Birthday Wishes To The Grime King

The UK is typically a few steps behind when it comes to hip hop. Can you blame them, much like West Coast rap during the early 90′s, it looks at NYC for inspiration, the effect is somewhat watered down. However, when it comes to the sound formerly known as “grime” that has evolved much like hip hop has recently in the U.S. into a hybrid sound encompassing anything from heavy dubstep bass lines to melodies usually attributed to indie pop, one can say they are en par like their golfers. Kano was at one point the only artist worth following in the UK  ”hip hop” scene, and really that came with an asterix on account of his grime roots. Clearly that is not the case anymore, plenty of acts out of England right now, however, Kano is still dishing out damage in the vanguard.

He turned 27 years old today, mighty young for a guy charged with holding the Grime/hip hop/ whatever you want to call it flag for the UK. He drops a new track titled “Wavy” produced by Newham General’s Footsie on DJ Logan Sama’s show tonight, if it’s anything like their last leak (above) it’s worth tuning in,  I say mind your P’s & Q’s.

Friday Poet: B.A.N.G

Eat your heart out Saul Williams.

Born. Alive. I make Noise. then I’m Gone = B.A.N.G. 

New Kano [Album Art + Tour Dates]

The daily grime. Well, Kano is dropping a new album, gave us a little look at his album art today. The album is titled “Method to the Madness”, and will be his 4th studio album. It will be his 2nd album with Bigger Picture Music, his first two (which were doper than his 3rd) were on 679 Recordings, where The Streets be. I have a feeling that the album title is a reference to people like me who questioned the change in labels and steez in general.

Meh, it’s not my pot, I don’t get to eat out of it. Do you Kano! But, know this, Skepta is the reason people over 25 still listen to Grime.

Click the jump for upcoming Kano tour dates. Don’t get too excited, they’re all in England.

7 Deadly Sins, 1 Deadlier Than Others

The real sin is that Singapore Kane has to share a track with 6 other cats. I mean I like Dominque Larue, but Singapore ain’t just a number, he’s an institution of truth and fire. Here’s hoping for more Singapore Kane tracks, perhaps ones that shine like the streets in Singapore (yeah it’s true, no chewing gum in the police state).

Se7en Deadly Sins (Produced By Judah)

The Requiem EP is due for release later this summer and features some of the best producers and lyricists sub surface Hip Hop has to offer. The EP includes production fromApplejuice Kid, Judah, 2 Hungry Bros, T.Dragonette and many more.

Go Bing, Spelling Errors

Badness – Go Bing

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Badness is finally getting some legit cameras behind his video shoots. Unfortunately the post-production editor is a bit spastic. How are you going to spell my man’s name as “Bandness”? That’s some 4th grade error shit, Mr. Imanjie, fire that fool.

Comin’ Straight Outta… England?

I always hear people wondering out loud why so many of the best music artists have come from the UK, fortunately Ellie Goulding is no exception. Coming out of a small town near Hereford England, this girl is the next big thing. Ellie’s voice is distinct and her songs are original and remix ready. She will be a thriving addition to the steadily growing Electronic market. Check out the Jakwob remix of her song “Starry Eyed” from her debut studio album Lights.

Slow week in Rap. What’s Kano doing?

Kano – A Glance At The Life

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It has been an abdominally slow week in the U.S. rap game, along with other peripheral genres. So I took a gander over the Atlantic, spotted my man Kano, getting his Rock-N-Rolla on…

Chase and Status are Machines

Why is it that everything that Chase and Status touch turns into pure gold? That Jay-Z remix they did caught us 41 thousand views and 85 comments on YouTube. Let’s see how this Nneka post does.

