Another candidate for tune of the summer, ‘From Day’ by Double S, now has deceptively cheap looking video. Understand that’s cheap in a good way, as in spontaneous, raw, but with hidden depths. To fully appreciate it’s intricacies you need to also check the making-of mini-documentary with DJ Cameo, Misty Dubz, Chipmunk, Marvell, Ras Kwame, Tim Westwood, and a bunch of random kids (that’s actual squeaky voiced rugrats circa four foot high) hanging out at the video shoot. Much is explained, but sadly they don’t answer the key question, how did they get hold of my first Walkman? I thought that thing had been crushed in a dumpster back in ‘87.
Just too funny. All I know about Ice Kid is hearing Wiley on the radio earlier this year going on about how he’s the future. Haven’t heard loads by him, but an endorsement like that’s enough to get anyone’s attention. And a vid like this is enough to keep mine locked there for a while.
Some background. Our man has travelled up to Bristol to do a show with Ghetto. Outside the venue he’s challenged by a local MC with short curls who may or may not be called ‘CuthbertGRAFF’. But let’s assume he is. Anyways, Cuthbert is third rate with a bunch of old school UKHH rhymes retooled to a vaguely grime flow, and a half assed smirking attempt at swagger that shows you he knows it. Ice Kid waits patiently through his bars, then cuts short an off-camera female who tries to challenge (and is actually slightly better than Cuthbert, but whatever), then lunges in for the kill. Priceless.
Sincere’s new single ‘Once Upon A Time’ is the rarest of things, an earworm that doesn’t make me want to bludgeon strangers with a well aimed headbutt. An earworm that’s actually welcome. It’s been rolling around my head most of the last two weeks, mostly the chorus “Good god I done sold my soul/I’m tryna be sincere but the sin’s taking ohhhh-ver/Got the devil on my shoulder”. Trust me, I’m the kind who tries to seek out some sort of personal significance from infections like that but, in this case, there ain’t any to be found. It’s just an earworm with character, horny production from Firstman that an idiot like Mark Ronson would sell his coolest kicks for, and the killingest lines of a year chock fulla killer lines. My favourite? When he says “I’ve been doing things that would shame Whitney” and you know he’s been up to some seriously bad stuff.
I’m not sure the video adds a lot, but it’s nice to see ‘Addicted To Love’ is still a big influence on folks.
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by Ringo on Monday, June 16th, 2008 (No Comments)
Just hearing that Harlsden dancehall MC Tubby T has just died after a stroke at the age of 32. Listening to 1xtra now they’re playing his hit ‘Ready She Ready’, a track I listened to about fifty times last month reviewing it as part of the comp An England Story for the current issue of Plan B. Two months ago his death may not have meant that much to me, but the whole process of writing that piece knocked me sideways as a lot of sounds I’d only heard before incidentally suddenly came into awesomely sharp focus. I went in for London Posse and Stush, I came out with them plus Papa Levi and Tubby T. Digging through his catalogue I found his voice on tunes I’d known for years without checking the credits (yeah, my bad), tunes like Fallacy’s ‘Big And Bashy’, Sticky’s ‘Tales From The Hood’. And it was some voice, warm and party with a melancholic edge, every note an embodiment of the philosophy voiced in ‘Tales From The Hood’,
“Me no want no bling bling
Me no want no pinkie rings
Just give me the microphone
I was born to sing
Although I stand alone
I will surely bring
Peace and love”
I’m still no expert, but I know enough now to understand the country has lost a big talent. RIP.
Sticky Ft Tubby T - Tales From The Hood
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by Ringo on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 (No Comments)
Watch now and slaver with anticipation. Dirty’s long been my favourite member of the Wu cos in my personal game of musical trumps the ‘genuinely unhinged’ wild card beats pretty much anything (cos it suggests everything). This trailer for an upcoming documentary, possibly titled ‘ODB Ason Unique’, is juicy stuff for us Dirty lovers. Big Baby Jesus alone know’s how righteous the final version will be, but even in edited form this is a new gospel of the streets with ODB as saviour. Dig the young girl telling how ODB (literally) saved her life, GZA proclaiming the resurrected Dirty lives on in the crowds at Wu concerts, ‘You see it when the song come on and they sing it and that…he’s not dead’. Amen.
