It seems he’s doing what a lot of people are doing at the moment in this music industry, going indie with both his label (Skull Gang) which I’ll come to in a minute, and also dropping on Koch. From this interview I was reading it seems like he’ll drop a proper street album/mixtape via the independent power house! This will be good to announce his return! He needs some big guests (Such as Weezy, as they have such a strong working relationship and maybe some of the old Dipset crew) as well as the members of his Skull Gang camp (to introduce them to the mainstream world) to come back with a real bang! Then after that he says he’ll be dropping his 3^rd proper album also on Koch.

The I Can’t Feel My Face has been much anticipated, not so much on a Relapse, Carter III or Detox level, but fans have been waiting on it, always with the thought that it was either a urban legend or would just be shoved out eventually as a mixtape, but according to Santana it’s been finished and they were just getting over the politics of it! I can’t help but wonder if, as Santana seems to have acquainted himself with them, it’d be easier to just drop that through Koch instead of trying to negotiate through all 4 of the Juelz/Wayne’s labels (2 each)! That COULD take ages to get sorted.

Also Santana clears up the rumours about his Dipset beef! It seems that there isn’t one. He says, and I quote: “It’s still Dipset for life man, the only thing different is I’m not doing business with Cam, but it’s still Dipset, Me and Jim still work together, Zeek, we got the Pop Champagne track out right now, we rocking! So the bird is still flying right now, I didn’t want to copy the Diplomat movement, I wanted to do my own thing with the talent I had around me. It’s just a new chapter in the book. Dipset for life, Skull Gang forever.” Cam’ron really needs to sort himself out! It’s getting ridiculous, he’s let an exceptionally talented crew/label go their separate ways, which is a massive disappointment! He either needs to get them all back together or come out of hiding with a huge hit!

So yeah, I hope that all does go to plan for Juelz as he’s a talented and unique rapper, and in today’s standards of boring same old same old rap music, that’s something we need urgently! 

This’ll be a blog about what i hope to happen in 2009 when it comes to the culture of Hip Hop! I’ll be commenting on what i think of the highly profiled newcomers (we all know who i mean),  who i want to get signed, who i want to release albums and who i think beef will escalate between!

Newcomers: Asher Roth is who i rate most if i’m honest! He’s something different, and the I Love College is a great party anthem! I find the Eminem references insulting, Asher and Marshall are so far apart it’s unbelievable! Roths hardly murdering his wife or getting his brain addled off of Mushrooms! SHUT UP! It’s great how Asher can spit these middle class lyrics, but still get repped by the heavy hip hop cats such as DJ Drama and Jay-Z! Charles Hamilton is definately a breath of fresh air, but does he have a great deal of commercial movability? I’m not sure. I think that he’ll remain a staple on the underground and will have a thriving career there, but i don’t reckon he’ll ever break mainstream, which could turn out to be a blessing! Wale is great-we all know that! His mixtapes have been acclaimed, so i definately think his album will be released to great success and acclaim. I doubt if he’ll break the Top 40 in the UK, but in the US it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s doing 50K first week numbers! Ace Hood has already dropped, and although he didn’t flop, i thought he’d do better! He’s the most commercially accessible and marketable act out of all the highly profiled newcomers! I think if he keeps popping up on various projects (albums more than mixtapes, but like Tesco says, ‘every little helps) then i think Gutta will continue to move decent numbers and his second album will be where he really starts to blow up!

Who I Want To Get Signed: I hop Stat Quo gets picked up and is given a distribution deal! I so hope that Eminem and Dr. Dre allow Statlanta to be released, as i’ve (and all the other fans) been waiting for so long for that LP to be released! Stats been grinding on the Shady projects, always impressing! Repping the label to the fullest, and appearing on the extended families projects, he deserves an album! I hope he finds a new label that’ll get him distribution and won’t keep us waiting 5 years for a project! Sticking with Shady, i hope Obie Trice doesn’t fade into nothingness, Bottoms Up should be released and i really do hope that he keeps grinding and someone snaps him up!

