Vice President & M.B.D.R. artist Roc Marciano releases the “Slingers” music video from the mixtape “The Pimpire Strikes Back”. The song produced by Roc and also features long time collaborator Knowledge The Pirate. The video is directed by Roc & R.M.L and was shot on a 5D Mark III by J. Grove. Edited by R.M.L. Make sure to check out Roc’s “The Pimpire Strikes Back” & “Marci Beaucoup” available on www.manbitesdogrecords.com
It’s been a couple of years since his last official release, but one of the UK’s most respected hip hop lyricists Iron Braydz has been putting in the work and is back with a vengeance.
2013 saw the north London MC join old sparring partners Melanin 9, Cyrus Malachi and Phoenix da Icefire as the most recent addition to the Triple Darkness crew while remaining a regular feature on the city’s live circuit. It was also a year which saw him on set appearing in a new upcoming Simon Baker film and spend many hours in the lab recording a series of releases for the year ahead.
The first of these is his new ‘Verbal sWARdz’ EP, which releases on 14th April. Mainly self produced, the 10 tracks include features by Sean Price, Kyza, Skriblah, Triple Darkness and on this new Daniel Taylor produced joint Millennium, there’s a welcome appearance by Organized Konfusion’s Prince Po. DOPE!!
After a big 2013, High Focus continue their barrage of releases into the new year with the latest being ‘Be Vary Aware’ from one of the labels less flamboyant, but equally talented characters, BVA.
Fans of the rapper will remember his long time association with fellow HF member and long time friend Leaf Dog, as well as his co starring role in the Four Owls highly acclaimed debut album ‘Natures Greatest Mystery’, and will have been awaiting this release eagerly.
The album will not disappoint fans of the High Focus sound, with some banging beats supplied throughout by Illinformed and Leaf Dog, (as well as Amdek on the intoxication anthem ‘Crazy Trips’ featuring Leaf Dog.) BVA comes with a mixture of brash bravado and contemplative lyrics and covers a range of topics successfully throughout the 17 track project.
With a confident and easy to follow flow BVA discusses his love for music on ‘This Love is Love’, his disdain for egomaniacs both within the music scene and life in general on ‘Hype Man’, love for his favourite poison on ‘Weapon Of Choice’ (which features tight guest verses from Dirty Dike and Kashmere) and generally being sick on the Verb -T assisted ‘Gifted’.
Personal favourites include ‘Let Me Relax In My Cave’ featuring Smellington Piff (and a tasty horn lead Leaf Dog beat,) the previously mentioned ‘This love Is Love’ and ‘Weapon Of Choice’, and ‘Am I Going Crazy’.
This is a solid release with a good range of topics, some tight guest verses and some excellent production, and the honest subject matters will more than likely ring a bell with more than some listeners. Fans of BVA who have been waiting for this will not be disappointed.
UK recording artist ‘5n6’ has just freshly released his new music video for his hometown anthem ‘In the L’. The track features a hard hitting piano driven instrumental by ‘DuGGi Beats’ laced with intricate and fast paced verses by the Luton Town rapper.
The music video was Directed and Edited by the artist himself with help from Assistant Director J. Dodd and his team to operate the camera. The music video includes a mix of footage taken from around his home town, recent performance footage, and cinematic cut scenes that include unusual and interesting special effects. The video also features a couple of unexpected skits that are styled to remind us of a 90’s analog television broadcasts and contain funny clips and archive studio footage.
This video is going to mark the start of regular video content released from the rapper and his team (XO The Rebellion aka XOTR) from their UK Hip Hop YouTube channel: XOTRtv
5n6 is currently finalising his debut album ‘Existence’ that is due for release this year. The release will feature collaboration tracks from UK rap legend Klashnekoff, Si-Phili, Micall Parknsun + many more
Watch the original new music video from 5n6 here:
Listen to the unedited audio only of this UK Hip Hop banger here:
Recently we received Norwich based emcee Natrill’s latest release ‘And You’re Back In The Room’ EP for review. In all honesty I hadn’t heard of him before, but had seen the EP receive praise from various blogs around the time it was released earlier in January, and looked forward to checking it.
With solid production from Dan Griffiths, Anno Domini, Elbe Kim and High Focus heavyweight Leaf Dog providing the backdrop for Natrill’s clever rhymes and confident delivery, the EP is a nice head nodder to sit back and vibe too.
Natrill’s skills on the mic are undeniable, and with some complex rhymes and references you’ll want to listen again to catch some new bars you missed the first time, which can only be a good thing.
As well as showcasing his skills on the mic, Natrill also addresses topics such as the reality of the perceived holy grail of making it in the ‘scene’, and his refusal to compromise himself to get there on the track ‘Dreams’. He also discusses the constant mission for, and obsession with cash on ‘Money’. Natrill is an MC whose ego-free and honest style will endear him to the listener, and this is best demonstrated on ‘Making Music’ where he professes that he isn’t ‘here to make you change, ‘I’m just making music’.
My personal favourite is the bonus track ‘Drops’, where Natrill goes in over a funky but banging beat. All in all this is a solid release, with some clever rhymes, good interpretation of subject matter, and tight flows and delivery.
Natrill has a bright future ahead of him and I’ll definitley be checking for future releases.
Words: Chris
You can stream and download Natrill’s ‘And You’re Back In The Room’ EP at his Bandcamp page.
This song is dedicated to YOU. Yeah you baby, those of you that are definitely not in a relationship but are still getting laid. Hooohooo. Also, the little intro at the start generally made me laugh out loud. This is going on repeat all day, try your best not to bop your head. For the Americans, you can download this track from iTunes.
Cats, and scratching! What’s better than that? Nothing is better than that. Another dope release from Matabi, with some tasty cuts, samples and of course some lovely MC features, but there’s on catch I’m afraid.
“Unfortunately a tracklist wasn’t put together, but If you ask Matatabi kindly we’re sure he will give folks the names of records used in the mix.
Self professed Boombap kids I expect you to be on this like beans on toast.
Yes, yes, yes! Nottingham local K.J Palmer. Rapper and photographer, this whole video was filmed in one shot and it’s simplicity is brilliant. The wordplay in this is on a next level, and I found myself rewinding the track to listen to all the extra little bits I missed the first time. We will definitely be watching out for K.J’ up and coming release ‘Perception is Reality’ in the future.
Have a listen to other stuff on his Soundcloud which is as equally as good. Hoohoo this is the best stuff I’ve found in our inbox all day.
hiphoplifeandtimes 