Category: Reviews
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Estate Walls by Arinze Kene | London Theatre Review
All right, so let me get a little confession out of the way. A bit of me groaned inwardly when I heard that the Oval House Theatre was staging Estate Walls. ‘Yet another dramatic piece about disadvantaged youth set in inner city London?’ I wondered. We’d heard and seen it all before… or so I…
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Estate Walls by Arinze Kene | London Theatre Review
All right, so let me get a little confession out of the way. A bit of me groaned inwardly when I heard that the Oval House Theatre was staging Estate Walls. ‘Yet another dramatic piece about disadvantaged youth set in inner city London?’ I wondered. We’d heard and seen it all before… or so I…
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Black Milk – Album Of The Year | Album Review
There never seemed to be a doubt as to the intentions or expectations of Black Milk’s latest creation once the title was released. Accompanied by the frosty sirens and granite-covered drums of speculative single “How Dare You” weeks before the album was unleashed, Milk was prepared for naysayers and directed a pre-emptive strike with the…
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Ski Beatz – 24 Hour Karate School | Album Review
Whilst many Hip Hoppers around the world still fawn over the magical period of the ’90s and events and radio stations regularly continue to blare out the decade’s most awe-inspiring music, Ski Beatz – acclaimed producer and a major influence in defining the sounds of the ’90s – brings forth an updated version of that…
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Aloe Blacc – Good Things | Album Review
Whilst the bridge between Hip Hop and Soul music has mainly been associated with the samples used/stolen by Diddy in the ’90s [and in recent times, Kanye West], a select few artists rather choose to incorporate the two genres rather than taking snippets from one to expand on the other. Stones Throw artist Aloe Blacc…
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Mystro – Digmund Freud EP | Review
Releases from the UK Hip Hop movement this year have (for the most part) been heralded for remaining firm in the past aesthetics of what the genre has stood for, delivering rough, provocative rhymes and beats that can rock any Hip Hop night in the West End. Next up to rep for Team UK Hip…
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E Reece – Concrete Steppin | Album Review
Hip Hop from the West has undergone much repackaging since the mid ’90s. Now when rap comes from the sunnier sides of the US, it usually comes in the more conscious, uplifting format from the gangbangin’ early days. Fashawn, Blu, U-N-I and Little Brother have all contributed to the new movement and now Los Angeles’…
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Canibus – C Of Tranquility | Album Review
Whenever discussing Canibus (the rapper of course), the opinions are polarised into two categories; the first one often recited is, “he weren’t meant to go commercial, he’s too intelligent for the mainstream,” and the second is, “he flopped and tried to blame everyone else for his failings.” These offerings refer to the period in the…
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Big Sean – Finally Famous Vol. 3: B.I.G | Mixtape Review
It’s been evident that good music usually crops up around that late summer/early autumn season. This makes it the ideal period for Kanye West’s protégé Big Sean to be the first out of the block with his third mixtape installment of Finally Famous hosted by DJ Don Cannon. Detroit’s XXL Freshman grad has put in…
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Bruno Mars In London’s YoYo | Gig Review
On Thursday night Bruno Mars was the latest emerging talent to grace the infamous stage at west London’s weekly hip-spot, YoYo (in the Notting Hill Arts Club). Like any YoYo night, the small basement club was packed beyond capacity with fans, industry heads and London’s contrived ‘cool kids’. Following an energetic performance from Mike Posner,…