Who I Want Albums Released By: I want Spider Loc to release an album this year! And i don’t mean another indie offering (West Kept Secret: The Prequel & Da 1 U Love 2 Hate were great, but still), i mean a full blown G Unit project that 50 will promote PROPERLY! I hope 40 Gloccs New World Order album is released through G Unit as i think it’ll move good numbers (if you think 40′s an underground cat-so numbers will be good for him, but very modest for the usual G Unit standards). Young Hot Rod should get his buzz back to, 50 didn’t capitalize off of that! I hope we get another Mos Def album as that should be cool, he’s been away for a while! The Juelz Santana/Lil Wayne project has been gaining momentum lately, so they need to release that April latest if they wanna capitalize off the buzz! It’s been simmering for long enough now! I would like to see another collab project bought out from Messy Marv, perhaps with E-40 as 40 Water has been getting mainstream attention ever since My Ghetto Report Card and i reckon that connection could be Messy’s key to breaking the surface! I’d like Ca$hville to actually step their game up! Outlawz released We Want In this year, independently! That got great reviews and from what i’ve heard it was heavy! C-Bo’s been dropping indie albums, compilations and collaboration albums ever since he inked the deal! The Rise To Fame (If that’s still what the albums called) deserves to be released in 09! What’s the point of having an artist with the credibility and the talent of the bald headed nut if you don’t capitalize off it?

Which beef will escalate?: The Buck/G Unit beef will i reckon. Buck Marley is apparently working on his 3rd album, which will be released under the G Unit umberella. So unless they squash it, we all know from past experience that 50 will make it very difficult for Buck to release the album! I doubt he’ll put his all into promotion! That’ll be a real pity though, as Buck’s one of the best members of the unit! If he can’t get his album out under G Unit he needs some good lawyers to get him out of his contract! I heard T.I. was thinking of signing Buck to Grand Hu$tle, but no talks had been held! T.I. needs to hurry up if he’s going inside for a year! If nothing gets sorted out, Buck should at least drop an independant project on Koch, like Spider Loc does, to keep his name buzzing. After all the publicity surrounding the in camp beef, he should have dropped a project around that time really!

Hip hop should be a good year in 09! Especually with my album being released lol. Scones, Jam & Clotted Cream OUT 2009!

I’ve been browsing eBay today and I’ve found a LOAD of CDs to check out! I am rather pleased. I’ve been looking these underground gangsta rap artists up and I have realized that it’s so much better than mainstream! Not to say that I think mainstream is completely waste, I like the 50 Cents, Games, Kanye’s etc, but to be honest they just don’t match up!

The west coast scene has the biggest underground market I reckon, there’s so many sub genre’s around! I’m getting proper into Chicano lately! I acquired the Dedicated 2 The Oldies CD by Mr. Capone-E a month or 2 ago, and I’m getting his Last Man Standing CD for xmas, and I’ve been into a few of his Hi Power label mates! Mr. Criminal is fantastic. A flawless flow with some hot bars as well. Usually, labels have like one or two great acts and then the rest are pathetic, but Hi Power have loads of quality artists. I’m getting Mr. Silent-The Alley Boy for xmas also, but Malow Macs got skills!

As well as Chicano, I’ve been getting into the general west coast underground scene!    C-Bo is amazing! I got his Money To Burn album a while ago, but I’ve been checking his guest spots on Spider Loc tracks and plan to get more discs from him. Lil Cyco is also decent! Ap.9 is cool, love the Block Rock track he did. I’ve been looking up people from Ap.9’s label. DC is decent, but Young Gasz is cracking! He puts in the work, and then some! Need to get some discs from him!

