Blades (of Hades) - Shadow Art (Steal City Records - 2008)

It doesn't happen to me that often in the modern hip hop era but there are still rare occassions when a new group comes along that blows me away in ways that used to happen when I first heard a lot of artists during the golden era days. Blades (AKA Blades of Hades) from right here in Australia (Newcastle to be precise) are one such group that totally hooked me on first listen in that same way and upon hearing their third and newest album, "Shadow Art", I'm happy to say I'm still just as impressed.

What I like most about these guys (and girl) ie. MC's Kid Lyrical, Wizardry, Dusk (the girl) and DJ Skoob is that they are one of the very few groups in Australia these days that have a feel of our beloved britcore to their sound. Not to say that every song of theirs can be labelled as having that old UK flavour, as they do offer a bit of variation in their styles, but each album has at least 3 or 4 tracks that sit right in the pocket of the aforementioned style, or at least as close as you'll get to it from an Aussie crew post year 2000. It's apparent in some of the beats and the feel of the music but even more so in the way Kid Lyrical and Wizardry deliver their rhymes ie. they are relentless, full of high energy, rapid flowing and would leave most other MC's breathless trying to keep up. Admittedly they sound pretty similar to each other when they are going hell for leather pace but I'd be happy to hear 20 MC's all sounding like that as it's a great way to sound.

Britcore or not, their music is very raw, hard and stripped back, to the point of being pretty simplistic at times perhaps, which however is not in any way a detriment. On the contrary, it's what endears me most to their music. Take the opening track "Cannibalistic Act" for example. The soundtrack is really nothing much more than a mid tempo, almost live sounding, very heavy drum break with equally heavy metal guitar chords on top of it throughout the song. Add to it a bit of DJ work and a changeup in the middle of the track where the guitars are "turned off" whilst female MC, Dusk, drops her verse and that's about the extent of complexity to the song. Guess what though - this is one of my favourite tracks on the album and I love it because it's hard as fuck and raw and Kid Lyrical and Wizardry are ripping the mics with absolute power, force and energy. This is not sit back and chill, cruisy rhyming here - these boys mean business. I do have to say though that with her soft, almost whispered flow, Dusk doesn't seem to suit the heavier tracks like this and I do struggle to hear and understand what she's saying at times. She definitely has skills and rips pretty fast on a couple tracks, but she just seems too quiet and inaudible alongside the two guys, with their aggressive and strong "in your face" verbal assaults , who far overpower her.

"R.I.P" and "Backyard Dentistry" are constructed in similar fashion to "Cannibalistic..." as well, albeit with their own differences which allow them to stand alone."R.I.P" is my top track on this album and is the one I'd play to someone as my attempt to prove the "Blades do britcore" theory. It actually sounds somewhat like a sped up version of "Cannibalistic Act", with a basic enough break and heavy guitars again providing the chassis of the track. However there is far more DJ work, more breakdowns and a bit of background activity going on as well - it's just overall faster and busier and reminds me of the old Westside Sydney sound of the 90's (think of groups like 046 or Capital Punishment) which was, at times, a sound influenced by the UK hardcore style. "Backyard Dentistry" is quite interesting as the beat is slower here than the prior mentioned tracks, to the extent of head nodding pace (with a cool little flute thrown in now and then), but the guys actually speed up their rhyming in parts and give an awesome display of skills in rapid fire emceeing. In fact if anyone reading this has heard of Sydney crew Base Dynamics, who were around a few years ago, this song reminds me of them and they were one of those Westside Sydney crews who brought the hard UK influenced styles.

On a different tip, "Backnforth" is a very slow, very funky head nodder, with Asian strings in effect adding a bit of mood to the song. Dusk seems to be in her element here and really shines on this one and to me is far more suited to this sort of track. "Proceed With Caution" picks up the pace and is the kind of song that seems to build intensity as the track progresses and features a couple brilliant verses from both male MC's (who unfortunately leave Dusk somewhat struggling again). Especially impressive is the last verse which is delivered in superb rough britcore tinged ballistic style, a style which is not that far from Bandog territory ! Oh and then for something totally left of centre and unique, Spanish rhymes even get a run on the slow, low and very dark "Tribe Ill".

If there's any lesser tracks on the album they are the futuristic, super scientifical Dr Octagon'esque "V.T. Drifter", the slighty awkward somewhat g-funked "Art of Darkness" and the not as hard, ambient, moody remix of "Cannibalistic Act" - but they are only "lesser" compared to the mindblowing hard hitting highlights and nothing is wack or unlistenable on the album at all.

Last but not least, the album finale "The Burning (Intro Tunz)" is simply stellar and has to be mentioned here. Given it's name I'm not sure if it was supposed to be the intro to the album but it serves just as well, if not better, as a concluding piece. It starts off with a warning siren of sorts and then takes us to an excerpt from a Blades live show with dramatic classical music over it. When the song proper kicks off and it's basically a high speed, frenetic rhyme attack from all three MC's (and yes Dusk even sits wonderfully on this one and makes me eat my earlier words about her not suited to hard tracks) over a heavy earth shaking beat with the epic sounding classical music continuing throughout and it features a couple great changeups where the pace of the music drops off momentarily (but not the relentless pace of the rhymes) then takes off again back to the dramatic hyper assault. The first time I heard it, I had goosebumps listening to it - it's a monumental track !

As I said at the outset, I rarely react in such a way to new releases in this day and age but this is one album that I have gone nuts over (I only bought it TODAY - yep had to write about it after one listen) and I am so, so, so excited that Blades exist in my hip hop world. I have heard too, that since touring Europe and making some appropriate connections with britcore heads there, that Blades are planning to make tracks with UK legends such as Killa Instinct in the near future. That will be something to behold and exactly the realm of sound and company that I'd want Blades to be in and go even further with. They are, without question, my No.1 Australian hip hop group of today.

Readykill - In Riverz of Blood (Buback - 1994)

Readykill is another one of those English rhyming German groups who took the UK hardcore sound to deeper depths of darkness. This is their 2nd release "Riverz of Blood" which despite listing 10 tracks is really only 2 "proper" songs (the rest comprises interludes and instrumentals and it even includes an accapella version of a prior 1 minute interlude, go figure LOL). I actually remember buying this and getting excited seeing the number of tracks, only to be disappointed when I realised I was only getting basically the maxi single of sorts that I ended up with. Oh well, the two full tracks here are quite magnificent and still very, very much worth it.

The first of the full tracks is "Riverz of Blood" which finally comes in at track 3 (after 5 minutes worth of intro buildup - via track 1 and 2) is an epic track clocking in at just over 5 minutes. As many other tracks from the era similarly do, this one starts off with a horror movie excerpt with a psychotic killer referencing the "beauty" of stabbing and mutilation which sets the scene for the song. As the song intro fades we are greeted by tense and dramatic violins and strings, a mid tempo strong beat and booming, seemingly forever resonating bass which are the forces behind the heavy soundscape of darkness here. Whilst I'm not overly familiar with the who's who of Readykill (the CD booklet lists TEN group members) the two MC's on this track, Masquerade and Shootya Dead, are both solid. The commanding deep voiced Shootya Dead particularly stands out as impressive here and his higher vocal pitched partner in crime, the rather British sounding Masquerade, compliments Shootya well with his rougher style. No prizes for guessing the lyrical content here, yes it's all about blood, 666 and other themes of darkness inside the mind of a killer. A very interesting feature of this song (courtesy of the liner note information) is that there are apparently THREE DJ's on the cuts, which must be some kind of hip hop world record ! Although admittedly, I'm not sure where all three feature as the song is not particularly heavy on DJ work aside from one breakdown in the middle of the track where some DJ (or perhaps all three) kicks it nicely. Three DJ's or not, this song plays almost like a britcore opera with it's changeups and other goings on and truly something to behold. There's somewhat of a "militaristic" touch of First Frontal Assault feel to it also which only adds to it's appeal and cements it in the realms of classic britcore.