Download: Nneka – Heartbeat (Chase and Status Remix)

Badness, Lava, and Grime

BADNESS – INSIDERS

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Badness is one of the few MC’s walking the London streets that intrigues me anymore. Not to say that he’s necessarily a sick emcee, in fact, plenty of hip hop faithful would probably categorize his lyrics as incomprehensible garbage. However, Badness sparks interest more for what you cannot understand than a genuine appreciation of his artistic motivations. For starters, he’s a bad ass, and guilty of talking more shit on that side of the Atlantic than your average British poof. He seems to be completely indifferent to anybody else’s opinion of him, from industry cats to your average chickenhead. For people who appreciate Dancehall, I must say, I have not seen any dancehall DJ’s spit in the manner that Badness does, making his flow extremely unusual. His ability to sift in between dancehall, rap, and grime with ease will ensure a spot on the UK roster of urban artists. However, if he want’s to get paid in greenbacks over here, he’s going to have to stop concerning himself with being baleful, and focus rather on decipherability.

Vintage Is Best

Perhaps in a reference to bloggers like us talking about the superiority of vintage Kano over contemporary Kano, Kano drops a message about our propensity to say “he used to be the shit.” Message received and currently being processed. I do admire the line Kano drops about people pestering him about older material:

“why don’t you flow like P’s & Q’s?” Answer? “Because I make P’s and no longer sell Q’s!”

So basically if it’s not your old shit, you will at least continue to rhyme about your old shit?

Kano – NWMOS (Niggas Want My Old Shit)

Bashing Through To The Other Side

A while back I touched on a phenomenon occurring in hip hop, whereby rap was being thrown together with the dramatic arts. Out of that effort to produce a new genre, “Hip Hopera” was born. No doubt Kenzo Digital’s interpretation of a Hip Hopera was far more palatable than MTV’s cruddy cupcake of a film. However, leave it to the people who gave us Shakespeare to take dramatic hip hop to another level. The Arts Council of England in collaboration with Jonzi D Productions have commissioned a hip hop opera in a more traditional sense, simply replace the Italian sopranos with some of London’s young Grime/hip hop and dance talent and you’ll get the picture. This is an excellent first stab at hip hop drama in the true spirit of stagecraft. Check the trailer for Markus the Sadist.

Emcee’s and actors are one in the same, they feel alive on stage and that manifests itself in their performance. Big ups to Bashy for taking this role and really committing to it. For those of you unaware of Bashy’s previous contributions, peep some videos after the jump, educate yourself.

Lethal Reality?

I’ve made a horrifying realization about my dismissal of UK rap and more pertinently, UK grime artists. I was under the impression that they had forged a pact amongst themselves, acknowledging that U.S. hip hop was the true basis of their movement. Regardless of their transplanted Caribbean roots or East London parochialism, the basis was rap music, American music. Essentially, I thought cats like Dizzee, Wiley, Kano and yes, Lethal Bizzle were just the London counterparts to NYC MC’s. Watered down a little they may have been, but these guys were also bringing an alternative perspective, for lack of a better word, a ‘European’ one. So when I listen to this new Lethal Bizzle album, and indulge into his fantasy a little, I’m highly tempted to hate. There’s simply nothing ‘hard’ about it. At least not in Noah Webster’s sense of the word, who knows about Oxford?

I perused this album quicker than a hummingbird busts a nut, but here’s a few tracks to peep before we push forward with this critical analysis.

Lethal B – Money Power Respect Fame (Prod. by Dexplicit)*

Lethal B – Crazy Nightmare ft. 2Face (Prod. by 2Face)

Yes, I am aware that we could stop right here and engage in quantified discourse about the merit of this new Lethal Bizzle LP. It would likely end as a short and sweet judgement, a simple waving of the hand, not worth the download or the 60 minutes. But I promise you 3 things after the jump.

1. A video of Lethal B appearing extremely gay (literally) with a clay pigeon expert
2. The original “Pow” video (Lethal Bizzle’s biggest tune to date)
3. My take on Lethal B, specifically, my reassessment/flip flopping on my original dismissive position of contemporary Grime artists

Kano struggles to pull off poor mans Weezy

MPFREE: Kano – Rock N Roller (Promo CD) 2009

Between the uni-lens and the piss poor auto-tune, Kano has lucidly demonstrated his desire to become the UK version of Lil Wayne. At one point Kano was looked at as a stand alone example of the compatible relationship between grime and UK interpretative hip hop. Kano’s strength has always been his subtle manner of emulating and putting his own twist on the U.S. gangster rapper persona. Unfortunately his latest caricature, this time of Weezy, is by no means unique or compelling. The track/video lies flat in every imaginable way, and leaves an old Kano fan disappointed that he is no longer on his P’s and Q’s.