I mentioned Spider Loc! What a talent that fella is! One of the most lyrical guys I’ve come across, how he can get so much hate I don’t know. Every line has fantastic multi’s and he drops some sick mets. I’ve often heard people say that although he’s not the most liked rapper in the underground scene, there’s no way round the fact that he’s real! And in the market that he’s in, that can be just as important. I don’t really understand why fifty doesn’t drop World Wide Web, cause let’s be honest, since The Game left, the Unit have missed the west element, and I assumed that when Spi signed, he’d be dropping verses constantly (on G Unit projects) and dropping albums regularly! But no! He’s forced to do his independent hustle with projects like West Kept Secret: The Prequel and Da 1 U Love 2 Hate! He’s heavy on the mixtape game as well.

I quite like Hyphy as well. I went through a stage of buying a few CDs from E-40, B-Legit etc. I got the Draped Up & Chipped Out 2 compilation from Messy Marv which was hot! Also got Hyphy Hitz from play.com for like 2 quid! Mistah F.A.B. is cool, as is Keak Da Sneak. Need to cop the mixtape he did with Late & Tricksta!

40 Glocc is heavy as well. His west coast flows mix well with the east coast influence that he’s obviously got from working so much with the Mobb Deep family. I can’t wait to hear the Graveyard Shift mixtape that he’s got coming out with Spider Loc.

So yeah, my conclusion is buy underground west coast hip hop before anything else!

YES BLUD

Right, i turned 15 last Saturday, and i got a number of CDs for gifts! Got Grandaddy Soufs mixtape Locked N Loaded with UK DJ’s Late & Tricksta. I’ve got 40 Glocc and Spider Loc mixtapes from them, but i finally started listening to them properly and researching what they’ve done.

A LOT for the UK scene. Late’s really unique! And they’re big on the mixtape circuit, pushing underground artists (at least in the UK) to the fullest. Stat Quo has a mixtape out, and if he’d only capitalized off of it by releasing an album! Chamillionaire also. Keak Da Sneak, who’s been gaining momentum steadily over the past few years has a new one out with them, Sheek Louch! Countless names. Also, they represent for their own UK artists, 10Shott, Conman and Late himself put out tonnes of projects every year!

But they really represent strong for the southern underground. K-Rino is a heavy lyricist who has been around for ages, but never got a break. Late puts him on with features and that Lyrical Legend mixtape he did. Also, KB Da Kidnappa is banging also. Grandaddy Souf is heavy, been into him for a while!

So, i have a few requests! I Think a Messy Marv mixtape would be cool, as they’ve done a few west coast mixtapes, and Messy Marv is commercial enough to get a buzz, but underground primarily, so he would fit nicely into the Underground Exposure series Late does. Also i reckon Lil Scrappy could do a heavy mixtape with them, as he’s been quiet for a while, and has connections. He always delivers on mixtapes and the southern style is what Late & Tricksta specialise in!

Also, i’d like to see a Black Milk mixtape, as it would be different and i reckon it’d turn out quite well. That could get a load of new fans for Wolftown!

So yeah, some heavy mixtape DJ’s, if you don’t know about them, search on amazon. Mostly the discs are like 8-9 quid. Bargain!

Yeah so, if you know me you’ll know i’m from that gutter place called Norwich originally. Or not. But anyways, moved now to Lincoln, started a new school. I HAVE FRIENDS! Took a week but i have friends. anyways, last week someone found out i rapped, dropped a hint i think, so then i had to do a bit of spitting my lyrics as they say in this business. And they went down well, so then people are like ‘keep going’. Ended up with 400 people crowded round me for about half an hour and me just rapping non stop. Straight after that my German teacher called me over, i’m like ‘Jesus, you get told off for rapping  here????’. He instantly started talking about Klashnekoff, Wu-Tang, Plan B, Roots Manuva and Skinnyman to me, i’m like WOW! He thought it was good as well. Yeah, so had to do it again the following day, more people knew, everyone liked it (it seems lol). And today, yet again, had to do impromptu freestyles. Came out with some HEAVY BARS today! People who i’ve chatted to about Kings of Leon etc are like ‘yeah you’re pretty good!’-ACHIEVEMENT!