Immediately following is our other full track, "The Evilution (the 666 moves quick but ...)" and it's obvious from the title that you're getting another attack of devilish horror here although this time it seems that our MC's are trying to run from the devil rather than residing in the mind of one as seemed to be the case in the prior track. Another 5 min long operatic epic track with movie/spoken excerpts and multiple stop/starts with beat fade outs and fade ins, this one operates at a far slower, creepier pace than "Riverz ..." and it emits more of a "alone at 3am in a graveyard" sparse vibe of fear, especially with the addition of howls throughout and also violins used sparingly creating appropriate tension and drama. The same two MC's are on duty again and Masquerade seems to get far more airtime here and suits this track perfectly.

It's actually a nice contrast to have these two tracks back to back as "Rivers of Blood" is the aggressive, in your face, head smasher type of darkness where "The Evilution ..." is the sparse, slow and low, hiding in the shadows darkness. Both quite different in sound but both the same in their delivery of 100% hardcore hip hop and it goes to show that "britcore" doesn't always necessarily have to pump out beats at 140BPM with rapid rhyming.

As I mentioned at the outset, there are actually 10 "tracks" in total here and perhaps other people, especially DJ's and producer types, may get something out of the 8 non-vocal tracks here but I rarely ever listen to anything on this other than the two full efforts described above.

Readykill released a classic EP prior to this which will get a writeup on here one day also but aside from that it's a damn shame that these guys didn't release at least a couple albums with songs like the ones described here as I'm sure such albums would have been all time favourites in my collection.

Eastborn - Word Perfect (Drop Zone Records - 2002)

Despite my international hip hop digging inclinations over the years, Scottish hip hop is something that has pretty much eluded me aside from a couple artists. Eastborn is one of those artists and he brought a pretty decent album to the world in 2002, namely "Word Perfect". In fact at it's time of release this album was somewhat of a blessing as it was one of the very few albums around that touched on the hard UK sounds of old. It's not relentlessly rapid fire hardcore from start to finish but certainly there's a majority of raw bangers on the album for those who love the britcore sounds.

So what does Eastborn, a Scottish rapper, sound like anyway ? Well let's put it this way, whilst you can tell he's Scottish if you listen hard enough, in fact he's not really that distinct in sound from a lot of his southern peers in England (however his accent is more apparent on the accapella "Freestyle Frenzie" track). Or maybe better said by telling you not to expect anything as exaggerated or strong as what you might imagine Billy Connolly in "rap mode" to be like. Accents aside he's a really solid rapper and he's at his best over the uptempo tracks where there's a great aggressive touch to his style.

As I mentioned above there are few tracks here for the britcore heads and to me they are the ones that really make this album worthwhile. By far and above "Ruthless" is the absolute pinnacle, killer of a track on here. Easiest way to describe it would be by taking "Intergalatic" by the Beasties, darken it up a bit more/take away that Beasties "goofiness", give Eastborn that semi-distorted "over the phone" rapping style that the Beasties (again) used on "Check The Mic", throw in DJ Krash Slaughta delivering wicked scratches of D.O.C. samples for the chorus and paint it with a hardcore UK hip hop final coat. I really love this track and have to admit that I often grab this album off the rack just to play this song over and over, which is not a slight on the rest of the album but an indication of how highly I rate this track. "Stop him in his tracks, show him that I am ruthless" !

Another winner on here harking back to the days of old is "Inner City Lullaby". The production runs not much deeper than a truly neck breaking, head snapping, funky dope break beat with heavy bass thumps underneath it and it is all the better for it's stripped back undercooked rawness. Eastborn delivers some lovely rough fiery rhymes on it and swift and sharp cutting from DJ Switch ties a ribbon around this package of dopeness. "Box Fresh" is another cool track on here which is basically Eastborn going all out on the mic over beatbox beats and scratches provided by Psylent V, with some nice violins sitting behind it all.

An awesome mid song beat change-up occurs on the track "Cross Country" (feat. Disorda and Mista Defy from II Tone Commitee). The song starts off kind of mellow and tame for Disorda's opening verse but when the song hits the 1min30 mark it changes character drastically into an aggressive attack as a boombastic chest hammering beat kicks in for the verses by Eastborn and the very Scottish sounding Mista Defy who brings the song to a magnificent conclusion. Special mention for more brilliant DJ work on this one too.

"Terror Mind Glide" and "Red 6" are pretty good songs too but carry slightly more generic modern day production with mid tempo beats and moody loops behind them and probably do suffer a bit (according to my tastes anyway) by being sequenced on the album alongside the superior rough and hectic bangers in "Inner City Lullaby" and "Ruthless".

There are two or three lesser tracks here though and they all sit back to back in the second half of the album. I'm bit torn by "One Lumbajack, two lumbajack, three ...", as I like the rapid flows on it by Eastborn and guest MC Mista Bohze (also from II Tone) and also dig the quickish pace of the drums, however it features a massive overdose of Show and AG/DITC styled horns which just sound messy to me and dominate the track far too much. Coming after a brief interlude the next two tracks are generally FFWD's for me also. One is "Way of Life", which is really far too mellow and jazz break vibey for my liking and is the kind of mid 90's NY sounding song that you'd have heard 200 times before if you've been around hip hop for a while (think less interesting versions of Black Moon, Pete Rock, Gangstarr etc). "Return of the Olmec" follows and is pretty much a turn off for me as soon as the girl sings out the chorus (it's just not my thing), despite having slightly more interesting production than the prior track with a decent haunting sci-fi darkness to it which can probably be compared to an early New Flesh 4 Old or Scientists of Sound style - but nowhere near as good due to R&B missy on the chorus.

Don't let any of the minor negatives scare you though because overall this is a great album with its roots firmly set in the days of UK hip hop past and is definitely one for the fans of hard and raw hip hop product (with a touch of more current styles which should keep the young heads interested as well). It's pretty cool and fresh to be listening to a Scottish rapper too as they've been a very quiet minority in hip hop compared to their brethren south of the border.

Hijack - The Horns of Jericho (Warner Bros - 1991)

"Horns of Jericho" is acknowledged by most people in the know as the Magnum Opus of all britcore albums and the blueprint for many other UK albums that followed it. I'm certainly not about to challenge that as I share the same opinion and do also regard it as one the greatest albums of all time. Although I have to admit that it's not absolute perfection, only a "mere" 95% perfect - which is close enough to amazing isn't it ?

The outstanding quality of Hijack and this album is thanks to the sum of the group's parts ie. the MC's - the vicious, malicious, streetwise, rapid spitting of Kamanchi Sly and the deep, ominous tones of Undercover, and the DJ's - the legendary Supreme and Undercover (again) who share production and turntable duties (plus a few dudes, namely Fritz, Clueso and Ulysses, who seem to do nothing on the album as such as far as I can tell).

In 2008 there is no point to go into the background of the connection between Hijack and Ice T/Rhyme Syndicate, as those who care about Hijack's music would know it all already by now (if not, Google it) but it is worth mentioning Ice T as a gauge of what sounds to expect on this album. Think Ice's "The Hunted Child" or any of his similar faster tracks, add some golden era classic PE to the mix, season it all with undertones of ominous hardcore darkness and you'd have an idea of what you're going to get from tracks like "Hijack the Terrorist Group", "Airwave Hijack", "The Syndicate Outta Jail", "The Badman is Robbin" and the brilliant afro-centric themed call for Unity of "Brother Versus Brother".

There are other flavours on show here too. I do not hesitate to state that "Phantom of the Opera" is one of my favourite songs of all time (and also a brilliant way to start the album). To me it is the foundation track of so many hardcore UK hip hop (AKA britcore) songs that followed it, or at the very least it has all the elements that define it as a perfect example of the hardcore UK style. It has the "Apache" beat as it's heartbeat with prominent bass adding weight to those beats, with various horror movie themed effects running throughout it and a few explosions and gunshots for added brutality. On top of the soundtrack we have rapid fire delivery from Kamanchi Sly coupled with absolutely terrifying aggressive vocal technique from Undercover and the combination of these two rappers on this song is truly something to behold. Also less noticeable on the track, but necessary to complete the darkness of it, is an underlying monotoned siren sound which makes me think of the deadline sound on a heartbeat monitor which completes the terrifying feel of the track. There's a sparsity to parts of the track as well which gives it a very appealing and applicable rawness too. Perfect.