Chipmunk (as featured in the latest issue of Plan B) and Sway on the set of Sway’s new video for the earwormtastic F Ur X single. Odd but nice to see Sway looking like an elder statesman when he’s only a few months away from releasing his second album. Still trying to work out exactly why Chipmunk was at the shoot, other than random support (which is enough, of course). He ain’t on the single, that’s for sure, but we’ve got our fingers crossed for a remix. Definitely like to see the two of them working together on the Sway LP.
Thanks to Ben Harris for the photo.
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by Ringo on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 (No Comments)
Oh. My. God. I thought I’d grown past this shit. I thought I didn’t need music to represent me anymore, I was more into what it could tell me about other people, worlds way beyond my imagination. The last couple of weeks have proved me so wrong as I’ve been getting off beyond belief on sights and sounds from places I’d never expect to relate to so closely.
Most of it’s been hyphy. For those of you playing catchup hyphy is a localised variant on Hip Hop, what crunk is to the dirty south and grime is to the UK, hyphy is to the bay area of California: San Fransisco, Oakland, San José. Scheduled to blow up worldwide a couple of years ago it didn’t happen on schedule so lamesters said it’s never going to happen at all. Of course, like grime, it’s refused to die. When the major labels dropped the ball it just licked it’s wounds and got on with the party.
And hyphy is 80% party music. Yeah, music beyond my imagination, Technicolor tales of hot nights ghost riding borrowed cars with ridiculous rims. I hate cars, even the small ones, and I’d probably shit myself trying to ghost ride one.
But this is something different. For the first time in ages I’m listening to a song, watching a video and not only am I appreciating the (mighty) artistic achievement but I relate. Sure, I could never hope to be half as cool as the Trunk Boiz, but maybe if I could scrape together enough cash for a Scraper Bike I could get half way there. I WANT ONE! Now.
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by Ringo on Monday, June 11th, 2007 (1 Comment)
Another unplanned month away from my favourite passtime, reading a couple of hundred blog posts a day. Still, it’s all good cos coming back to the source and spending a whole day gorging myself is some kind of paradise. I’ll forgoe the detailed guided tour for a few edited highlights.
Such as this stonking piece of satire which hits particularly close to home. I figure my three year old daughter is too young to follow the lyrics but she loves dancing to crunk, grime and hyphy beats. Old school hip hop doesn’t seem to move her. On the other hand my eight year old son most definitely does get the gist of what I play so I try to keep it clean while he’s around, though occasionally he bursts in unannounced while I’m playing, say, Too $hort and tells me ‘daddy, I don’t think you should let me hear this’. Thing is, he knows a few rude words but he also knows he’s not allowed to say them until he’s older and has a better grip on what’s appropriate and where. He knows the difference between what he sees on TV, what he hears in music, and what’s allowed at home. He learned early on when we explained that no matter how much he saw the Power Rangers blowing people up it wasn’t good practice for him to try and do it.
Some people still don’t get that, though, and this piece addresses them. I’ll quote the first paragraph to give you a taste, but the whole thing is worth reading, right down to the priceless comments, almost more funny than the piece itself.
Hip-hop lyrics are ruining our country’s youth.
Others have been arguing that for years, with the debate really heating up lately. But it wasn’t until earlier this week while reading my toddler son the lyrics to Young Jeezy’s song “Bury Me a G” as a bedtime story that I realized how true it is.
LOL.