MPFREE: Kano Ft Lethal Bizzle, Demon, and Ghetto – Ps & Qs Remix 2004

Dizzee does the butterfly! How cute…

There is an inevitable slide into softness when musicians try and get “dancey.” I think that this is a compromise that consumers and artists both accept as an inevitable trait of mass appeal. This somewhat ugly symptom of the music industry does not mean that an artist must blatantly soften their image, there is clearly a high road to take, and many for some reason choose not to take it. Take Dizzee Rascal for example, who at this point has become the virtual whipping boy for many a blogger. Dizzee’s new track “Butterfly” the latest off this “Bonkers” release is utterly malnourished, lacking its daily dose of Grime. A few references to Souljah Boy and Fat Joe hardly punctuate what amounts to another fluffy dance track from Dizzee. I know what the Dizzee supporters will cry a foul about; “How is Dizzee supposed to make money without catering to the poppy dance scene that pays?” I say to that, this, you are right, he can’t make money without that scene because he took this route and there’s no coming back at this point. I put forth this notion, that if Dizzee Rascal had maintained the level of dutty griminess that made him a global sensation with his debut album “Boy in Da Corner”, then he may have had to wait a little longer to get paid, but the U.S. hip hop scene would have embraced him had he only held out. Instead Dizzee’s next album inspired very few, and Dizzee quickly went from “The Next Hot Thing” to “Dizzee Who?”, at least in the U.S. market. Meanwhile Lady Sovereign secures a deal with Jay-Z and Def Jam, right about the time Dizzee dropped his sophomore effort.   

Hey, I’m not saying this kid is done, call it quits, Elvis has left the building. Frankly this “Butterfly” track is currently #5 on the BBC Hip Hop Chart in the UK. But Dizzee has fallen off, there’s no disputing that. That’s the thing, I’ll listen to a boy in the corner with heart over a man on the podium lacking substance. Passion Dizzee, it’s all about passion.  What does passion look like manifested in the Grime scene? Well how about P Money? He has maintained a level of street passion that I find hard not to consume with pleasure. You should try it…

MPFREE: P Money- Fruits & Veg

“Status” of Kano? Chase(ing) paper!

With the rise of American Dubstep, the unwillingness for D&B to end, and the persistent ability for rap to reinvent itself, UK Grime finds itself in a very fragile position. Those that aren’t aware should know that Grime is a genre of music that incorporated UK hip hop culture with UK Garage or UKG production. Grime has featured mainly artists hailing from East London, and include the likes of Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and the self proclaimed prince of UK Grime; KANO. Check his latest contribution with power duo Chase & Status. 

 

Kano has always distinguished himself within the London Grime boys by translating US hip hop effectively into the UK Garage culture. Kano understands the concept of thuggery, and how it has manifested itself in Gangsta Rap here in the U.S. That is what I find disheartining with this latest colloboration with Chase & Status, the overall lightheartedness of the track; there’s really nothing thug about it. In fact, even though Chase and Status are powerhouse Dubstep producers, there’s really nothing Dubstep about it either. And it’s certainly not grimey, nothing like the stuff that got Kano here, back when he use to mind his P’s & Q’s .

A gangster banger isn’t it? That’s the thing with this recession and its effect on the music industry. Everything has dried up; the income streams have thinned, and artists have had to get “creative.” In the case of Grime artists, it appears as though instead of continuing to carve out their piece of this music industry pie, they’ve been carved out of the meal altogether. In order to eat, these artists are going to have to find another dinner invite, and in Kano’s case he took one from Chase & Status, and so would you!

Kano dropped an album recently titled “140 Grime St” A lot of the tracks on it exemplify the point I’m trying to make that Grime is dead. It’s a shame, but the point is, artists are still being creative, and in the case of Kano, still worth investing your time and money.

Catch Kano’s thoughts on his blog (though he appears to be a lazy blogger) @ Kano’s blog

MPFREEE: Kano – 140 Grime ST