Wastemanager
Manager who makes things worse
Academics
Seldom seen rocking Akademiks
Gashgrime
Terror's r&g direction. For the laydeez...
Muckle!
Confused cry of middle-class Jammer-fan
Mime artist
MC who thinks he's an "artist" but is saying nothing
Sekkle cell anemia
Relaxed condition due to blood haemorrhage caused by shots to the dome
DVDVD
Disease caught from sket/wasteman easy enough to fall for the "I've got Lord of the Decks back at mine..." line
Ruff Squid
Bad choice in restaurant
The Gulf War
Only known case of a war in east not won by Riko
Air Canada
If you're not from east you get air!
Air France
France gets air too!
Finnair
I dont even know where Finland is bruv
Ryanair
Who's Ryan?
easySket
See "DVDVD"
can anyone think of any more?
Thursday, April 28, 2005
guns or gyals?
Interesting to see how Cameo’s now totally segregating his show into grime and what he calls "r’n’g’ aka "rhythm and grime" sections. Perhaps it was inevitable: if grime’s the UK’s hip hop, then this is our r’n’b.
Suddenly MCs – the artists, the focus, the creators of the grime movement – are sidelined to 16 bar guest spots, just like in US r&b. Gone is the remarkable dissonance and groundbreaking gnarly sounds developed in grime, gone is the MC's lyrical urban warning, in come warm sounds underpinned by a soft flutter of bass.
It makes me wonder: what's the point?
One point that could justifiably argued is that it’s an anti-beef tactic. Terror, one of the pioneers of the r’n’g flavour, talked to me about this exactly a year ago. When mandem in raves are focused on the gyals, they’re not up for shanking. By making gyalgrime they can fill the clubs without clashing or beef.
On that level it’s hard to argue against: I’ve felt for a while violence at the wrong (ie non-road) club could kill the scene dead. It would be Romeo’s Birthday Bash (at Astoria, circa 2001) all over again, with media idiots saying "garage causes violence" and racist tabloid headlines about "yardies."
But musically it reminds me of that 2000-2001 2step era, but without the swing or the energy and with extra Kanye-vox samples. With a few exceptions, (Kele Le Roc "Frontline" or Terror’s "Life") it kinda leaves me cold.
But I’ve never been one for gyal tunes. Lots of other people are though, so once there’s girly vocals there’ll be fake A&Rs rushing in, money being flashed, stale commercial releases being flogged as "endz anthems" – 90%s of which will flop – and the underground talent will get rinsed or ignored. Please let me be wrong.
So can there be a positive direction for the future of grime without losing the exciting danger-energy, descending into gun battles or dripping into wet US r&b parody? Maybe the hint in is the new JME dub that follows Cameo’s r&g set.
"I watch the news all the time ... I get cold shivers when I see the headlines ... because the lives being lost are similar to mine ... gun crime is on the rise…the only thing more on the rise is of gun lyrics from MC guys ... don’t. chat. crap. please! ... if you can’t make sense, don’t MC! ... there’s too much negativity in our scene."
If J. "BEAT YOU UP" M.E can chat sense, maybe others will follow.
The tracklisting from the first half of the show...
Cameo Pirate Sessions 24/04/05
R&G
Ghetto Cayote ft KT Pearl - Cameo Dub (White)
P Jam ft Guyver & Steelo - Freek In Me (Dub)
J Sweet ft L Man & Aaron Soul - Oh No! (Swingbeat)
Soundboy - Never Wanna Say (White)
Juvenile ft Gemma Fox - Boxes (White)
Bashy ft KT Pearl - Prying (Dub)
Dexplicit ft Nana, Babyblue & Fumin - One Night Stand ( White)
Magnum Force ft Minaz & Triple Threat - What Good Is Love (Dub)
DJ Target - Movin Remix (Dub)
Bashy Girls ft Doctor - Are U Ready (Sticky remix)(Dub)
Vandal - Just Me & You (White)
Delinquent ft Shad - Ghetto Queen (Juvenile Remix)(White)
GRIME
Jammer - Semtex (Dub)
PJam ft Guyver, Nasty, Flirta D & Frisco - Compass (Dub)
N Double A - Monster Riddim (Dub)
Roll Deep - The Avenue Remix (Dub)
JME - Don't Chat (Dub)
Jigga Lo - Hands In The Air (Dub)
Kano - My Chick II (Dub)
DPM ft Doctor - Wicked & Bad (Dub)
LMan - L. Man (Dub)
D Producer ft Rugrat & Dizman - Endz Part II (Dub)
Nolay & NJ Fever - Off/On (Dub)
Skepta - Dancefloor (Masterbeats)
Suddenly MCs – the artists, the focus, the creators of the grime movement – are sidelined to 16 bar guest spots, just like in US r&b. Gone is the remarkable dissonance and groundbreaking gnarly sounds developed in grime, gone is the MC's lyrical urban warning, in come warm sounds underpinned by a soft flutter of bass.
