Scorzayzee is back! Together with his crew, GM Unit, he vows to take down the Clown, Colonel and King to inspire change in the bellies of the masses with his own nutritious brand of fast food: Gangsta Wraps!
Since his early days with the pioneering Out Da Ville to last year’s ‘Aeon: Peace To The Puzzle’ The revolutionary Nottingham Hip Hop lynchpin has consistently utilised his intricate lyricism to address a number of society’s injustices. His latest project ‘Gangsta Wraps ‘Take The Throne’’ sees him take aim at the monolithic fast food industry.
Producer Stejallan explains, “There was a bunch of us working in fast food restaurants around Nottingham. I’m a promoter and most of my friends are rappers, singers, musicians or producers. We began watching documentaries like ‘Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead’, ‘Hungry For Change’, ‘Ingredients’ and ‘Cowspiracy’ and the reality is f**ked up, so we quit our jobs at McDonalds and formed GM Unit, a revolutionary Gangsta Wrap crew who have vowed to take down Ronald McDonald and inspire change. Think Jamie Oliver meets Scarface.”
With the concept firmly in place, an EP, A mixtape, a line of merchandise and a food menu of incredible (w)rap puns and nutritious food were all developed with unwavering passion and the freshest ingredients to overwhelm all senses and bring all over goodness, especially to your ears, minds and bellies.
New video from Milkavelli, the track is produced by Sumgii and is lifted from the upcoming Millkavelli EP ‘616god’ entirely produced by Sumgii available for either digital download or on Limited Edition Vinyl from October 31st. Get your Pre-Orders in now from here…
Behind The Song is a new and exclusive GlobalFaction series featuring your favourite Artists offering an insight into the motives, feelings and inspiration behind their songs.
After his return at the end of July with the hard hitting track ‘Ahmed’, Lowkey is the first guest up to discuss and explain the story behind it and the very important message we should all take in. If ‘Ahmed’ somehow escaped your attention watch it here and also check out the live version.
Check out the second track Lowkey has released since his return
Today marks the day that UK rapper Skrabl’s highly anticipated album ‘The Emperor’s New Garms’ drops. Adam was fortunate enough to be hit up with an early copy of this dope release. Here’s what Adam had to say about it…..
Skrabl comes with his new album ‘The Emperors New Garms’, produced by Oozhe. This album is SICK! End of review, send to Stix….. Nah lets actually get right into this because it’s worth some serious attention.
There are a few things that you can’t buy and a couple of those things are heavily involved in making TENG the reload laden, top spot on the rotation stealing entity that it is. Before I tell you what they are, and I bet you’re on the edge of your seat, I honestly wanna just say I’m not saying this for sake of review fodder, these are my truths (Holla Aimee). So you ready then? . . . Aside from talent being the essential tone of this release, its got PERSONALITY and DEDICATION at the centre of it and it is obvious from the jump. 14 tracks that are put forward with zero filler, and zero half arsed bars over zero half arsed beats. Essentially just natural and meant to exist.
Let’s have a wee chat about Skrabl if we may because there’s a lot of people vying for your ear drums with words, so sometimes even someone with frankly undeniable style and talent can be missed, and TENG should be where everyone realises. With a tongue in cheek cynicism that’s laced with layers of depth and hope, the lyrical content of these tracks is masterfully worked and crafted. Throughout this album keeping true to his own character and being honest and straight talking with a tenacity for turn of phrase, Skrabl takes the respect that he’s rightfully earned, multiplies it and evolves. Multi syllable control level – calm killer. With a vast vocabulary befitting of his moniker but yet a complete lack of pretentious long wording, Skrabl steps to every track with thought and precision I don’t really like to break down tracks because I just want to encourage you to listen to it for yourself, but ’26 Letters’ is so dope that as a writer myself I just go ahhhhhh that execution of concept is bang on.
