Def Defiance - Rhyme Children/Chemical Attack

Bought myself one of these last week and it's dope. Limited press 7" single on nuclear green vinyl with colour picture sleeve. You know you want one so get one here:  www.blinerecordings.bigcartel.com
B-Line Recordings is fast becoming my favourite label, only missed this one so if there's any left I'd like a copy please.

Chrome & Ill Inspired - You Should Know!

I bought myself one of these last week and I don't mind saying it's real hip hop done properly. Available from here and here and also from this guy. Very nice.

Dookie Squad - Deep Rising

New Dookie Squad 12" out now on limited red wax with picture sleeve and it's a dope slice of UK freshness. Got mine yesterday, here's where you can get yours and I highly recommend that you do.

Chrome & Ill Inspired - Out Of Sight

I copped one of these on Monday and I'm here to tell you that you should get one too. It's pure fire from the start, proper rhyming, proper scratching and rock solid beats. There's a killer opener, 'Feels So Good' that has a pretty catchy hook and 'Girth' shows that old school b-boy breaks still sound fresh just in case you forgot. The official release date I think is early February and I guess Kudos and Juno will be stocking them. Failing that you can buy one direct from the man, email him here : ohmage88@gmail.com. Soundclips here. Now, go get one.

Wanted

I'm on the hunt for these if anyone can help, not necessarily the full 12"s just the vocal tracks would be a good start. It's all UK ruffness too :

Fixed Penalty - To You / Bubble Up
Pure Genius - Law Of The Land EP
Storm - Playing The Field
Original Offkey Yout - Goin' On Dark / So It Goes
School Of Culture - Detonate To Activate / Come On
Akapel - Pick It Up
Hard II Kill -You Can't Tell Us What To Do / This Is How We Do
Stinginteraction - Koncious Resistance EP
EQ - Turn The Flames Higher
Forward Intense - Stated / Imply The Calm

That'll do for now as they're all fairly unknown to many and tough to track down for a reasonable price. Thanks in advance if you can help.

K.I.D. - Raw Flavours Volume 1

I dug this double LP out due to the recent sad news that K.I.D. of Nottingham duo 2wice The Trouble was found dead a few days ago. Up to press not much else is known about the circumstances surrounding the whole thing so we'll have to wait on more news so I won't dwell on that for now.

I will, however, tell you that I had the privilege of seeing him perform live at the Old School Reunion held in Nottingham about 20 odd years ago; he did 'Hey Hey, Can U Relate' - on his own as far as I can remember - and I have to say it was a a pretty uninspiring performance. He barely moved, just shuffled around on the spot and hardly made any eye contact with the crowd. I don't know why Carruthers wasn't there but I'm certain K.I.D. was solo on that day but it was a long time ago and my memory could be a little jaded. I can't find anyone else who was there apart from the 4 other people I went with and I haven't seen them for 15 or 20 years either so our stories can't be corroborated but it was a fantastic day overall and hearing that tune live was a real high point even though he seemed to want to be somewhere else. It's a real shame as he had talent by the bucket load and could easily have stood toe to toe with any other emcee, US or UK, at the time.

So that's it. I still can't believe it.

For further reading and downloadable content see here and here. If anyone has any further news or just any stuff I might not know then I'd be more than obliged.

R.I.P.K.I.D.

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Mighty Ethnicz - Harmony Hall

Time for some UK action I think and this being my fave 12" by the Mighty Ethnicz I thought I'd share it with you. Another reason is the forthcoming shirt design by the excellent 'Style Warrior' which is available for pre-order right now so get your orders in before September 16th for a unique piece o' kit. The Ethnicz made some pretty decent records over all and a lot of them, quite possibly all of them went under the radar for most people but I think they deserve some props and interest in their short career needs a bit of reviving. 'Harmony Hall' uses a killer loop and one which I'd really like to know the origin of if anyone can assist. Blade use to have a forum and I asked there years ago and someone knew one of their crew and said he would ask but the forum went off line soon afterwards and I was back to square one. In truth I never really left square one. Still, the record is dope and well worth picking up especially as you can find it for next to nothing and the other two cuts on the flip are none too shabby either. 'Murder' makes great use of the Meters classic 'Just Kissed My Baby' and 'From Da Mind' is a funky mid tempo head nodder that makes this all in all their best record in my most humblest of opinions.

Standing Ten Feet Tall

Nottingham's Finest 1988 - 1992

I feel I must enlighten you to the existence of this little beauty I discovered over at the excellent 'Fear of a Wack Planet' blog a few months ago. Most of the stuff is unreleased as far as I'm aware a lot of it is absolutley firin', especially my personal fave, 'Serious-DJ quick Club Remix' by 2wice The Trouble; K.I.D should have had a stormin' career but he never hit the big time which is a real shame. I had a few of these on a tape back in the early nineties through a friend of a friend of a friend who knew DJ Mink but the tape was 'borrowed' and never returned - it had a couple of my own demos on there too I did with an aspiring rapper called MC Fame and it was him who I lent the tape to. I saw him a few years back in B & Q but he got in to his car before I could catch him. Errol if you're reading this mate I've got these back now but our demos might (not) be worth a listen if you still have them. Massive thanks to Mike Check over at FOAWP for the initial upload and if the link's dead he'll up it again for you if you ask him nicely. Pay him a visit anyway. He's got some interesting and in depth posts on all things hip hop. Worth a few minutes of anyone's time.