On the other hand, variety is always a good thing and even the most dedicated fans of obscenity in music (like me) will have to admit there’s times when we need to chill and listen to something icky and fun, like when the kids are about. If this interview is to be believed it’s a realisation the god Ghostface Killah has come round to over the last few years, to the point where he’s promising his next album will be profanity free and child friendly. Scroll down to the bottom of this link and listen to the whole interview, most definitely worth 22 minutes of anyones time, the kind of articulate reflective interview I’d been led to believe big rap stars just didn’t give.
The tantilising talk of new Ghostface music is countered by the sobering reality that it’ll probably be at least another year before it’s ready to bootleg. If you’re in need of some good clean fun in the meantime you could do way worse than Pharoahe Monch’s new direction…as an Elvis impersonator. Here’s hoping it’ll get my daughter dancing. Sure, hyphy’s great but I reckon every toddler needs a little hip hop in their lives.
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by Ringo on Monday, May 28th, 2007 (No Comments)
I’m still trying to work out how to post these damn YouTube links, being a total butterbrain I seem to have deleted the email where our delightful publisher Chris Houghton explained how and now he seems to be too busy enjoying himself (fair play, it is the bank holiday weekend) to re-explain so this is a test. If all goes well you’ll see the new video by Eve below. It’s called ‘Tambourine’ and the song was produced by Swizz Beatz. It sounds like every other bloody Swizz Beatz production, but I like it so nerr nerr. If it doesn’t go well then you won’t see anything, I’ma keep trying ’till it works. Or until Chris gets back to me.
Posted
by Ringo on Monday, May 28th, 2007 (1 Comment)
Much as I love Snoop as a rapper, from the interviews I’ve heard, seen, and read, I can’t say I expect I’d like him as a person. But that’s personal and this is anything but. Though I suspect it actually might be for whichever arse decided to bar the mighty Snoop from entry to the UK less than a fortnight before he’s due to play some shows with the only slightly less mighty P Diddy. How else would you figure it? I mean…as a country we’re apparently happy to let in mass murderers…
…and rapists…
…but not a fun loving stoner with a few hard mates and, maybe on occasion when provoked, a bit of a temper. What exactly has Snoop done that’s worse than mass murder? Or is it just they just don’t like the look of him? He’s an entertainer fer fucks sake. He got his work permit through six weeks ago! Don’t these departments ever speak to each other?
Snoop makes these points, and a few others, more politically in an eight minute monologue which surfaced on You Tube via MTV earlier today. Quite apart from the seriousness of the matter at hand, it’s great entertainment. He begs, he pleads, he rationalises, he reminisces on the good times he’s had in London. He gives a shout out to Wimbledon’s finest Slick Rick and, as a final flourish rolls out his shitty but charming attempt at an English accent.
For those of you too lazy to sit through the whole thing I’ve typed out my favourite bit, from somewhere in the middle. All great stuff, but I particularly like the last bit, when he says ‘let me in so I can do what I do’ and his face breaks into a smug grin (see above). Yeah, maybe he has a smidgen of evil in him. So what? There’s evidently plenty of good too.
“Hip hop has spread over the world to where it is an important factor in London, it’s an important factor in the whole UK. So it’s only relevant to let the king of hip hop, which is me, myself - not proclaimed by me but proclaimed by the people - to come over there and show some love and do it with my main man Puff to show you that we can work through differences. No-one knew that the east/west rivalry could come to a halt and someone as big as me and Puff could put together a tour that could go around the whole world with no incidents, no violence, all peace, all love. And it to be stopped short at the door of London, which is one of the homes of hip hop. Great rappers like Slick Rick came from London. We really appreciate the hip hop community in London, so that’s like a slap in the face if I don’t get to perform out there. My fans really want me to be there, I can’t really blame them, and I know they fighting to get me in there. It’s all the people that don’t understand me, that don’t know me.
I just think they need to talk to the kids and talk to the community and see exactly what they feel. Do they feel like Snoop should be banned? If they feel like that I’ll keep it moving. But if it’s other than that - like I know it is - let me in so I can do what I do.”
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by Ringo on Thursday, March 29th, 2007 (1 Comment)
