www.britishhiphop.co.uk - The original UK Hip Hop History and Database - UK Runnings

UK Runnings - The Urban Shop Mixtape CD [Wolftown]

Written by Analogue
Thursday, 22 February 2007
I've been sent a couple of volumes of Tricksta's UK Runnings series in the past and although I was impressed with the product he pushed, the tune selection tended too much towards the street / grime angle to really catch my attention on a day-to-day... I've got too many good hip-hop mix CDs to put anything on regular rotation that only partially fitted my personal tastes. However, with the latest piece reaching me through the post from Wolverhampton I feel I've been presented with a very different proposition. With the sponsorship* moved up to top-ranking as part of the title, Tricky D's obviously made more of an effort to push this as a cross-over piece and hence a serious commercial prospect. There's a really nice laid-back reggae influence that appears and reappears throughout the course of the mix alongside the more hardcore hip-hop vibe, culminating in a full-on roots mini-mix at the end of the CD. Names as big as Rodney P, Estelle, Klashnekoff & Kyza, Doc Brown and Ty (with the utterly addictive, instant-rewind-inducing "Closer") grace the CD, alongside acts that anyone with an ear tuned to the scene will know well such as Karl Hinds, Seanie T, Supar Novar and Tuburculosis. Wolftown crew obviously make an appearance as well and I was pleased to find that a good number of the highlights came from acts I've barely heard of. There are CDs that I struggle to listen to enough times to be able to give an honest opinion for review... this wasn't one of them. It was a genuine pleasure to listen to the vast majority of these tunes through time and again. I have a feeling that the appeal of this episode in the UK Runnings saga is going to be pretty wide - in fact, if he keeps this pace up, Tricksta may even have me believing his claim that he is "the UK's hardest-working mixtape DJ". the link's theurbanshop.co.uk... do I get some free kit now guys? LOL By Analogue* of Straight Out Leodis http://www.theurbanshop.co.uk Did you enjoy this? Please share or bookmark with: