This double disc compilation is a truly international project featuring various artists working under the ‘37th State’ appellation. With the likes of Tony Allen, Dele Sosimi, Slum Village, Terri Walker and Keziah Jones on board, the listener travels sonically from Africa to the US stopping off frequently in the UK.
Judging from the colourful illustrations of an airport-based party depicted in the artwork, this intercontinental flavour was always the intention. It’s good to see acclaimed non-mainstream UK wordsmith’s such as Ty, Breis and Lyric L getting a look-in too.
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
Ty Chijioke has surpassed the simple moniker of UK rapper to achieve the tag of critically acclaimed musician. Whilst some may claim to belong to that same category, when comparing their catalog of albums to TY’s eclectic, live orchestrated projects, mass differences are evident. This is because TY is a special kind of emcee – an artist who pushes the boundaries as to how far his idiosyncratic view on Hip Hop will take him. But things have changed four years after the release of his last album Closer. Not only in terms of the current musical output but in the fact that the artist had been diagnosed with diabetes. But TY has always been one to overcome any obstacle and Special Kind of Fool brings forth an artist on his forth album, ready to once again raise the bar for good music.
There are lovers of music and there are lovers of music. There are those who harbour a healthy interest and others who embody music as an entity, oozing its essence from every pore. I suspectMichael Olatujabelongs to the latter group. One only has to observe the way he is completely at one with his bass guitar and the rapturous expression on his face as he plays. This was my conclusion after attending Michael’s album launch gig at the Jazz Café last night. Supported by Brendan Guyatt, Anna Omak and Alicia his wife on vocals, as well as young veteran Troy Miller on drums, David and Oliver Rockberger on guitar and piano respectively, Olatuja came prepared to bring the goods.
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.
This double disc compilation is a truly international project featuring various artists working under the ‘37th State’ appellation. With the likes of Tony Allen, Dele Sosimi, Slum Village, Terri Walker and Keziah Jones on board, the listener travels sonically from Africa to the US stopping off frequently in the UK.
Judging from the colourful illustrations of an airport-based party depicted in the artwork, this intercontinental flavour was always the intention. It’s good to see acclaimed non-mainstream UK wordsmith’s such as Ty, Breis and Lyric L getting a look-in too.
After performing at The Roundhouse in London on the 17th of this month, 
There are lovers of music and there are lovers of music. There are those who harbour a healthy interest and others who embody music as an entity, oozing its essence from every pore. I suspect 
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.