"Back to Brixton", "I Had to Serve You" and "Don't Go With Strangers" do slow the BPM's down somewhat, although not to the extent of forsaking the hardcore feel of the album. "Back to Brixton" has punchy RunDMC'esque drums with guitars thrown in and it is close enough to an 80's rap/rock effort, not too dissimilar a style to what the aforementioned RunDMC did a few times as the "Kings of Rock", however thankfully the guitars are kept in the middle realms of the track and are not too cheesy or "out there". Whereas "I Had To Serve You" is probably the funkiest song on offer here with a cool bassline and head nodding tempo of snappy beats and dope cutting of a Spoonie G sample for the break. Totally different again is "Don't Go With Strangers" which is an intensely dark, rather gloomy and very ominous sounding track which lyrically plays out as a Community Service Announcement warning kids to be wary of strangers, perverts and shady types, very much as the song title implies. There really should be more songs like that - "Can you believe that he had 92 previous convictions for child abuse?, on the loose, the courts just left him, to walk and stalk another victim, we have the solution to end this confusion, diffuse them !"

What does however take away from the hardcore feel of the album (and ultimately costs this album it's perfection) is a track, well two tracks, called "Daddy Rich" which appear on the album twice in "Part 1" and "Part 2" variations, "Part 2" being a remix I think (although honestly I've never listened to either version in full in the 15 odd years I've owned this album). Frankly I don't want to spend too much more "blogspace" on these songs as they have always been a thorn in my side regarding this album but I will just say that they are both heavily R&B singing laced, very slow and very LONG songs which to me always seemed incredibly out of place with the rest of the album and are simply not appropriate in amongst all the hardcore songs. The other negative on this album, although not even 1% as upsetting as the "Daddy Rich" business is an interlude which is nothing more than someone playing the drums ad hoc style for 1 minute or so. Simply unnecessary to record something like this and it screams of album filler.

To bring this review back to where it should be, ie. on a positive note, is an amazing posse track called "The Contract". Along with Kamanchi Sly it features 3 of the greatest UK rappers ever ie. Shaka Shazam, Icepick and Katch 22's always magnificent Huntkillburyfin. All MC's flow wonderfully on this track and interestingly Kamanchi Sly gives what might be his best appearance on the album here, as if the presence of the others on the track inspired him to reach for higher heights of greatness. The music here is another staple of britcore bliss with fast bongo styled drums and a relentless very bass heavy punchy rhythm driving it, matched nicely with dramatic Hawaii Five O type crimewave sound effects behind it. One of the best posse tracks ever.

I hate to say albums are essential, as everyone has different tastes and different ideas as to what albums people should own, but I'd fail to understand why somebody who likes their hip hop hardcore wouldn't want to own this album and wouldn't fall in love with it. Yes it is essential listening for anyone who has a hardcore hip hop bone in their body and the fact that Kamanchi Sly and DJ Supreme are seen as greats of UK hip hop is another reason to pick up this example of them at their best.

Barack Obama

This may be seen initially as somewhat out of context for this site but then maybe not ...

I just want to give props to Obama and his victory. A victory for African American people, all people of colour and people who care about issues of race and inequality. A victory for the legacy and dreams of Malcolm, Martin, Huey and all other leaders that have lived and died for the cause. A victory against the oppressive governments of the past. A victory for hope.

Most of all - to bring it into context with this site - it's a victory for hip hop. For Chuck D, KRS, Katch22, Black Radical, 24K and all afrocentric rappers who saw hip hop as the black CNN, a black voice and movement, a tool for change, Obama is there as a representation of what you fought for on wax and beyond. Well done Obama and well done hip hop.

Blade - The Lion Goes From Strength to Strength (691 Influential - 1993)

For many reasons Blade is undoubtedly one of the legends of UK hip hop. Due to his longevity, due to his “do for self” attitude in getting his music out there by all means possible at the grassroots level, due to the respect from his fans and peers and of course due to his skills in making unique and raw dope music. A prime showcase of his skills are on display on his debut album, “The Lion goes From Strength to Strength” (which was released on his OWN label, 691 Influential) which finally saw the light of day after a few years of releasing impressive EP’s and 12's.

With 21 tracks totalling almost 77 minutes long you couldn’t complain that he wasn’t giving his fans what they wanted. Even if you discarded the 4 or 5 interlude tracks you’d still be left with close enough to 70 minutes worth of “real” songs (which was immense by 1993 standards) and with only one guest artist on one track (where have those days gone?) you’re really getting a Bladefest with this album.

So if you’ve never heard Blade before what can you expect from him as an MC ? I can’t name anybody that sounds similar to him, but for a very loose comparison (we’re talking Paris Hilton loose here) there is a somewhat UK version of Chuck D’esque aspect to his voice – at least in the powerful, commanding and booming delivery and resonance it projects – but Blade’s overall delivery is probably slower and clearer and he’s more deliberate in the way he ends each line he spits. Lyrically he’s pretty angry. He’s angry with the British government, angry with the anti hip hop record industry, angry with wickety wack weak rappers and all of that produces an aggressive, fiery MC which is an MC perfectly made for hardcore hip hop. As Blade says “When I get madder than mad I get hyper” – words from hardcore rap heaven! Yet despite his obvious frustration and anger Blade remains well grounded and focused and seems totally in control of his mic presence and presents a really strong MC demeanour. There is also a nice dose of humour, sarcasm and wit to his rhymes which is always a good thing and “keeps em eager to listen”.

As you can probably tell from the above described microphone stance, Blade is likely to have some rough, raw and hard music to back his vocal style up and thankfully he does have such music in abundance, but there is some variety in his soundscapes also …

The hardest tracks here are almost brutal, especially “God Give Me Strength”. It has a rapid, pile driving, hammer of a beat which just keep thumping away at your chest with its underlying screams, whilst Blade delivers powerful and poignant lines like “… where’s the books about Armenia ? Africa you don’t see in the media …”. “Dark and Sinister” sounds exactly as the title implies with another pounding drum track laced with horns and underlying scratching and features another UK legend, MC Mell’o, in my favourite all-time Mell’o mic performance, I don’t think he ever brought it harder than this. “Take it to the Edge” also keeps it mean and hard and is carried for the most part by metal guitars and various screechy effects and Blade’s voice booming on top of it all is simply fantastic. Other tracks such as “100%” and “Heads are Forever Boppin’” don’t let up on the hardcore side of things either.

The variety comes in the way of less aggressive tracks with funky, head-nodding leanings instead but by no means are these tracks less raw. Examples of this would be “No Compromise”, “Bedroom Demo”, “… or Get Crushed Like a Pumpkin” and “Suck On My Electric Guitar” which all are somewhat in the regions of an early Cypress Hill funky feel, albeit not entirely so with Blades vocals and the raw sparsity of the tracks retaining that harder UK feel. Interestingly the title track of the album, “The Lion Goes …” is most unique in amongst the other tracks with a slow and low feel not too distant from classic old Rap-A-Lot Texas funk, but obviously Blade and Willie D & co. are worlds apart on so many levels.

If there’s any complaint from me then I’d aim it solely at the interludes. There is a track/interlude called “Silence Is Better than Bullshit” which is just that, 2 minutes of almost total silence (with only the distant sound of Blade or someone munching away on a packet of chips and having a drink?). Okay there’s probably a point to it - or maybe there’s not? – but come on Blade you could’ve given us 2 minutes more of “God Give Me Strength” or something instead of this! I do like the “Survival Prelude” interlude with its Farrakhan (?) speech which is very reminiscent of an old Cube or PE song intro. However, traditionally skits/interludes on albums are no friends of mine and especially those where the artists are just talking some nonsense in the studio and decide to record it on the final product, as is the case with a couple of the interlude bits on this album. Interlude business aside, there's not one actual proper song on this album that i don't like.

Another great thing about this album in general is that the production feels slightly rough around the edges, and I mean that in a major positive sense. As with many other UK hip hop releases from that era it doesn’t sound heavily polished, over produced or too clean and is all the better for it’s lack of gloss. Straight up raw, underground and pure UK hip hop is what the legendary Blade delivers with this effort and it is one of the best albums from the golden era of UK hip hop from one of the UK's best.

No Remorze - The End (MZEE 1995)

Germans loved hardcore UK hip hop. Well some at least did (and still do). They loved it so much that they took the classic sounds of Silver Bullet and Gunshot and made those sounds harder, faster, angrier and noisier. No Remorze were a perfect example of this and their “The End” album is a case in point of Germans taking britcore and putting their own stamp on it. Look no further than the album cover and you know you’re not getting sweet ballads from these guys ie. three mean looking hooded hombres gazing at you with nothing but a cold, dead, barren wasteland as their backdrop.

In fact, very reflective of album cover is the title track “The End” which sits appropriately as the last proper track of the album and has a great sample of Busta circa LONS era stating “you’d better beware coz the end is near”. Accordingly it’s a very dark, apocalyptic track with the malicious mic slaying vocal talents of MC Crak proclaiming eminent doom for humanity due to their own actions throughout history leading to their self destruction. The song is very angry, highly political, message laden and very much exemplifies No Remorze’s mission statement throughout most of their tracks – musically and lyrically. Significantly the track runs directly into the albums Outro which quotes Gravediggaz “nowhere to hide, nowhere to run” over an absolutely huge earth shaking beat which all comes to a halt after a minute or so with the sound of nothing but a heart beat monitor “dead line” ie. death, the end. It’s actually one of the best album finales I have ever heard (which is why I mentioned it first here).

Not everything was new at the time of this album though as 4 tracks were released prior to this album but had slight re-workings and given a “95” suffix for inclusion in it. Without a doubt two of those re-worked tracks, “Condemned to Death” and “Dark Malice”, were classic No Remorze tracks in their original forms and still are here. I’ve already spoken on “Dark Malice” on my Joining Forces review and “Dark Malice 95” (thankfully) hasn’t been altered for this album very much, if at all. “Condemned to Death” is a classic too and is a far more sparse production than "Dark Malice" with mid tempo punchy beats sitting over the dramatic rhythm sample taken from Rakim’s “Let the Rhythm Hit Em”. This newer version does however have far too prominent church organ keys in the chorus as an “add on” which doesn’t really work that well for me.

“Killa Squad 95” and “No Justice 95” could be twin sister songs as they are quite similar and are both absolutely breakneck speed sonic assaults with screams, sirens, high BPM’s and manic DJ work in full effect. Especially “Killa Squad 95” which is probably the fastest I’ve ever heard Crak rhyme and it’s truly something to behold (I’m sure teenagers into their mellow, lightweight, moody hip hop these days wouldn’t be able to comprehend an MC bringing it like this). None of these “old come new” tracks are really that different to their original incarnations but for some reason the recording/playback quality is somewhat “muddy” and Crak’s vocals are buried far lower in mix than they were on the old versions. Therefore they don’t blend in all that well with the new songs which are noticeably cleaner recordings. Having said that, it's a fact that some of my favourite hip hop albums of all time were recorded in dubious quality and I've learnt to live with it.

The majority of those new tracks are pretty wicked. “Slaughter of the Lambs” gives Crak a chance to catch his breath with its more laidback pace and presents us with relatively crisp and busy drums over the lovely “Nautilus” sample cruising below. “Remorse? No!” sounds like it could easily be a track from the first Def Wish Cast album and is britcore to the nth degree. It has ominous, dramatic and crisp production and fantastic DJ work from the legendary DJ Style Warz with cutting that’s cannot be described as anything but scythe like ! “Hunted” shares a similar blueprint but bumps up the noise, drama and darkness.

Not all is perfect here though. Although they are both very hard and aggressive tracks, “Pros and Cons” and “Fascists Must Burn” do very much sound like the left and right arm of “Dark Malice” as they are both structured almost too similarly to it using heavy guitar riffs as their main driving forces. No denying Crak sounds rough and rugged on both though. Not so on “Bitches” however, which threw me a real curveball the first time I heard it, and it still does. Yes it’s a noble message bigging up women but a soft R&B female crooned track in the middle of a hardcore hip hop album just does not sit right for me at all (especially wedged between Killa Squad and an interlude stating “hardcore we’re giving you more and more”!) and it’s something I wouldn’t have ever expected from a group like this.

A couple little curios to finish off with, one strange and one cool. Strange - the Intro is listed as having a run time of 1.62 (1min 62 seconds - huh ???). Cool - there are lyrics provided in the CD booklet for each song in their original English and ALSO translated into German – now that’s a nice touch. It is bit of a shame though that Crak never rhymed in German, which would've been pretty cool and potentially added to the hard sounds (some German language MC's sound wonderfully MENACING), but i guess the English rhyming let his message be known to wider audience outside Germany (especially the UK crowd) which may have been part of the reason why.

Any fan of the old UK hardcore sound or anyone interested in hearing one of the best groups of all time from Germany should track this down.

Derek B - Bullet From a Gun (Polygram 1988)

Okay, yes I know this album is not particularly “britcore” in the Hijack, Gunshot, Killa Instinct sense (ie. relentless hardcore barrages of hyper beats and aggressive rhymes) BUT I have to give it some words here as it was the first UK album I ever bought and therefore have a soft spot for it. Besides, for the most part it’s a pretty decent album yet it’s rarely praised.

I have to start off by saying that there’s not all that much that signifies the album’s British origins and sets it apart from releases by notable US artists from the same era. Vocally, Derek sounds somewhat like Criminal Minded era KRS One and has similar delivery at times with only a hint of a British accent popping up occasionally, however I’ve heard far more blatant attempts at sounding American (in fact he sounds even more like KRS One’s mate, Willie D, who appeared on the Sly and Robbie album). He does throw in lines such as “we get paid in pounds not in dollars”, has a Rover on his album cover and mentions London and England often enough so we can be rest assured that he’s not out to deny or fool anyone regarding his background.

Musically, at times, the production swims around in the pool of Def Jam artists like PE, Run DMC, Beasties and Cool J circa 1987/88, reinforced by the fact that samples are used throughout the LP from some of those artists. I can’t help feeling that the goal of Derek and his label cohorts at the time was to sit alongside his US Def Jam idols rather than come out with a unique new style heavily rooted in UK influence, as London Posse did soon after. Although Derek himself may want to dispute that, as one his lyrics from the punchy beat attack of “All City” states “don’t copy Run DMC or LL Cool J, be original you’ll go further that way”. Somewhat fair enough words for him to say I suppose as he’s not 100% directly copying anyone but the aforementioned influences are very strong, which is probably understandable given that UK hip hop in 1988 was really only in the fledgling stages of building its own identity and Def Jam was the HOTTEST hip hop of the day.

The best tracks here are pretty damn good and they rock solid in good old 808 kick drum way and yes they do allude to the Def Jam influences. “Bullet From a Gun” hits slow, low and hard over a booming beat coupled with handclaps with sounds of bullets added for maximum effect. It’s actually quite similar to Cool J’s “I’m Bad”, albeit a slower and more simplistic version of it. 1^st album Public Enemy sound comes into total E F F E C T on “Power Move” which even has Flavor Flav and Chuck saying a few words about Derek at the start of the track. Imagine a different MC over “Public Enemy No. 1” or one of those tracks and you have “Power Move”. The Funky Drummer driven “Human Time Bomb” could also sit on the same PE album and even has a Professor Griff soundalike providing backup on the track. No diss though, they’re all dope tracks despite their obvious forefathers of influence.

There are also a couple nice tracks which sizzle with a more unique flavour. “Bad Young Brother” ups the overall tempo with heavy pacey drum programming and wicked transformer scratching throughout and Derek going hell for leather on the mic in probably his best vocal performance on the album. “All City” has some banging and reasonably rapid drums hitting behind the rhymes but suffers a bit from the cheesy familiar heavy metal riff in the chorus. The most commercial track here is “Good Groove” which surprisingly sits pretty nicely with me as I love anything to do with the The Jackson 5 as “ABC” is sampled for the chorus and the James Brown funk woven through “Get Down” also has pianos from “The Love You Save”. Wonder if/how he cleared those samples?

One thing that needs to be mentioned before this review is done. Derek B actually appears as his DJ, Easy Q, on this album and it seems that Easy Q is sometimes the alter-ego that's rhyming at times also ?!?! In fact Derek rhymes about Easy Q (and vice versa) as if they were two different people but well he's really talking to himself. It’s all very confusing and slightly bizarre in a split personality schizophrenic sort of way. Derek B actually takes on the role of MC, DJ AND producer ! Very one man band Prince Rogers Nelson isn’t it.

Of the 10 tracks on the vinyl version I own of this album (some CD versions have more tracks) I have mentioned 6 or 7 here as standouts and in fact the remainder are by no means wack, just perhaps somewhat plain and boring. Therefore, overall I quite like this album. Sure it’s not that original, sure it doesn’t have England written all over it but taken at face value with the simple intention of enjoying some solid “late old school/early golden era” hip hop you wouldn’t do too badly in seeking out this album.

The Criminal Minds - Tales from the Wasteland 12" EP (TCM Recordings 1991)

“Tales from the Wasteland” seems to be one of the most revered and sought after of all hardcore golden era UK releases, at least in recent years, and it’s no wonder why as it is pretty amazing (in fact I’m reviewing this from mp3’s as I’ve always struggled to find the original and if you can find it, it costs a fortune nowadays).

“Systems Overload” is the first track here and it opens with a very applicable spoken sample stating “what they’re getting this time is even harder and heavier and it’s gonna blow their brains out”. The rapid, thundering beats then drop and DJ Halo gets to work instantly cutting up “fuck your system”. We then hear one of the greatest MC’s of all time grab the mic, ie. MC Iceski. He has such a unique voice which actually seems to echo and resonate with every word delivered thanks to what could be double or triple tracking of his voice but it may just be the natural power in his voice and the way it drops, whatever it is I just can’t get enough of it. Delivering a nice contrast to Iceski here is Safe D with a slight ragga touch to his deep tones and the combination of these two is really something special. The dark and dramatic production on this track reminds me of Silver Bullet’s “20 Seconds to Comply” and that is a very, very good thing. As the lyrics here describe, the goal of this song is to make your “Systems Overload” from the sonic speaker smashing barrage of noise and it is most definitely “mission accomplished”. More simply, it’s classic britcore – no more, no less.

“Illegal Procedure” starts off with very much in the vain of PE “Nations of Millions” album (albeit a shorter scaled down version) with TCM taking an excerpt from a live gig of theirs and using it to intro the track. Once the song starts it’s another noisy, hyper britcore assault with cool almost Hendrix sounding electric guitars sitting at some depth beneath the more apparent rapid beats. Iceski is rapping at top speed on this one and is impressive as always and he also shares mic duties with another MC on this track, this time it’s CMD instead of Safe D. I quite like the roughness and fast pace to CMD’s flow and after they get a verse each, the 3rd verse sees CMD and Iceski put on a great display of my much loved line for line, back and forth, mic passing. There’s also some stunning DJ skills on show here again from Halo with an especially catchy section where he cuts up the “C to the R to the I M” and also the last minute of the track is an awesome display of DJ prowess.

The very dramatic sounding “Tales from the Wasteland” appears next. It’s has a dramatic, epic intro which starts with ominous sounding violin strings which get boosted after 30 seconds when hard punchy beats kick in which are backed by absolutely tremendous DJ cutting. Iceski then comes into the song with his deliciously raw rhyme style which sits on top of booming breaks with undertones of the dark strings from the intro continuing throughout. Actually I REALLY LOVE the drums on this, they really HIT, attack and wack you right in the chest and listening to them is probably somewhat akin to being in the ring taking fists from Ali in his heyday – the way they hit left, hit right, jab and uppercut is phenomenal and there is nothing in hip hop these days like this. Iceski is pretty much solo here (aside from a brief interjection from one of the other guys) and I don’t even need to mention again that he rides the track superbly!

“Prepare for the Holocaust” closes things out and somewhat accordingly brings a different sound to the table, a sound which can almost be described as “electro reggae” or perhaps “slowed down jungle”. It’s probably not so different for TCM though as they did dabble in this sound from time to time and it’s not a bad thing as I quite dig this style, although structurally it’s a less complex track than others and is my least fav on the EP. No different however is Iceski’s flow as he brings his relentless rhyming yet again and he seems to rip any type of track he’s on with ballistic ease and there seems to be no 2nd gear for him, it’s go all out or nothing.

As is I wrote at the outset, this is one of UK hip hop’s rarest and most wanted classics and hopefully I’ve given some indication as to why. Iceski is really the star of the show here and thankfully the production, co-MC’s and DJ work aren’t left behind by his amazing skills, instead they add up to make a perfect hardcore hip hop package. It’s a shame that artists like this never had the chance (or inclination?) to release full albums during the glory days of UK hip hop as a full album of material like this from 1991 by TCM would have been something truly incredible. As Safe D said “some people call it wicked, you can call it hardcore”. WORD.

Blue Eyes - Straight from the UK (Buback 1994)

“Straight from the UK” is for the most part a good little EP from sometime Suspekt crew member Blue Eyes.

The title track kicks things off and it might as well be the anthem of golden era UK hip hop as it’s one of the most pro UK hip hop tracks you’re ever likely to hear. The themes are purely support and make genuine UK hip hop, be true to who you are and what you are and stop the fake US, fake gangsta pretentious wack bullshit. Lyrics like “…UK rapper, American speaking, check the profile the UK weakens, overloaded with fake MC’s …” pretty much tell you where Blue Eyes is coming from and he’s pretty pissed at the fakers – and rightly so. Musically it’s a wonderfully rugged gritty track with heavy rough drums and some beautifully slightly muffled screechy horn stabs throughout. Overall the track sits alongside some of the classic Kold Sweat releases with perhaps a slight touch of classic DITC sound to it as well with the horn usage. DJ Prime Suspekt provides some nice turntable work here as always and a nice Blade sample provides a most appropriate chorus. Simply one of the great tracks of the era - musically, lyrically and topically.

“That’s Not Freestyle” is another attack on fakers and this time our main man is calling out MC’s who are pretenders on the freestyle tip. Horns are at the forefront of this track and they sit over a mid-tempo head nodding beat. It’s a great track but I’d cut it back to 3 or 4 minutes after the points are made as the last couple minutes have Blue Eyes nattering on only half audibly and laughing over the instrumental and that does takes away from it a bit.

“Soul Tip” carries on well from the first track carrying similar production values with horns and rough noisy beats although it’s most distinct feature is a lovely hard prominent bassline (one which you’d surely recognise if you’ve been around hip hop since the golden era). Once again Blue Eyes takes shots at wack and weak MC’s and cuts them down with his as always precise eloquent voice, a voice which really stands out due to its clarity. In fact, it’s just occurred to me after all these years that he sounds somewhat like the legendary Blade but there’s something different there too which sets them distinctly apart.

There’s not too much to say about the 2nd half of the EP. There’s an accapella of “That’s Not Freestyle” and the instro for the title track. Last and probably least there is also a rather silly track called “Do the Frank” which is Blue Eyes and some of his buddies laughing, talking shit and carrying on over a goofy circus sounding instrumental. I can really do without comedy interlude nonsense things like this on hip hop releases and I imagine they’d only be enjoyed by those who made them. I hate you Prince Paul or whoever started this skit business!

So there you have it. The first three tracks here are pretty awesome and in fact the first track "Straight from the UK" is worth the price of admission alone. A great thing about this release too is that it is still available online at various places rather cheaply, despite its age and the usual rarity of similar releases from the era.

Suspekt - Dead Men Walking (Suspekt Records - 2008)

It is a very special and rare occurrence indeed when a veteran hip hop group delivers new material some 10-15 years after their “glory days” and that new material is AS GOOD as their old classic music was. That is exactly what Suspekt have done with their 2nd album “Dead Men Walking”.

The title track “Dead Men Walking” is the opener here. Musically it’s layered wonderfully with a mid-tempo snappy beat, topped for the most part with a “Nautilus” sample and dark ominous sounding violins and old school Run DMC type cowbells dropping in and out of the track as well. Even better than the music here are the two MC’s, the deep precise voiced Lennie and the higher toned rougher Pride, who both combine the form the Yin Yang balance of MC duo perfection that is right up there with the likes of Run and DMC or Erick and Parish. It is really interesting that the song is setup as somewhat of an intro to both rappers as Lennie delivers verse one, Pride gets the second verse and then for the last verse they throw the mic back and forth sharing mic duties in classic old school style. Brilliant opener.

With an even more brilliant 2nd track which is “Suspekt Jumpin”. True story - the first time I heard this song I listened to it 7 or 8 times before moving on to the next track, I could not stop playing it! Lennie’s daughter Lauren starts off the track with some sweet singing (there's talent in those bloodlines) before the most banging and lively of all head nodding beats kicks in. It’s the kind of beat that would make the even laziest person leap out of their comfy recliner and jump around the room like a psycho. Adding to the beat is a chopped sample of what could be keys or a guitar with a very reggae feel, which is an appropriate sample as one of the track's features is the ragga chatting skills of Pride. Lauren appears again for the chorus singing with a slight Jamaican accent too which is way, way cool. It's Kriss Kross "Jump" or House of Pain "Jump Around" done far better in UK hardcore style !

The first of 3 older tracks appears next, the first one being “Another Witness” which is basically a new version of Pride’s “Witness” track from the mid 90's which now features Lennie. This is a harder track which sounds somewhat like slowed down classic PE with it’s expansive wailing sirens and wicked scratching throughout from DJ Prime Suspekt, at times sitting rhythmically beneath the track and other times at the forefront in showcase style. I love the original with Pride alone but with Lennie on this now it completes the package … “we’re all Suspekts but you need a witness”.

Another remake of an even earlier Suspekt track follows ie. “Look Like A Rapper”. In fact,it's a track which appeared on their very first EP. It’s less hardcore (but no less dope) than “Another Witness” and more of a funky but pacey headnodder with simple and catchy beats topped with some stabs of screechy sounds. An interesting feature here is the appearance of the one and only Websta (from Heroes of UK Hip Hop fame) who sounds rougher on the mic than I’ve ever heard him, and that’s “rough” in the best, hardcore way possible.

The next couple tracks are solo efforts from Pride and Lennie. Lennie gives us “Stayed Up Late” which is not too much more than him dropping a couple lovely flow and flow and flow non-stop verses over a straight-forward bassline and drum track (with some great DJ work from Prime in the breaks cutting up some Guru). The beauty of this track is in its sparsity and, as the name of it suggests, it successfully gives off the vibe of Lennie alone in his room dropping verses at 2am. On the other hand “Fuck Pride” is a far more aggressive sounding track by Pride yet it sits very well alongside the prior track. It’s dark and stripped back, with a neck snapping beat with dramatic keys and ominous undertones behind it. Again in accordance with the song title Pride delivers lyrics which sum up to a stiff middle finger to all his detractors.

“Elektra’s Whisper” is another Lennie solo track which shares a similar late night chill feel to “Stayed Up Late” although it seems a bit busier musically. It’s a pretty short song with one nice long verse delivered by Lennie and probably the highlight of this one is some SMOOTH and deft DJ work by Prime Suspekt after Len’s verse. There is something really addictive about this song and it’s one of my favourites here actually.

Admittedly, more often than not, a song like “Son of a Preacher Man” would be FFWD material for me with its sung chorus and slow moody tempo, however this song is DIFFERENT. The lyrics here are the definite stand out with Lennie giving a summary of various aspects of Suspekt’s history and discussing their resurgence in amongst today’s stale hip hop scene. In a lot of ways this track is somewhat a big tribute to their supporters as Len gives shoutouts to many that inspired the group to come back and keep going strong. All that aside, it’s a really nice track to listen to which i'm assuming borrows musically from it's namesake. There's some LOVELY singing from Lennie’s daughter once again and it’s a great little cool down track before the mostly hardcore rugged onslaught of the 2nd half of the album.

Hardcore and rugged is exactly what “Stand Strong” is too with its rapid rhyming and reasonably fast BPM. At the forefront of the track are blaring horns, a fat very hard-hitting beat provides the rhythm and dramatic looped violins and piano keys are kicked in every now and then for effect. A bonus here is an extra special guest appearance from ex-Suspekt member Blue Eyes who drops a great verse and it’s really cool to hear his voice again (although taking nothing away from Blue Eyes, it has to be said that between him and Pride I do prefer Pride as I think he gives the group a rawer edge). This track is top notch aggressive bliss.

First album Suspekt flavour is evident with “Style Unorthodox” as there’s something about the bassline that has me thinking of their first LP each time I hear it. It is a prominent, rapid and catchy bassline and once again solid drums compliment it perfectly and a few little screechy type sounds throughout the soundtrack with strong DJ work again keep the hard and raw styles flowing here. Lennie's verse is especially impressive here and he's flowing a bit faster than usual and doing it superbly.

A slight change in feel comes with “Flows of the Cho-Jin Shinobi”. As the title suggests, martial arts is the theme here and all sorts of references are made to the ancient art-form in the lyrics. Thankfully they haven’t gone the typical route with a song like this of trying to bite the Wu Tang Clan musically, instead choosing to use the same, or least very similar, sample that my favourite MC in the world Del used on “Virus” (although it feels slightly more dark and raw than the more futuristic vibe of the Deltron track). I love Del, I love Suspekt, I love martial arts, I love this song.

“Lyrics Plenty 93” is, as implied by the “93”, another old song that appears here anew. A strong bassline with funky, funky drums carries this one. Most appealing about this track for me are two aspects. One - is the chorus with the guys chanting “Lyrics, lyrics, lyrics plenty” coupled with a beautifully scratched in sample saying the same thing. Two – Pride – he steps into the phone booth and comes out with his ragga superhero outfit on again and absolutely sounds wonderful chatting away sounding totally natural, not at all forced and most importantly DOPE and you can tell he’s been doing ragga styles for a long time. NICE.

“Mic Murders”, above all tracks here, is the definitive proof that Lennie and Pride are an MC combo match made in heaven. They go back and forth, verse for verse, for the whole song in such a brilliant way that hasn’t been heard since the days of Run and DMC and I would love to see them on stage performing this in classic tag team style. Musically it’s a mid tempo snappy drumbeat with the most addictive horns imaginable totally drawing you into the zone of the song and you can’t help but being hooked by them. Again the DJ work tops this off wonderfully.

The very different sounding and very funny “Fuckers” comes along next. Appropriately to the name of the song Lennie, Pride and guest MC, Scenes14, give out a little “anti” tribute to all the fuckers of the world. It’s a pretty cruisy track with nothing much more than a mellow beat and bassline driving it (with loud horns providing a lift to it all in the breaks) which probably intentionally leaves the main focus on the lyrical content such as … Pride with “who the fucking hell wants to know about big bro or see some sad fuckers in the jungle with thick hoes, reality TV full of twats with no life, the same fuckers trying to be celebrity lowlifes” or Lennie and "Mothers, sometimes i hate those fuckers, when they bring the crying babies into crowded places just so every else fucker suffers like they do" LOL! This is a very different song for Suspekt but they pull it off well and crewmate Scenes 14 is a good addition to this one.

The penultimate track here is the one that any britcore fiend would be going totally nuts over. “The Usual Suspekts” features the brilliant Warped Ethics (a.k.a. the modern day Gunshot) and I couldn’t think of a 2008 UK hip hop collab that I’d rather have than Suspekt and Warped Ethics on a track together! The track is everything I’d want it to be as well. Starting off with a fear inducing roaring lion, the music then kicks in with dramatic violins, then the rapid and strong bassline takes off and finally the beat drops in and becomes a frenzy of snare and hi-hat lovely madness. Each MC gets a verse here and I cannot pick the best verse amongst the 4 of them, to me each MC here is a current day UK hip hop champion and simply cannot be fucked with. Of course, the breaks are filled by busy scratching and a few old movie samples also thrown in to top off the classic UK hardcore hip hop package.