I mean i knew Birmingham and Nottingham had big scenes, and i knew Lincoln didn’t have a big scene, so was a bit worried nobody would get it. Turns out i was wrong. Going from Norwich, where there was an active scene (Kulez, Arkaic, TLeevz, Def Tex, Eurgh etc) to somewhere where there’s basically no scene is a bit odd, but i’m cool with being ONE of the only rappers here lol. Hope i can represent accordingly! I know there’s a few dudes who rap, come across a few on MySpace, but nowhere near as big as Norwich.

Might look into putting together a Midlands collab, with people from Brum, Notts etc. If you’re interested get at me on myspace!

Cheers!

Girls were slightly disappointing. The one who was ill on the first audition is rather fit but when it comes to singing, nowt special in my opinion. Not amazing when you remember they were the category everyone was hyping about!

Over 25’s-pointless category. You need to be young and attractive to win. They’re not. WASTE!

The groups however were different. The girl bands sound like a load of vultures, there was the group that decided to practice for like five minutes before their audition (Not the sharpest knives in the draw) and then there were JLS. Out of everyone on X Factor (Ever), apart from Ghostt, they’re the first people I’d buy an album from. Good, old fashioned R&B, but not so old fashioned that the young and hip (such as myself) won’t ‘get’ them. But yeah, JLS to win!

I for one shall be tuning in on Saturday to watch the live shows. Gonna see how badly the Irish lad does and how much crying the Essex boy does. Should be interesting.

I was never that into Chipmunk when i first started listening to grime. As i got more into it though, started liking it more and more! Muhammed Ali is class and the new tune, Beast is heavy as well. He’s got something that you wouldn’t expect many MC’s of his age to have, which is unlimited confidence, and he has an outstanding work rate of late. Hearing him on a bunch of features and remixes and constantly appearing on radio shows! And i can’t take away from the fact that, unlike a few grime artists, Chipmunk has lyrical skills!

Dizzee Rascal. Now, i can understand why he’s nominated, got quite a few followers across the water, but i’m not really into him. I think he deserves it because of the contribution he’s made to getting grime out there, scratch that, getting UK Hip Hop out there, but i feel that there are more worthy artists out there. He’s a talented artist, but i don’t think he should win!

Ghetto is heavy! I’m more into UK Hip Hop than grime, but Ghetts has everything! Swagger, great flow and above all, top notch lyrics! Freedom Of Speech has made a massive impact from what i’ve heard, it’s one of the few grime CDs to be stocked in national stores, and Ghetts has built a cult following! Definately deservinbg of the nomination!

Giggs is who i want to win! He’s been around on the underground for a while, but he’s recently broken out into the (slightly) mainstream world thanks to the mixtape ‘Ard Bodied and loads of appearences to THA BIG DAWG, ahem, Tim Westwood’s show. Giggs has great lyrics additionally! Not the most complex structure, but it’s unique and he uses plenty of deep rhymes, which are ALL put into multi’s. There’s something different about Hollowman, and it’s something amazing! Walk In The Park was heavy as well, if you ain’t got it, get it!

Skepta is talented as well! Rolex Sweep was genious, a bit different to the current slew of dance routines hitting urban music! But Greatest Hits was nice as well, as it was a break from all the ‘shank shank shank’ talk from some of the UK’s urban artists, and we need more of the positive stuff! Also, some interesting concepts appeared on the lp, the shape shifting and blood, sweat and tears songs were incredible! For being different to everyone else nominated, he deserved the nomination!

Wiley is established, we all know about him! Personally, i’m not keen on the whole electro thing he’s been doing atm, didn’t really ‘get’ Wearing My Rolex’ but his past work has been to a high standard and i’m feeling the new tune with a ‘laugh from Scorcher’ (Name escapes me) and the Summertime one. Also i think his work with Roll Deep has been genious at times!

So, personally i’m backing Giggs all the way, but i think all the names deserve to be there! If i changed one thing, i’d swap Dizzee for Bashy, but still think Diz is a talented artist, just haven’t been to keen on his new stuff. Liked Pu*sy’ole and Sirens A LOT, but Dance Wiv Me wasn’t something i was listening to!

Nice one for reading.