Having repped Bobbie Johnson’s music since my days as chief writer at StandUpUK, I was stoked to see her feature in Sektion Red’s documentary looking at female emcees in UK Hip Hop. Bobbie lays down a sick acapella for the Sektion Red cameras and shows why we have been big supporters of her music.
Our HHLAT brother Nephilim aka Neppy has recently released this dope 17 track mixtape ‘Partly Fledged’ in conjunction with the legendary UK mixtape series UKRunnings and is mixed and hosted by our big homie Tricksta.
What we love about our boy Nephilim is the honesty in his writing, there is no braggadocious elements or ego to his personality and that shines through in his music with this positive upbeat release. Over the past year he has performed twice at RhymePad’s Open Mic comp at Boom Bap festival, and has performed a number of times at Beats & Bars events across the UK.
Since his debut EP ‘Unknown Rapper A’ there has been a noticeable improvement as Nephilim gains the confidence and skills that comes with performing in front of live audiences. He has carefully chosen some dope beats to create the soundscape as he tells tales of life, love, happiness and uncertain perceptions of reality.
Stand out joints from the mixtape are ‘Being Me’, as Neppy up’s his flow over the funky banger produced by Agent Of Change. Nephilim lets us know that there is no one like him and to be real there aren’t too many rappers out there making the kind of sound that Nephilim is, you can’t put him in one box as he is influenced by music of varying genres.
‘Thought Process Pt2’ Neppy goes in with the opening verse and is followed by a heavyweight verse from Dotz who has been murking mics across the country over the past couple of years. Sometimes having a sick guest verse can overshadow the artist but Nephilim holds his own over the A95 beat.
Next up Nephilim shows his love for the culture we all love over the dope Bunker Beats production as Neppy declares his love for spitting bars.
Probably my favourite joint on the release is ‘Loves Real Name’ an ode to his daughter as Nephilim lays his heart all over this track. Knowing Nephilim as I do, I think this is why this one hits home so much. It then flows into the track ‘Scatterbrain’ featuring production from Stealf and the man like DJ Jabbathakut doing his thing and adding dope cuts to finish the joint off nicely. It seamlessly flows into the dope track ‘Drifting’ which features another member of the HHLAT family Mr Melta who adds his recognizable flow to the piece.
I could wax lyrical about every joint on the mixtape, I find it hard reviewing music from people who are close to me, I can either be too forgiving or too critical, however this was easy to write about.
Nephilim has delivered 17 solid tracks, as you can tell from the mixtape title ‘Partly Fledged’ Nephilim acknowledges he’s not the finished article yet, but it’s that honesty which is why we love him, but with a bit of fine tuning it won’t be too long before Nephilim is FULLY FLEDGED.
Don’t take our word for it stream and download Nephilim ‘Partly Fledged’ here
Taken from the next album to drop by Coventry rapper Shakezpeare due out in September and promises to be his best work to date so enjoy this video and get yourself in the mood for the new album. Track produced by Manchester’s Dr G.
The official audio of Statik Selektah’s “Top Tier” single featuring Sean Price, Bun B & Styles P off Statik’s upcoming album, ‘Lucky 7,’ out July 7th, 2015.
Pre-order ‘Lucky 7’ on iTunes which features Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, Royce Da 5’9″, Big K.R.I.T., Mick Jenkins, Ab-Soul, and many more.: http://smarturl.it/lucky7album
The Four Owls – ‘Assassination’ featuring Dirty Dike lifted from the latest album ‘Natural Order’ OUT NOW on High Focus Records. The album is produced by Leaf Dog with guest production from DJ Premier and features Dirty Dike, Jam Baxter, Smellington Piff & DJ Sammy B-Side. Available to order on CD & limited edition vinyl now.
Video for Sangy’s self-produced single ‘LAO’. Sangy has a number of projects and visuals dropping in the near future, make sure to keep your eyes and ears peeled!…
Rapper Big Pooh returns with a video for the Apollo Brown produced track, “Stop.”, from the album “Words Paint Pictures” Pooh has dedicated this album to illustrating the complicated issue of race in America.
The video tackles some of the more subtle and nuanced issues faced by Americans. So much is said through the media and so many troubling stories are passed down that being Black in America can mean being constantly on the defensive.
The video begins with Rapper Big Pooh and crew driving, being followed by the police. Pooh gets pulled over, expecting the worst. Flashes of historic racial injustice flash in his head, now expecting to be treated differently because of the color of his skin. Surprisingly to him, he is only given a warning, leaving him to consider the double-edged sword of awareness.