Category: Reviews
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Game – The R.E.D. Album | Album Review
Argue all you want as to who’s the current leader of the New West revolution but at one stage (and maybe even today) Jayceon Taylor, better known as Game, hands down was the frontrunner for this crown. Possessing the lyricism of which even had die hard East Coast affiliates had to approve, Chuck Taylor’s mix…
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Wretch 32 – Black and White | Album Review
Of all the proposed jumps from grimy street rhymer to polished, radio friendly ‘superstar’, the expected transformation of Jermaine Scott better known as Wretch 32 was always going to be intriguing. For the north London rapper’s immense lyrical performances and fondness for conceptual material seems vacant within many of the successful acts from the urban…
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Black Rob – Game Tested, Streets Approved | Album Review
Let’s be honest for a moment, shall we? When Black Rob was sent to prison after a grand larceny charge a few years ago, it seemed like his career was over. Even with a certified platinum debut and a criminally slept on follow-up in his catalogue, we thought Rob had become just another tragic example…
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Don Trip x Starlito – Stepbrothers | Mixtape Review
When video of a frustrated, unknown father recording a deep and highly emotional track titled “Letter To My Son” hit YouTube about two years ago, it quickly went viral and had many in the Hip Hop community clamoring to know more about the MC with the passionate bars soaked in a syrup-thick southern drawl. Today,…
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Les Nubians – Nü Revolution | Album Review
Soul Train winning French Hip Hop/R&B duo Les Nubian – made up of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart – who brought us such hits as “Makeda” and the Grammy Award nominated “Je Veux D’la Musique” in the late ’90s and early 2000’s, return in 2011 after an almost eight-year hiatus with their third studio album.…
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Ski Beatz – 24 Hour Karate School, Part 2 | Album Review
It may be the summer holidays for many youngsters but class is once again in session thanks to the Hip Hop sensei Ski Beatz. Last summer, the seasoned producer rounded up a group of dope spitters and charismatic rhymers to cause havoc in the classroom in which he called the 24 Hour Karate School, an…
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Roy Ayers @ Jazz Cafe, London | Gig Review
On my way into the Jazz Café on July 22, a sign in the window possesses some unwelcome news; “Due to medicals reasons, Pete Rock will not be able to perform tonight.” After the initial disappointment wears off, the fact is if it were Ayers who had pulled out the gig would probably have been…
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I’ll Be Your Mirror: Portishead, DOOM, Company Flow at Alexandra Palace, London | Live Review
En route to an unlikely music venue in the middle of nowhere that is Alexandra Palace for the I’ll Be Your Mirror event (July 23), the sad news of Amy Whitehouse’ untimely passing has filtered out through the grapevine. Rather than dampen the event it only adds to the magnitude of witnessing the elusive and…
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Jay-Z x Kanye West – Watch The Throne | Album Review
If the thought alone sounded like a dream, the realisation of the finished product has created a euphoric, fantasy like feeling. The music world – for the first time in some years – stood waiting for with baited breath for the release of an empirical album which has avoided the now accustomed ‘week early leak.’…