Link

Insane Macbeth feat. The Legendary Icepick - True Heart

The early or electro years will always be my own personal golden years if you like but I did evolve with the scene up to a certain point and in particular got hooked on the UK style. Not just because I'm a native Brit but I think the US were releasing anything and everything regardless of the quality but before I get myself into a hole it was probably applied to both camps. I think 'Hold No Hostage' by Hijack was the turning point for me and the whole 'Britcore' thing followed. One of the records I can remember buying (from Warp Records, Division Street, Sheffield) is Kinetic Effect's 'Borderin' Insanity' on green wax and a photo of Insane Macbeth on the back wearing big boots and holding a meat cleaver in his hand. This might have been indicative of what kind of music was contained in the package so I bought it without spinning it first and wasn't disappointed. I don't have that one anymore (was made an offer I couldn't refuse) but I do have this. The Icepick is very well known among UK heads and made some excellent records over the years and this 12" stand with them as an example, if you needed one, of the UK sound at it's very best. The relentless, sledgehammer-like beats created by Insane Macbeth carry the early UK style in to the 21st century and he even plays live piano along with bass by legendary engineer 'No-Sleep Nigel'. If you're in to the UK scene and haven't heard this you can check it out here and there are still some available via the man himself. Contact him at insanerecordings@aol.com and if you're lucky you might still have a chance of a red vinyl copy like mine here. Also there are still some copies of the very dope limited Kinetic Effect 10" clear vinyl single 'A Physical Excorcise' with dope beats by Insane Macbeth that was released earlier this year which is well worth the money. Both records come with excellent packaging, full colour glossy pics on 'True Heart' too. Proof that hip hop is not quite dead just yet.

The Rapologists - The Hip Hop Beat

I don't know about you but I thought the Streetsounds UK Electro LP was pretty dire. I only bought it to complete the collection but rarely played it all except for this track. I eventually got this copy from good ol' Beat Street records in the late eighties. I must admit it does sound a little dated and there's not a lot of expression, if you like, in the way the lyrics are delivered but it's still a decent 12". The UK scene was still in it's infancy in '84 and I would say it went on to much greater things, particularly in the '88-'92 period. I don't think this is any different to the UK issue on Billy Boy but please feel free to let me know if you own a copy.

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Hardrock Soul Movement - Double Def Fresh (Get Stupid Fresh Remix)

This is my personal fave of all Hardrock's releases, ('Elaweaser' being my least favourite; what the hell was that?). Nothing much more to add really except Max and Dave were the first UK hip hoppers who truly made some stompin' drum machine driven electro tunes in the early to mid eighties and if you've not heard this for a while the progressive intro complete with Monty Python scratch will make your Christmas. No, it really will. I've had it on heavy rotation since re-ripping it and it really bangs and also triggers memories of the time which a lot of this old wax does, for me anyway. The title alone says 1986 is the years we had some great slang that not many folk understood and once again I think we should bring some of these back 'cos some of the new ones are shite and my mom uses some of 'em. Anyway, have a good Christmas and I have something I think is quite special for the new year which I'll try and get up here by the 31st December.

Get Stupid

Junior Gee - Caveman Rock

I probably mentioned elsewhere on this blog to not really knowing about the existence of rap music until 1983 when this record was released and even then it was just the b-boying thing; the undying interest in the music didn't come until the year after. I bought this only last year for a fiver and it's fine example of the influences US hip hop music was having on us lot on this side of 'the pond'. It's a long 'un too clocking in at just under 11 minutes for the vocal track which is really just vocal and instrumental tracks joined together to make one long disco party cut with a proper instrumental on the flip credited to the Funk Masters whoever they are. I remember seeing him performing live on the Electro Rock video and as far as I'm aware the only other record JG went on to record was 'The Terminator' in 1987 which is alright. I've got a copy. And a copy of the remix too.

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Duke - Recorded Delivery-The Royal Male EP

Decent effort by one of the UK's most well known MCs after he dropped the 'MC' of course.

1. The Dog Catcher
2. I'm Comin'
3. Night Train

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Def Tex - Herbs & Verbs

'Tales Of What Daddy Did' was always a fave of mine although the subject matter is not, I guess you could say, anything to like. I don't know if all these came with the lyric sheet to said track but mine did.

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Def Tex - Tutorial Sessions

Superb first installment of the instrumental mini LP series from UK undergrounders Def Tex. I have all three but this is the most scarce and the best I think. Yeah, it is..

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First Frontal Assault - Atomic Air Raid

This is the second release by the lads from the West Midlands and is my personal favourite. Staying true to form there're three variations of the same track again but I feel this record just pips the one below for hardcoreness, (if that is a word). You can't deny that the break from 'Amen Brother' and a few sirens will make your Easter day just that little bit more special.

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First Frontal Assault - Bloodfire Assault

I think these guys, like many UK artists went under the radar somewhat and I also feel that if they weren't signed to this label maybe their records would be sought after more considering that they were recorded almost 20 years ago. There're three variations of the same track on here and all are presented in the firin' 'britcore' (I hate that word) style.

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