Thursday, June 10, 2004

There seems to be a gamut of quality grimey releases this summer, and any predicted slow down is just uninformed, pessimistic conjecture. However, it seems the beautiful vulnerability of tracks such as 'Birds In The Sky', 'This Ain't A Game', 'Do It' etc seems to be completely missing - having been replaced by either ever more complex boasts of superiority, or narcotically infectious enthusiasm (Ruff Sqwad's output absloutely exemplifying the latter category, individual post on them later).
But in particular, these few bits clouted me with a baseball bat all at once today, so...

P Jam feat. D Double E - Anger Managment - "OOOOAHHHH oooooahhhh". Can you get enough of that sound? It STILL gives me the goosepimples, and makes me feel very embarassed imitating it when I think nobody's around. The former N.A.S.T.Y MC has teamed up with PJam, a producer from North London (associated with T.M.T Crew I think) who will certainly be next one to blow - having already made an anthem with the track "Real".
Big E D Demon & Bruza - The Rush - This one is huge. It features an immense guitar riff nicked from ? by ? which slots perfectly into Big E D's half-step beats. Unrelentingly brutality, complemented perfectly by Demon and Bruza, two of the most grizzly MCs on the scene. Demon's high pitched screaming flow combined with the East End barrow-boy growl of Bruza, 'GET MEGHHHHHHHH!".
Dizzee Rascal - Everywhere - Oh dear. I love this. Unrelentingly. Riddim paced at a HipHop tempo, but keeps a dirty, abstract sublow feel. The kick-drum/bass-line relationship turns my neck to jelly, real fucking jeep-bumpin' biznazz.
Dizzee Rascal feat. D Double E - Give You More - Raskit finally spits over one of his best riddims, otherwise known as 'Wheel' which has been battered like a haddock on pirate sets for at least nine-months.
DJ Wonder feat. Dizzee Rascal - Respect Me - Another old riddim, this time Wonder's 'What', which is still an absolute anthem, and was THE track every MC wanted his 32 bars on. Fortunately for Rascal he gets to have it on his LP. The end of this track contains has a wonderful little nugget: "You people are gonna respect me if it kills you. Yeah I know what you're thinking 'He's gone to far now' innit... If I don't speak who's gonna speak for me? Stand up for myself in this shit... unapolagetic." Damn right. This verse does kill me: "...and I show, arrogance and elegance but no, tolerance for nonsense I bring, violence I'm a nuisance, kill a MC leave no evidence I've got, brains and intelligence but no, conscience no innocence we roll, in the dark and silence, we're presidents in any residence".
Da'Vinche feat. Essentials - Jenny - Some corners have been bemoaning the lack of sexiness and panache in garage productions of late. If anyone's records contradict this it has to be Da'Vinche's, whose riddims are always full of poise and wonderfully glistening melodies - but still retaining the lower-frequency bombast essential for MC merkage. This track features the crew he works with mostly, Essentials, from New Cross in South London. This is, predictably, a tale about Jenny, who is rather well known around town, for maybe the wrong reasons.

posted by Lee Manikk @ 01:13