So that’s the review then OH WAIT NO THE PRODUCTION IS LEVELS. Oozhe? I’ll tell you who he is, this is a dude who’s currently relentlessly marking out his name with varied production style and professionalism. These here beats on this here album are, . . wait . . , these here instrumentals on this here album, . . hold on . . , this here MUSIC on this here album bangs. Crisp and well structured production from Oozhe on this was almost to be expected at this point, but still I was shown new things and I did the face umpteen times, you know the face. You could easily be forgiven for assuming it was a group of producers on this album because of the different styles and therein lies the ability.
Available through True Unity Records and featuring Dotz, Gee Bag, Flo, Wordsmiff FLIP and Si Phili, ‘The Emperors New Garms’ is gunning for your playlists. Buy the CD if you like the album, can’t stress that enough!
Words; Adam
Get Skrabl’s ‘The Emperor’s New Garms’ Digitally here
‘Patterns Of Escapism’ is the third single and title track from Fliptrix’s upcoming 6th studio album entirely produced by Illinformed. The ‘Patterns Of Escapism’ LP features guest appearances from The Four Owls, Ocean Wisdom, King Kashmere, Verb T, Dabbla, Life MC, DJ Sammy B-Side & Jazz T. The highly anticipated album will be released on High Focus Records on the 25th of November 2016 on CD, limited edition vinyl & digital and is available to pre order now!
If we had an office for HHLAT I’m pretty sure that there would have been a bundle to see who got to review Dabbla’s debut solo album ‘Year Of The Monkey’, as we all wanted this banger of an album, another to add to High Focus Records ever growing list of quality releases. However we don’t, so I gave the opportunity to Intuitive who done such a great job with his first review for us last month. Here’s what he thought about Dabbla’s highly anticipated ‘Year Of The Monkey’ album out Friday (9th Sept)……
Nowadays Hip Hop is a very broad genre, but I’ve always felt as though rappers can be grouped into two general types.
Four decades of Hip Hop emcees from all corners of the globe, from the worst bad-breath sideman spitting 16s in your ear on a Sunday night in suburbia to the absolute pinnacle of underground talent, pushing the limits of what we thought possible in music, can be differentiated as belonging to one of two classifications. Two types. Those heads you’d prefer to hear smash out a set live on a messy night, or the ones you listen to whilst you smoke a zoot to recover the morning after.
Dabbla is definitely the first type.
Bouncing and skipping over beats that thump with that trademarked High Focus sound, he oozes personality, charisma and narcissism in a perfect combination. This is his debut album and in classic Dabbla style, every track is a statement. Subject matter is strictly limited to a witty blend of bars, bitches, booze and buds in a way that is actually fresh and enjoyable. Any new listeners should not be deceived into thinking that Dabbla is some next guy fresh onto the scene, however – he uses descriptive wordplay and multisyllabics with the experienced ease of a rapper that is ten years deep in the scene, having sharpened his skills over his years in groups such as London Zoo, the well-respected Problem Child and Dead Players.
As with any High Focus release, ‘Year Of The Monkey’ comes with a string of brilliant features and production attached. I have been a long-time believer in the fantastic production that High Focus get for their artists being a major factor in the label’s distinct sound and long-term success, and this theory is collated by this album. Names such as Star.One, Naïve, Don Piper, Tom Caruana, Sumgii, Chemo, Roast Beatz and DJ Kermit all bring fucking ace beats to the table, and many of these names are recognisable from other HF releases.
Long-time allies of Dabbla such as Jam Baxter and Ghosttown make expected appearances as well, but we also have brilliant additions from talents like Ocean Wisdom, Dirty Dike, Dubbledge, Graziella and Cobes. This is a 17-track album and despite having a roster of musical talent to compete with, Dabbla not only matches pace on every collaboration track but with every one of the 12 solo tunes being just as good, also proves to any listener that he does not need any help to make a banger.
One of my favourite tracks from the album is ‘Cheers’, produced by Ghosttown – to me it really sums up what Dabbla is about. The beat is fucking DIRTY, one of them really greasy smooth screwfacers, and Dabbla flows over it like water. A perfect track to chug a bottle of vodka to, or kill a bear, or something. I listened to this album in the gym and I put on three stone of solid muscle just from listening to this song once. I’ve got a name for Dabbla – the doubletime Dirty Dike. I’m also copywriting that if it takes off. He seems most comfortable on fast-paced tracks, and he utilises this on the majority of tracks on ‘Year Of The Monkey’. This doesn’t mean he’s not great at a slower BPM however, and shows this on tracks like ‘Psychoville’ and ‘Everything’. ‘Psychoville’ is a really snappy tune, with a great hook from Graziella that makes me wish Dabbla did more hooks with female singers.