The last track and outro is “Prime Directive” a DJ showcase piece by Prime Suspekt. It’s a brilliant way to close the album as this type of track is something that’s sorely missing in hip hop these days. Amongst other things, he cuts up … “Let’s be realistic, the UK runs that and no one can stop that”. Indeed !

Honestly this is one of the best albums I have heard since the turn of the century and probably longer than that and in fact I will go so far as to say that I like it even better than the first Suspekt album. I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams that any 2008 “comeback” album by a golden era artist would even come close to something they released 10-15 years prior but Suspekt have managed to match and even eclipse some of their earlier work with this album. Something that would have a lot to do with that is proven by the fact that the 3 old re-vamped songs on here actually sit perfectly in amongst the new tracks, or more so vice versa which suggests that this album sits right in the pocket of the classic early 90’s UK sound – and that’s exactly what I want from my UK hip hop. Thank you very much Suspekt.

The Mantis Chapter - Graveyard Poets EP (Prophet and Sound Recordings - 2008)

There are not that many hip hop artists around these days from the UK (or anywhere else) that appeal to me but thankfully The Mantis Chapter (beatsmith Acas13 and MC TS One) are one group that (along with a select few others) are an exception. The name of this release (their second EP) is “Graveyard Poets” and it is quite a fitting name as sonically and lyrically the EP is a gothic trip through the haunted underworld of darkness, demons and shadows.

Musically there are a couple main influences apparent and the majority of the tracks can be roughly described as taking the production of early Jedi Mind Tricks or Wu albums, giving them undertones of the golden era hardcore UK feel and topping them off with small doses of horrorcore. There are however a couple tracks that lean more heavily towards one particular side of those influences. One such track being “Dice With Death” which features Germany’s legendary Hideouz Newcome and is a track which would sit nicely on the shelf next to any britcore track from the early 90’s with it’s fast rhyming, alarm sounds and urgent beat. DJ Psychopath’s cutting on the track rounds out the hardcore package nicely.

For something slightly different we have “The Casebook of Terrors” which sounds very much like a UK version of the Lost Children of Babylon (once upon a time Jedi Mind Tricks cohorts) with haunting, dramatic and almost ethereal production at its backbone. It also contains one of my favourite lines on the EP by TS One ie. “… path of the night hawker, TS One the deer stalker, investigate the disappearance of a sleepwalker …”. Similarly the following track “Escape from the Mausoleum” (featuring Bandog and Remark) is another great track seemingly built on the moody and dark old Lost Children of Babylon/JMT looped foundations and lyrically it could be a suitable track for the next Mummy soundtrack with tales of fleeing the deep crypts of the netherworld. The highlight of this one is Bandog and I’m probably saying it every time I write about him but he once again steals the show however all three MC’s compliment each other well here with their individual and unique styles.

Then we have the tracks that sit right in the melting pot of the aforementioned styles. “Alchemist in the Mist” has a solid, sharp, midtempo almost military beat topped with loops from dramatic violins, which for me invokes thoughts of the WuTang Forever album yet at the same time we are reminded of the Mantis crew’s hardcore UK origins with DJ Highfly cutting up beautifully throughout the track and TS One spitting his rough rhymes in no nonsense, rough and vicious britcore style. “The Graveyard Poet” comes at us with similar elements to the “Alchemist …” (including another quality appearance from DJ Highfly) but instead of violins there are church organs looped behind the beat and also sounds of windstorms, all combined to great haunting effect.

It’s well worth mentioning the other guest appearances on here as they are excellent. Probably the darkest track on this EP and perhaps my favourite if I had to choose one is “Eastern Lights” with more church organs and all manner of haunting loops, some of which remind me of “Ghost and Goblins” from my Commodore 64 gaming days ! The two guests on this one are Inzaine and Ill Inspired who deliver terrific verses (as of course does TS One very consistently throughout the whole EP). Inzaine has a fantastically dry, raspy and rough voice (something like Nine) yet at the same time he actually flows as fluidly as Smooth B which doesn't always happen for MC's with voices like his - it's pretty special. Ill Inspired comes with a totally different style which is uncannily reminiscent of some of the styles found on old Deliverance and First Down tracks – I don’t know if he ever had anything to do with either group but he may as well have. Regardless of his background, it’s a great mic technique.

I'd think this EP would appeal equally to fans of older hard UK hip hop and/or darker US hip hop alike. It’s britcore, it’s horrorcore, better yet it’s simply hardcore ! I strongly recommend you go and grab it at :

www.themantischapter.co.uk

or

www.prophetandsound.com

SON OF NOISE - ACCESS DENIED: BULLSHIT & POLITICS PT. 1 (Little Rascool - 1996)

Compared to their debut, the 2nd album from UK legends Son Of Noise is a mixed bag of mostly good songs, a little bad and just a slight touch of ugly.

“Sons Of The Noise” is the opening track which has the main MC, Curoc bringing us his views on the hip hop scene, whites holding back black acts, record companies, fake MC’s and the like. He’s pretty peeved in this song and it has a banging beat behind it with ominous sounds which add to the feel, although the BPM’s and his rhyme style are somewhat slower than you’d remember if you were familiar with the group's earlier material. The most endearing feature of this song to me is the Bob Marley "don't let them fool ya ..." sample in the break which adds to the feel of the song nicely.

“Young Offender” picks up the pace and sounds like it would’ve fit well onto their first LP. It has one of those classic funky, prominent basslines, a great horn sample that runs in and out behind the track and a slight double tracking to the vocals which adds to the song. A Guru vocal sample gets cut up nicely in the break of this track by the DJ (well one of them – Mada or Renegade).

“Crazy Mad Flow” is an interesting one and presents me with an appreciation dilemma. On one hand I really like the track as it’s catchy, funky and dope and Curoc and guest MC Nilo (aka Kobalt60) come really rough on it. On the other hand there some influences from the US musically with a bit too much Onyx style yelling going on and it even has a little G-Funk keyboard effect in the break. I remember hearing this song for the first time thinking “gee they’ve really changed their style” and was somewhat concerned at the lack of unique UK feel to it. Anyway taking the song on its own merits, without thinking too deeply about outside influences, it's still pretty damn good.

The next two songs introduce the less positive aspects of this album:
“Cherokee Outlaw” is a shortish interlude which is simply a slow dark beat with what I’m assuming is a Cherokee Indian talking about the White man’s treatment of his people. No argument from me with what he’s saying but I really have no idea why this track appeared on this album? There is not anything alluding to the situation of American Indians on the rest of album at all and it just seems out of place here.
Confusing the relevance of the previous track even further is the fact that it’s immediately followed up by the musically lightweight sounding track “Family”. Bringing a vital, if somewhat idealistic, message to the listener I cannot be mad at the topic behind this one (families sticking together through thick and thin) but musically it’s getting towards fairy floss territory and it was quite a shock to hear the man who was once a Gunshot member making a track like this. It features a female singer who appears at the start of the track, in the chorus and pretty much takes over the song for the last 2 minutes of it. If that wasn’t bad enough, the music on this one would've been perfectly suited to Monie Love. Sorry Curoc and friends, I love ya but this one is not for me.

Much redemption is earnt however with “Here The Cop” possessing what I see as the classic Kold Sweat sound. Midtempo, sparse, slightly scattered offbeat drums with a busy bassline and a raw, dusty, jazzy break create a very enjoyable soundscape. Curoc brings a casual yet purposeful delivery on this track discussing the ills of the world such as governments, drugs and racism. NICE TRACK.

Unfortunately proceedings take a strange turn with “Pedro’s Return” for no other reason than the recording quality of the track itself. The vocals are really low and very muffled, the music has no bass or kick to it and the whole track sounds like the quality control of the recording was totally overlooked and it’s a bit of a mess. Perhaps it’s my CD that’s at fault as I’ve never heard this song elsewhere for comparison. Shame too coz it’s actually quite a raw song with some deft DJ work in evidence.

