for quite some time now, the West London rapper has collaborated with anyone worth mentioning in the UK rap scene and is also the CE of his own record label YNR once the home of Klashnekoff! I would like to draw your attention to the 2003 solo LP ‘Falling Down’. I’m not going to lie to you, if you don’t have hip-hop running through your veins, you won’t like this too tough, its a bunch of hard fast bar on mellow, old skool type hip hop beats, but the sounds and general aura really appealed to me personally. Its absolutely 100% concentrated Hip Hop. A good listen!
Track to check – China Shop Taurus
Cerose – London Ent.
I rarely include mixtapes in my top selected lists, but this one is that good. Cerose is by far the best rapper from south London, the hardest, the realest the best. Whilste everyone from PDC/P.I.F./CFR was spitting about the slums, drugs, hoes and guns, Cerose includes this and much more. Real politics for young melanin people, the New York DJ Diggz also believes in the south London rapper he mixed and hosted the CD. And you can also catch Cerose on a bag of American street DVD’s.
Its a mix CD so you are going to hear familiar beats, but the bars and flow are all brand new and innovating, this CD is truly the hardest out!
Track to check – The Forcast
Swiss – Pain ‘n’ Muziq
So so, Solid Solid. So Solid blew up in 1999 and sadly died in 2002 due to the street hype and negativety it was cause, grimes father, So Solid are still undisputedly the most successful act in UK rap/grime history but Swiss was in the background at that time when they were on top but nether the less a talent, we saw a glimpse of this on the Lisa Mafia tune ‘its all over’ and Oxide and Neutrino’s ‘Rap This’. 2003 saw Swiss come to the forefront with his very own album, and its a street classic! ‘Cry’ is a song that everybody from London knows the words to. The album caters for everyone with an array of club bangers including ‘come over here’, ‘sweat’, ‘ICY’, ‘Tu Jwan’ and lots more, Swiss is lyrically solid with a gradient of flows to match, ya see, there is lyrical talent in so solid ;)
Track to heck – Made 2 Be
In 2004/05 Sway created a big huge buzz by releasing three 5 star mix tapes. He had record labels queuing up to sign him. When he did get signed a studio album was in order, enter ‘This Is My Demo’. The Ghanian North Londoner brings us some typical African/London culture in a tongue-twisting melting pot of nice beats and bars, on most songs Sway has you thinking twice on what he just said, like when he talks the bars can be interpreted in more than two ways.
Track to check – Little Derek
Professor Green – The Green Lectures
Another white boy lol, signed by the white boy don Mike Skinner. Prof Green has been in the UK Hip Hop scene for a long time as a battle rapper. His freestyles lit up the Jump Off crowd week in week out and a buzz was created. In this EP Green touches on all aspects of being an average weed smoking white dude coming up in London! Punchlines galore!
Track to check – Same Old Me
Getto - Ghetto Gospel
Nobody in grime has as much raw energy and street credibilty as Ghetts, with his lyrical talent honed in as well this CD is just awsome, with help from the finest producers in grime Ghetto brings us one of the most Rounded EP's i have ever heard! top 3 selected is a real grimey banger, whereas 'State of mind' is concious. There's a song for drivers and bikers, relationships and the kitchen sink ta bumba, but Ghetts doesnt slip lyrically throughout. Excellent CD
Track to Check - Menace
Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
Boy in the corner is in my top 5 albums of all time, but Dizzee's second installment is that far off, this album is from the perspective of a street artist who has just made the transition into the mainstream. This makes for a very interesting album from start to finish, its like he's been on holiday to somewhere out of the ordinary and is buzzing with stories and anecdotes.
Track to Check - Imagine
Weazy & Fret Deezy - Sly Merkage Volume 3: Hood Celebrities
This CD is grime in its rawest form, with a little bit of intelligence added. what sets the 3rd installment from the previous is that the tracks have been worked to songs. Not the best lyrically, but it epitimises what youngsters in South London were all about at the time, the CD signifies an era of when grime was at its strongest, where everyone was working together unified. Older MC's such as RED's, Konan, DWL and Krept return the Sly Merkage outfit, and newr MC's like Cadet, Rugrat, L.I and Younger Drama come onto the scene. CLASSIC! look out for Fret-Deezy's Funky Mixes and a brand new CD from Weaze.
Track to Check - Beat Box Ft Cadet, Krept, Konan and REDs
Wretch 32 - Teachers Training Day
If only everybody learnt off wretch, hmm. I personally think wretch is one of the best rappers in the UK, lyrically unmatched, the punctuation, metaphors and punch lines are tooo much gee, lol what you get from Wretch 32 is pure unadulterated realness from the eyes of young black baby father caught up in the allure of street culture, on 'who am i' he checks himself as honestly as possible, 'Cycle' ft Tension is an excellent tune amongst others, but no standout bangers.
Track to Check - Punctuation
Wiley - Tredding on Thin Ice
I know all the bars to all the songs on this album, lol when i got my CD walkman for christmas, this was the only CD i had in there for a long while. At this time, grime was more about radio sets and clashing and freestyling over beats, but Wiley brought us a CD with bangers and content in such a primitive time. Eskimo...hard, What do u call it...Hard, Pies...Hard. The CD...HARD!
Track to Check - Special Girl Ft Kano
Giggs & Dubz - Ard Bodied
Spring, summer times 2008, everyone was bumping this CD to the max as grime was on its last legs UK Rap was thriving and these two were at the forefront. Dubz told me about this CD the year before on Pixel TV and i was eagerly anticipating it, and it did not dissapoint one bit, Giggs has a crazy flow and Dubz is lyrically blessed, they secrelty need to team up again!
Track to Check - Pain is da Essence
There are loads of other CD's i could review but there's just too many and I'm lazy, so lazy to even read over what i have just written, so dont tell me about any mistakes i have made lol
here is a list of other shit u need to listen to...
Wretch 32 - Wretrospective, Giggs - Walk in the Park, Bashy - Chupa Chops, Plan B, Skull Gang - Skully Muzik, L.Man, Kyze - Today is my deadline!
My Next blog will be up sometime in August!