Dabbla – Psychoville Feat. Graziella (Prod. Roast Beatz) (OFFICIAL VIDEO by Obese Aesthetics)
‘Everything’ is another great boombap track that encapsulates Dabbla’s arrogant attitude – “you might not like me, but I fucking love me”. Songs like this prove that he’s not just a party rapper, but a Hip Hop head.
There is a definite difference. Another facet of his personality, aside from the badman bars and his affair with himself – is a distinct element of a love of the ridiculous – the rude side of rap. I think heads like Dabbla, Dirty Dike and Dubbledge are some of the only people who could just about get away with writing tracks about dicks and them still be listenable. Just about.
Like I said before, I think there are two types of rapper, and Dabbla fits very neatly into one of those types. There are pros and cons to this. I absolutely love this album, and I’ve already cleared a space on my shelf and in my playlists for it, but that’s because I love this kind of album – nothing but hard beats, ridiculous concepts, doubletime bars, and all round general get-messy-to music. This album is definitely catered towards a certain demographic – there isn’t a lot of variation in what each individual song provides in comparison to the rest and there is definitely some repetition. But I’ll accept that there is definitely an argument for there not being too much of a good thing within music, and also for that just being a reflection of who Dabbla is as an individual. What is definite is that this release solidifies his presence as one of the best in the underground scene, as a solo artist, and puts him right up alongside all the newest players on High Focus’s roster as some of the best in the UK. Big the fuck up!
Words; Intuitive
Dabbla’s ‘Year Of The Monkey’ is out now on all formats, digitally, on CD and Limited Edition Vinyl from
Check the visual for ‘Train of Thought’ from Coventry, UK rapper Shakezpeare linking up with Detroit rapper/producer and Wu Tang affiliate Bronze Nazareth, the track also features cuts from DJ TMB.
The track is lifted from the upcoming ‘New Golden Era (NGE)’ EP by Shakezpeare & Bronze Nazareth that will be released by NGE Records on all online records stores from Sept 1st 2016!
DJ Shadow has unveiled the music video for the song “Nobody Speak” featuring Run The Jewels, a standout track from his latest album ‘The Mountain Will Fall,’ out now on Mass Appeal Records. The video depicts a meeting of leaders that quickly descends into chaos, a scene not unlike what is unfolding in governments around the globe. It also features appearances by DJ Shadow and Run The Jewels.
Says DJ Shadow: “We wanted to make a positive, life-affirming video that captures politicians at their election-year best. We got this instead.”
Says Run The Jewels’ Killer Mike: “It’s such a dope video. It’s what I really wish Trump and Hillary would just do and get it over with…And even in that fight I think Hillary would win – and that’s not an endorsement.”
The video was directed by Sam Pilling and produced by Pulse Films, stars Igor Tsyshkevych and Ian Bailey, and was shot in NYC, London and Ukraine.
DOPE!!! Emerging from the late 90’s, early 00’s battle scene, Woody, Tigerstyle and Dopey went up against each other countless times, collectively they took 7 major World titles at arguably the fiercest, most creative period in DJ battle history.
Taken from DJ Woody’s debut album ‘The Point Of Contact’, the track ‘Get Down’ channels that battle mentality with a spirit of camaraderie as these battle veterans prove that their cuts are still as sharp as ever.
Battle Stats:
(DJ Woody)
2001 ITF World Champion
2002 Vestax World Champion
(DJ Tigerstyle)
2003 DMC Supremacy World Champion
2003 ITF World Champion
2003 Allies Allstar Beatdown World Champion
(DJ Dopey)
2001 Allies Allstar Beatdown World Champion
2003 DMC World Champion
‘The Point Of Contact’ is available now to preorder on double vinyl and digital and is due for release in October
hiphoplifeandtimes 