Tag: kashmere

Here's my (un-edited) review of YNR's Feeding Time At The Zoo, originally written for and published in HHC Digital 002, it was their album of the month:

Salvo’s new 7" The Info features funky and slightly menacing production, Chinese movie clips and Kashmere and Chester P on vocals.

When Tricksta and Lunatrix are Flying the Flag you’re guaranteed that your tastes will be catered for. Whether you like Hip Hop flavoured Grime, Boom Bap flavoured Hip Hop or Rap flavoured Ragga it’s all here - providing its origins are in the UK. This does mean that probably not every track will be to your liking - some of the Grime tracks I still can’t get with, mainly based on the daft lyrics (Spitta raps about Slimline PS’s and DS Lites).

Every now and then something really fresh comes along, something that little bit different that makes it stand out from the crowd. Newcomer Jyager’s raps and Cee Why’s beats have that thing; ‘Encrypted Scriptures’ is a striking album. It’s still Hip Hop as we know it but, as you’d expect from YNR, it’s finely tuned and well polished and that’s what sets it apart.

Asaviour has been on the rise for a few years now and his forthcoming LP 'The A Loop Theory' will surely cement him a place at the top of the UK Rap pile. Here he is talking about his past, Lowlife, who he's worked with and which tracks off his new album with DJ IQ are his favourites:

If the aim of ‘Food 4 Da Brain Second Serving’ wasn’t to serve up a platter of perfectly complementing flavours then I’ll eat my hat. If that is what they set out to do then they’ve royally achieved it. The menu offers up tracks from the finest chefs on either side of the UK Hip Hop / Grime divide; in fact it tastily demonstrates the breaking down of the boundary.

Do not sleep on this release. One of a few compilation / mix CDs around this moment, this one won’t disappoint. Featuring tracks from artists who have performed at Ipswich’s only Hip Hop night Rapsploitation Sessions it’s clear that Truth and Jimmy Green have good taste in music.

Hip Hop has an odd relationship with Jazz. Many like to talk up the connections between them and some even see them as linear extensions of each other. But is this true? Sure, they have common ground but they also have much to tell them apart. In essence, Jazz is about flux, leading, following and exploration whereas the beauty of Hip Hop is in its simplicity, its repetition.

‘A New Bloodline’; Sir Smurf Lil’ teams up with the current cream of UK producers - Jehst, Apa-Tight, Beat Butcha, LG, Conspicuous and Asaviour - all men well known for their dusty Hip Hop beats. Don’t take that the wrong way though; on paper ‘A New Bloodline’ may seem like a quick tracing of the UK rap outline but in reality the uniquely stylised rendering of Smurf makes this more than just a carbon copy.

"Despite the growing pressure from these coporate clowns / My music never got diluted I just wont water it down / I keep it as true as I can, if that means I lose a few fans / Real recognise real, my people root for their champ".