It makes me wonder: what's the point?
One point that could justifiably argued is that it’s an anti-beef tactic. Terror, one of the pioneers of the r’n’g flavour, talked to me about this exactly a year ago. When mandem in raves are focused on the gyals, they’re not up for shanking. By making gyalgrime they can fill the clubs without clashing or beef.
On that level it’s hard to argue against: I’ve felt for a while violence at the wrong (ie non-road) club could kill the scene dead. It would be Romeo’s Birthday Bash (at Astoria, circa 2001) all over again, with media idiots saying "garage causes violence" and racist tabloid headlines about "yardies."
But musically it reminds me of that 2000-2001 2step era, but without the swing or the energy and with extra Kanye-vox samples. With a few exceptions, (Kele Le Roc "Frontline" or Terror’s "Life") it kinda leaves me cold.
But I’ve never been one for gyal tunes. Lots of other people are though, so once there’s girly vocals there’ll be fake A&Rs rushing in, money being flashed, stale commercial releases being flogged as "endz anthems" – 90%s of which will flop – and the underground talent will get rinsed or ignored. Please let me be wrong.
So can there be a positive direction for the future of grime without losing the exciting danger-energy, descending into gun battles or dripping into wet US r&b parody? Maybe the hint in is the new JME dub that follows Cameo’s r&g set.
"I watch the news all the time ... I get cold shivers when I see the headlines ... because the lives being lost are similar to mine ... gun crime is on the rise…the only thing more on the rise is of gun lyrics from MC guys ... don’t. chat. crap. please! ... if you can’t make sense, don’t MC! ... there’s too much negativity in our scene."
If J. "BEAT YOU UP" M.E can chat sense, maybe others will follow.
The tracklisting from the first half of the show...
Cameo Pirate Sessions 24/04/05
R&G
Ghetto Cayote ft KT Pearl - Cameo Dub (White)
P Jam ft Guyver & Steelo - Freek In Me (Dub)
J Sweet ft L Man & Aaron Soul - Oh No! (Swingbeat)
Soundboy - Never Wanna Say (White)
Juvenile ft Gemma Fox - Boxes (White)
Bashy ft KT Pearl - Prying (Dub)
Dexplicit ft Nana, Babyblue & Fumin - One Night Stand ( White)
Magnum Force ft Minaz & Triple Threat - What Good Is Love (Dub)
DJ Target - Movin Remix (Dub)
Bashy Girls ft Doctor - Are U Ready (Sticky remix)(Dub)
Vandal - Just Me & You (White)
Delinquent ft Shad - Ghetto Queen (Juvenile Remix)(White)
GRIME
Jammer - Semtex (Dub)
PJam ft Guyver, Nasty, Flirta D & Frisco - Compass (Dub)
N Double A - Monster Riddim (Dub)
Roll Deep - The Avenue Remix (Dub)
JME - Don't Chat (Dub)
Jigga Lo - Hands In The Air (Dub)
Kano - My Chick II (Dub)
DPM ft Doctor - Wicked & Bad (Dub)
LMan - L. Man (Dub)
D Producer ft Rugrat & Dizman - Endz Part II (Dub)
Nolay & NJ Fever - Off/On (Dub)
Skepta - Dancefloor (Masterbeats)
Monday, April 25, 2005
next level monday
Rocking my Monday morning...
Logan’s last Rinse show is heavy. Does he really have his own Vibez Kartel special? And were Jammer, JME, Skepta, Manga, Tinchy, Rapid, A+, Trim, Scratchy, Riko, Wiley, Bruza, Maxwell D, B Live, Flowdan and more all in the building? Also can someone name me the Wiley riddim at 30mins? A fave at the moment.
Also on Rinse, there’s the Youngsta v D1 session from last week here, though I’ve not checked it personally.
Amerie’s funktastic "1 Thing". Summer classic in the making.
But making life worth living is Sizzla’s "Be Strong" (Don Corleon). Is Drop Leaf Riddim really the biggest vocal dancehall riddim of all time? Certainly rocking my world right this sec. Lushness.
