Inside Nokia Music

This guy is on fire – get to know. This New York based, New Orleans born MC is taking hip hop into the new decade with absolute flavour and new school flows (with a knowing nod to the old school). Now before you new school fools let that word put you off before even checking him out, then let me point out that this MC’s style contains all the best bits of Nas, Kanye and MF Doom all rolled into one headstrong, poetic delivery. Possibly the most talented MC to emerge over the last couple of years.  There… I said it. I could go on descibing whats great about this guy but I’ll let you figure it out by yourselves.

Click on the image above to get redirected to the free download link of his current mixtape – Victory. DJ Furious Styles and DJ Dub have put together this 26 track collection of  recorded tunes, live excerpts and exclusives that have been floating around on the blog scene for a while.  The beats, like Jay’s rhymes, are thick with head nod swagger - some of the best beats I’ve heard for a long time, in fact.

Damn, hip hop ain’t dead. It was certainly suffering but 2010 is sounding mighty healthy right now.

Anyone who heard the return of Raekwon on his Only Built for Cuban Links II sequel album will know that the WU are back and heavier than ever. To follow the original 1995 album (thats right, ‘95!) with something as dope is a rare and impressive feat indeed. A testimony to the Rae and crew’s talent and passion for the art.

So with that album still pretty much on weekly repeat, there’s some new WU to get your ears accustomed to.

First up is the new J-Love and Ghostface mixtape – Hidden Darts Pt 5 which can be found on the Nokia Store right now. Copy and paste this catelogue number into the Title search box to get taken straight to it: OD2DI6952366

I was going to spread this out over a few Blogs but I thought I’d better let you know about this free mixtape before the links die…

Avenging Eagles presented by DJ Mathematics features Meth, Ghost and Rae on absolute fire once again. I’ve been listening to it all week and I can honestly say that Meth has never sounded so good! This is a pre-release taster to the much hyped WU Massacre album from the 3 MC’s set for release on March 30th on Def Jam.

I personally, cannot wait that long!

Download the Avenging Eagles mixtape here or here.

F’ Whut!

You can download loads of Wu-Tang, Ghostface, Raekwon and all the other clan members stuff from Nokia Music Store - if you’ve got  ‘Comes With Music’, you can get it all completely free!

Everyone’s favourite cut’n'paste DJ’s back with a new mix that you can download for free from the Bestival blog. With typical DJ Yoda aplomb, expect the likes of Biggie, Fleetwood Mac, Prince and more nestling snugly together like penguins on an ice floe. Think I walked past some on the way into work this morning.

Rock it: http://besti-blog.blogspot.com/2010/02/besti-mix-6-dj-yoda.html

Coming on 9 years ago I left the country of my birth, completely disillusioned by the state of the music industry there. Something that would ultimately lead to my permanent immigration, and to me ostracising myself of any association of what I left behind.

Ironically, just weeks before my Citizenship Ceremony, something that’s so heavily accented I would usually hang my head in shame… has now instilled a sense of homesickness in me.

Maybe it’s the realisation that throughout the years I’ve been untrue to myself, that I’ve been in denial about my roots… or maybe this is the first time that someone has taken a chance on something and nurtured it in the necessary means to make a success of it. Okay, so enough of the narrative mind-setting already, let me get to the point…

By now, surely every man and his dog has seen the “interweb” phenomenon that is Zef Side, the video interview/introduction to the next-level beats and serious gangster skills of South Africa’s Die Antwoord. Read the rest of this entry »

JME’s back with a new single featuring his Boy Better Know brother Wiley. ‘Sidetracked‘ is a slow, deep, brooding synth led track with similary deep and brooding lyrics. You’ll find a more mature JME on this introspective track, getting some things off his chest and touching on some pretty personal topics. The chorus supplied by Wiley on (dubious)  ’Autotune’ duties echoes his verses, ‘Dont wanna be sidetracked, living my life on the edge’. There’s a shedding of skin going on here and I appreciate his honesty and approach – not every single has to be a dancefloor smasher. I’m looking forward to what else he’ll be bringing in the next year.

Here’s a lil clip of a release on Stones Throw Records featuring a homeless guy named Red discovered on the streets of San Francisco bussin’ out some pretty cool vocoder style vocals! There are a bunch of remixes of it on youtube also. Go checkum!

Having skipped a beat with my finger off the pulse (a rather poor reference to the single The Beat That My Heart Skipped), I missed the opportunity to blog about this when it was still news… and then just sorta left it for fear of being last to the post, but the tune’s been invading my every waking moment, quite literally! For about a week so far without fail I’ve been singing/speaking the chorus before I can even focus my eyes beyond the foot of the bed, and the experience has been rather uplifting and motivational.

So here it is, Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip’s first single Get Better from their forthcoming second album The Logic Of Chance, officially the first release of 2010 that I’m truly excited about.

Here’s a soundcloud with a few remixes compliments of the boys from their blog

… and since I’m on the subject, and at the slightest chance that someone reading this may never have seen it, here’s the brilliantly amusing fake X Factor audition they did… totally worth the endless hours of queuing the must have endured to pull this off, probably what helped them keep a straight face during the audition… Love Dan’s puppy-dog eye’s @1:18

Get Better is released 1st March 2010 followed by the album The Logic Of Chance on 14th March 2010. The debut album Angles (Not Angels) is available to download from The Nokia Music Store and is completely free to ‘Comes With Music’ subscribers.

Get better, get better get better get better…

Here’s the Nokia/OVI Music Store link to my new playlist featuring my favourite bass heavy and head nod beats of 2009. Perfect for the walk to work, the gym or your usuall weekly drive by.

Click on the image to get your download on! [Internet Explorer only]

Part 2 of my years biggest tunes. Check it!

MF Doom – Born Like this : Doom didnt dissapoint with his first release since MM Food. Absolutely sick MC.

Chef Raekwon – Only built for Cuban Links II : What?! Hip Hop album of the decade. Listening to each track is like watching 3 great films at once – Rich imagery and incredible beats. Rae you did it again!

Hard House Banton – Sirens : For me, the biggest UK Funky track, technically from 08 but blew up in 09.

Giant – Drumstick : Fantastic dubstep skanker from this Russian trio. I rinsed this one!

Tempa T – Next Hype : This track was huge, mosh pits and multiple rewinds. Hilarious video too – Temmmmmmpz!

Wow what a year for music – nuff big tune a gwan!

Here’s my top ten of the year in no particular order:

Shystie – Pull It (remix) : UK Funky really found its legs this year, this remix by Ill Blu got all dancefloors jumping!

Joker – Digidesign : This track is me all over – love it. Joker has blown up this year, 2010 is gonna be even better for the Bristol bad boy.

Hyetal – Gold or Soul : I love this track. Hypnotizing and atmospheric, it conjures visions of Crocket driving around Miami at night with some serious sh*t on his mind.

Breakage – Together : An absolute banger, when this b-line drops it heads down skanking and bass faces all over the shop!

Donaeo – Party Hard : Another UK Funky classic. ‘Donaaaaaaeo, Donaeeeeeeo’!