A reference point for many emerging emcees as well as many connoisseurs within the fourth estate, the UKs Rodney 'Roots Manuva' Smith shows no sign of retiring to the background to merely live off the compliments and reminisce on the good old days. Ever recording and performing, the veteran lyricist’s abstract way with words and his slumber-esque flow have mesmerised (and baffled) the public for over a decade, bridging the gaps between Hip Hop, Ska and Reggae. Having seen the days of Jungle, Garage and Trip Hop pass by, 4everevolution, Roots' eighth studio album aims to show that it can still stand out from the dominant sounds of the younger, shinier urban superstars flooding the charts.
Five years on from the release of his debut album Deh Pon Road, South London hailing emcee Genesis Elijah spoke to SoulCulture shortly before the recent release of his sophomore album Before I Was Famous - a collaborative project with Krate Krusaders - to talk about the impact of growing up in Brixton, celebrating the musical talents of others, being inspired by Stevie Wonder and his favourite classic UK Hip Hop albums.
After performing at The Roundhouse in London on the 17th of this month, Talib Kweli invited SoulCulture down to the studio the next day, where he was joined by Akon affiliated UK emcee Sway to record a song together.
He later refers to other homegrown talents Kano, Estelle, Ty, Roots Manuva and Blak Twang as some of his favourite local artists, but refers to an overall sense of the UK scene as being "real goonish right now," judging from what he's seen online.
"Goonish rap for the sake of being goonish, it comes off real cartoon-ish..." he states. "I saw some stuff that just came across as, like, 'You don't even have to try that hard, dude'," recalling a time S.A.S "ran up on" him outside the BBC in the past.
In-between recording and shooting a music video in London, Kweli spoke to SoulCulture TV about his displeasure at the gig of the night before, his experiences of the UK's Capital and why he chose to shoot a video here for a song from his new album, Gutter Rainbows.
He also discusses how he perceives his growth across albums and another album he is also working on titled Prisoners Of Conscious, describing the forthcoming Gutter Rainbows project as "like the early outtakes of Prisoners Of Conscious, but embellished upon."
He names some of his favourite self-penned verses as
South London’s Speech Debelle snuck in the back door this year with alternative Hip Hop album Speech Therapy. This time last year, many of us had never heard of her. Then in September, having developing a media buzz surrounding the album’s June 1st release on Big Dada (British home to Hip Hop from the likes of Roots Manuva and Ty), the 26-year old proudly won the Mercury Prize 2009 awarded to the year’s ‘best British album’ for her unique blend of jazzy, soulful Hip Hop.
Admittedly, I’m not too satisfied with that genre description either – but this difficulty in placing Debelle is probably what attracted the Mercury Prize judges in the first place.
A reference point for many emerging emcees as well as many connoisseurs within the fourth estate, the UKs Rodney 'Roots Manuva' Smith shows no sign of retiring to the background to merely live off the compliments and reminisce on the good old days. Ever recording and performing, the veteran lyricist’s abstract way with words and his slumber-esque flow have mesmerised (and baffled) the public for over a decade, bridging the gaps between Hip Hop, Ska and Reggae. Having seen the days of Jungle, Garage and Trip Hop pass by, 4everevolution, Roots' eighth studio album aims to show that it can still stand out from the dominant sounds of the younger, shinier urban superstars flooding the charts.
Five years on from the release of his debut album Deh Pon Road, South London hailing emcee 
After performing at The Roundhouse in London on the 17th of this month, 
South London’s Speech Debelle snuck in the back door this year with alternative Hip Hop album Speech Therapy. This time last year, many of us had never heard of her. Then in September, having developing a media buzz surrounding the album’s June 1st release on Big Dada (British home to Hip Hop from the likes of Roots Manuva and Ty), the 26-year old proudly won the Mercury Prize 2009 awarded to the year’s ‘best British album’ for her unique blend of jazzy, soulful Hip Hop.
Admittedly, I’m not too satisfied with that genre description either – but this difficulty in placing Debelle is probably what attracted the Mercury Prize judges in the first place.