Logan’s last Rinse show is heavy. Does he really have his own Vibez Kartel special? And were Jammer, JME, Skepta, Manga, Tinchy, Rapid, A+, Trim, Scratchy, Riko, Wiley, Bruza, Maxwell D, B Live, Flowdan and more all in the building? Also can someone name me the Wiley riddim at 30mins? A fave at the moment.
Also on Rinse, there’s the Youngsta v D1 session from last week here, though I’ve not checked it personally.
Amerie’s funktastic "1 Thing". Summer classic in the making.
But making life worth living is Sizzla’s "Be Strong" (Don Corleon). Is Drop Leaf Riddim really the biggest vocal dancehall riddim of all time? Certainly rocking my world right this sec. Lushness.
Friday, April 22, 2005
ohgosh
I’ve seen some unlikely things at Forward>> over the years. But never did I expect last night’s session.
Never did I expect to see Jammer shocking out to DMZ’s set, flashing his lighter, nor slamming his hand on some future-Augustus Pablo-style dubplate by Mala and licking it back, dreads flailing.
Never did I expect to hear Skepta MCing over a DMZ riddim. Nor seeing Fiddy skanking to Mala’s "Neverland."
Never did I anticipate seeing the whole of Roll Deep bouncing to Skreamz’ Late Night Request Line, nor having the chance to turn to Wiley and say "oi do you know Skreamz? He made this tune." Shaking hands with Skreamz, I never expected Wiley to say "yeah yeah this tune’s big."
Speaking of Wiley, I never expected to see him DJ at Forward>>. Yes DJ, with God’s Gift tweaking the faders and JME, Skepta and Jammer pon the mic.
I never expected to see Mala explaining what faders did what to Wiley in the same DJ booth.
But I did.
Certain Forward>>s – by audience – had got a bit overly, well, Rephlex of late. It’s always amazing to see some balance, with the east mandem inside. Because that’s when FWD>>s at its strongest: when it’s LDN’s sonic crossroads.
PS: If you don't believe me check out George South Drumz' shots including a wicked one of Fiddy flashing da lighta, Mala and Wiley in the same booth, Gift looking serious! and me with, erm, a glowing forehead.
Never did I expect to see Jammer shocking out to DMZ’s set, flashing his lighter, nor slamming his hand on some future-Augustus Pablo-style dubplate by Mala and licking it back, dreads flailing.
Never did I expect to hear Skepta MCing over a DMZ riddim. Nor seeing Fiddy skanking to Mala’s "Neverland."
Never did I anticipate seeing the whole of Roll Deep bouncing to Skreamz’ Late Night Request Line, nor having the chance to turn to Wiley and say "oi do you know Skreamz? He made this tune." Shaking hands with Skreamz, I never expected Wiley to say "yeah yeah this tune’s big."
Speaking of Wiley, I never expected to see him DJ at Forward>>. Yes DJ, with God’s Gift tweaking the faders and JME, Skepta and Jammer pon the mic.
I never expected to see Mala explaining what faders did what to Wiley in the same DJ booth.
But I did.
Certain Forward>>s – by audience – had got a bit overly, well, Rephlex of late. It’s always amazing to see some balance, with the east mandem inside. Because that’s when FWD>>s at its strongest: when it’s LDN’s sonic crossroads.
PS: If you don't believe me check out George South Drumz' shots including a wicked one of Fiddy flashing da lighta, Mala and Wiley in the same booth, Gift looking serious! and me with, erm, a glowing forehead.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
power hours
some fresh audio from Rinse FM.
braps to Adruu from the Dubplate.net forum for passing these my way.
if you have any heavy grime or dubstep audio that needs hosting just email me.
Youngsta and Task on Rinse [58Mb]
Kode 9 on Rinse [28Mb]
not forgetting Logan's show from earlier in the year.
braps to Adruu from the Dubplate.net forum for passing these my way.
if you have any heavy grime or dubstep audio that needs hosting just email me.
Youngsta and Task on Rinse [58Mb]
Kode 9 on Rinse [28Mb]
not forgetting Logan's show from earlier in the year.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Belief
Every now and then I find myself walking alone through dark London streets very late at night, thinking "what the hell am I doing here?" Not last night.
Not that I wasn't walking alone through deserted streets, quite the opposite. After a long journey, I walked for over half an hour through some estates and dimly lit streets I'd never wandered through before. At one point two lads came past, one holding a golf club. As you do, at 1am on a Sunday night/Monday morning.
No, what was different this time was: I didn't question what I was doing there.
There's been a few double-nightbus journeys back from Croydon when I've really asked that question, especially in bits of sarf I didn’t previously know existed. Once running through Maida Vale (more gangsta than its name suggests, in certain parts) at 2am I asked it repeatedly. Though it doesn't always happen, that at evening I quickly found the answer, after locating Loefah, Kode 9 and Digital Mystikz inside the Radio 1 John Peel tribute broadcast. I especially didn't ask it once I’d got a taxi home from Maida Vale studios, when my driver turned out to have fled Afghanistan during the Taliban.
"Everything you saw on television… " he'd said, " it was ten times worse living there." He described his exit route, being smuggled out through Pakistan. I wondered at the fusion that is London as blurred night lights passed in front of the windscreen and thought quiet, grateful thoughts about living in a country that allows women, children and men under 50 out after sundown.
But not once last night, even in the middle of sprawling London at 1am with work beckoning in seven hours, did I question what I was doing. The purpose, the buzz, the emotive raison d'être was completely self evident, coursing through my veins.
After years of listening to Rinse FM, of hearing the Roll Deep show, Dizzee, Wiley, Trim, Riko, Wonder, Target, D Double, Slimzee, Kode 9, Hatcha and Crazy D, Beezy, Youngsta, I'd finally been "inside." Equally special was that I'd been there to facilitate the visit of Mr Blissblogger to the mighty Rinse.
We cotched in the back of Tubby's Braindead show, as D Double spat solo, shadows bouncing off the walls. Then slowly Roll Deep began to trickle in. Maximum was first. Then came Trim, Skepta, Syre B and Carnage, full of news from the Sidewinder the night before. "I thought I was going to get shanked last night…" joked Trim to D Double during the ads. But more suprisingly he added "… that was the first time I'd thought that."
As the show began we slipped in the back. Trim did some warming. Skepta spat that lyric. Then Wiley stepped inside and the temperature rose.
By the time I found myself at 1am wandering the streets Roll Deep had long since headed off to their next gig. Simon had stayed for Ruff Sqwad. I was alone again. But not once did I ask myself "what the hell am I doing here?" I knew.
Not that I wasn't walking alone through deserted streets, quite the opposite. After a long journey, I walked for over half an hour through some estates and dimly lit streets I'd never wandered through before. At one point two lads came past, one holding a golf club. As you do, at 1am on a Sunday night/Monday morning.
No, what was different this time was: I didn't question what I was doing there.
There's been a few double-nightbus journeys back from Croydon when I've really asked that question, especially in bits of sarf I didn’t previously know existed. Once running through Maida Vale (more gangsta than its name suggests, in certain parts) at 2am I asked it repeatedly. Though it doesn't always happen, that at evening I quickly found the answer, after locating Loefah, Kode 9 and Digital Mystikz inside the Radio 1 John Peel tribute broadcast. I especially didn't ask it once I’d got a taxi home from Maida Vale studios, when my driver turned out to have fled Afghanistan during the Taliban.
"Everything you saw on television… " he'd said, " it was ten times worse living there." He described his exit route, being smuggled out through Pakistan. I wondered at the fusion that is London as blurred night lights passed in front of the windscreen and thought quiet, grateful thoughts about living in a country that allows women, children and men under 50 out after sundown.
But not once last night, even in the middle of sprawling London at 1am with work beckoning in seven hours, did I question what I was doing. The purpose, the buzz, the emotive raison d'être was completely self evident, coursing through my veins.
After years of listening to Rinse FM, of hearing the Roll Deep show, Dizzee, Wiley, Trim, Riko, Wonder, Target, D Double, Slimzee, Kode 9, Hatcha and Crazy D, Beezy, Youngsta, I'd finally been "inside." Equally special was that I'd been there to facilitate the visit of Mr Blissblogger to the mighty Rinse.
We cotched in the back of Tubby's Braindead show, as D Double spat solo, shadows bouncing off the walls. Then slowly Roll Deep began to trickle in. Maximum was first. Then came Trim, Skepta, Syre B and Carnage, full of news from the Sidewinder the night before. "I thought I was going to get shanked last night…" joked Trim to D Double during the ads. But more suprisingly he added "… that was the first time I'd thought that."
As the show began we slipped in the back. Trim did some warming. Skepta spat that lyric. Then Wiley stepped inside and the temperature rose.
By the time I found myself at 1am wandering the streets Roll Deep had long since headed off to their next gig. Simon had stayed for Ruff Sqwad. I was alone again. But not once did I ask myself "what the hell am I doing here?" I knew.