The fantastic posse cut “Keep It Going Pt2” comes up next (in better sound quality). It’s a rough, hard track with explosive deep end bass crashing around behind it. It’s the sequel to the Part 1 posse track that appeared on their first LP. Whilst this sequel features lesser known MC’s compared to the first part it is just as good and I perhaps like this one ever so slightly more than Part 1. Standout here is Nilo/Kobalt60 and an added bonus for me is the appearance of the Scientists of Sound who are criminally underrated by the UK scene and happen to be one of my favourite groups. Razor sharp DJ cutting is a major bonus on this track too.

The next three tracks put another dent in proceedings:
“Down With Son Of Noise” has a pretty boring, overused and simple slightly old school “clap your hands” type beat and another female recruited for chorus duties, none of which ring of hardcore, raw hip hop.
“Ad Astra” is a relatively plain and dark instrumental which features a dude yelling “Superhuman Interstellar” and a couple other vocal samples about New Mexico or something – ummmm ok.
“White Trash” presents itself as a bit of a strange song next. Lyrically and topically Curoc is on point attacking racists with a semi-whispered yet rapid vocal delivery – which is cool. However it has a pretty weak chorus with a rather irritating female songstress singing something like “blah, blah, blah, all humans were created equal” and similarly to the “Family” track she gets the last minute of the song all to herself. I don’t know if the guys were giving their girlfriends a shot at fame on this album but a much more subdued presence from these ladies, or even a total disappearance by them, would’ve been preferred by this listener. Some goofy sound effects behind our singing friend don't help it either.

“A+Rse Hole” thankfully brings us back again to the rougher rapid sounds of their earlier album and is probably the most classic “britcore” sounding track on the album. No prizes for guessing what this song is about. “You sign your cousin and your boys but couldn’t give a flyin f*** about Son of Noise”. The second verse of the song pays a nice tribute to lots of old school artists with Curoc giving shoutouts to his contemporaries such as Powerlords, Mello, No Remorze, MCD, Standing Ovation etc. etc. This is more like it !

A remix of “Crazy Mad Flow” pops up next. Quite different from the original with it’s old school soul sounding horns and 70’s funk disco sound (reminiscent of Camp Lo). I do prefer the original version of this song but it’s not bad and I'm glad it’s a genuine remix with a new sound and not just a slight alteration from the original as some remixes are.

The epic “Scratch It At Your Own Risk” kicks in next. This monster of a DJ track features FIVE DEEJAYS – Shorty Blitz, Big Ted, Son, Renegade and Mada. Each has turns cutting up dem tingz in a ballistic manner over an old electro track and Curoc announces each DJ by dropping each DJ's name before they start their round of talent exhibition. As far as DJ tracks go this is one of my favourites of all time and the fact that the DJ’s keep rotating from one to the next keeps the interest up for the entire track.

“Pressure” is the last of the female singer driven tracks and once again the little miss on this song gets way too much time to show her abilities. She actually opens the song with her vocals and sings for one and a half minutes, before a word is heard from Curoc, which may have you checking that your CD changer hasn't skipped to an R&B album. In fact she gets roughly 3 minutes of the 6min song all to herself and even stays moaning on the track behind Curoc as he rhymes. By this late point of the album the singing thing really becomes too much and I don’t even care what the song is about.

Although I am stopped from pressing eject when the “Here The Cop” remix drops ! Again it’s another remix that sounds quite different from its parent track. This track is driven by a very stripped back and hard beat which is perfection in its raw simplicity. The straightforward yet precise DJ work in the chorus tops this one off magnificently. It’s pretty much exactly what hip hop should sound like in my opinion.

The album closes out with some guy named Paul Ryan talking about the music industry and the UK hip hop scene over a very dark and pretty dope beat. Although Paul’s views are totally on point, from an entertainment standpoint it’s not the kind of track you’re going to play over and over and get much out of after the first couple listens. Maybe it would’ve been a bit better just to close the album on a major high with the “Here The Cop” remix and have this last track as the intro ?

Reading back my review I don’t know how much I like this album? There is some pretty harsh criticism yet a lot of glowing praise as well. In summary perhaps it’s best put as saying there was too much of what I didn’t want (the R&B laced softer tracks) and not enough of what I was expecting and hoping for (the rougher hardcore sounds of their first album). Additionally a few different themes and styles were thrown around the album leaving me somewhat confused at the lack of coherence in the overall feel of the album. Having said that i'd still recommend it as an essential part of any UK hip hop lovers collection, the top tracks are worth the price of admission alone !

RUTHLESS RAP ASSASSINS - THINK! IT AIN'T ILLEGAL YET (Murdertone/EMI - 1991)

Haven't listened to this one for a while now but i think it deserves some airtime via a small review.

During an era where there weren't all that many UK groups with more than one album I remember being quite happy to see a follow-up effort from the Ruthless Rap Assassins. Whilst it doesn't quite live up to their debut there was some class on this album.

It starts off nicely with "What did you say your name was ?", an almost 8min long track which serves as a re-introduction to the crew with the two Dangerous fellas (C and Hinds) on the mic. The track is interlaced with all sorts of vocal samples from the likes of everyone from Chuck Chillout to Awesome Dre and has "that" Public Enemy whistle thing running throughout. As far as i recall DJ Dangerous C wasn't picking up the mic on the first LP as much as he does on this one and it is an added bonus to hear rhymes from him. "Killer on wax is back to attack ..."

Next up comes the awesome "Listen to the Hit". The track starts of nicely with a little section that sounds like an excerpt from a live show with Hinds ragga chatting over a sparse beat, and then the real beat kicks in with the funkiest guitar sample that you're likely to ever hear behind a beat and it wouldn't sound out of place on an Ice T album. Great classic vocal sample for the chorus (Ice Cube this time) - which seems to be a fantastic trademark of the RRA sound since the first LP. Great track. "We're gonna play another ruthless hit coz we're sick of that pop s**t" - word up!

Kermit brings us a solo effort with "Why Me?". The guy has a few things to say in this track to haters and whilst I like his mic style the track is not particularly stunning compared to others on here and is somewhat messy.

Another track of epic duration (close to 9mins) follows ie. the title track "Think". In accordance to the song-title, the song is deep on the knowledge tip and discusses the British Govt, slavery and the plight of the black man in the UK. Despite the length of the song and the all too familiar beat (Rakim's "Paid in Full") it doesn't get boring as once again there's some nice samples throughout (The D.O.C this time amongst others) and towards the end of the song you find african rhythms riding along nicely with the beat.

"Hard and Direct" greets us next. Basically this track is all about the history of RRA and how they came up through the old school UK scene with the track appropriately fuelled by old school electro beats. I'd be breakdancing to this one ...... if i could.

The rather hard to listen to "I Got No Time" shows up next. This track is basically RRA's attempt at rap/rock and this personally does nothing for me and the half-sung Hendrix attempt in the chorus just sounds terrible ! A message to all MC's - please leave the singing to the real singers !!! (Websta on X-Ray Eyes being the only exception).

Thankfully we have the "Radio" track to somewhat brings things back to normal next. Although this track ALSO adopts rock guitars they are certainly more subtle than the last track. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to guess that this track is about lack of radio airplay and selling out. Nice use of a Chuck D sample in this one.

"Down and Dirty" takes us into the minds of dirty old men and perverted types. Whilst the attempt to diss these lowlifes is admirable the track is very slow and plodding and just plain boring and I don't know if anyone would want to listen to this track repeatedly and enjoy it.

"No Tale, No Twist" brings it's mellow self to us next. It's a reflective song about ghetto life which once again has the right idea thematically but the jazzy, girl singing vibe doesn't do much for my hardcore craving ears other than making me skip to the next track ...

... which is "Pick up the Pace" and just so happens to be my favourite track on this album ! Simply a rough, rugged, braggadocious track with the guys flowing nicely and aggressively on what happens to be the shortest track on the album at 4mins 24secs, which would qualify as a long track on most other albums.

"(I try to) Flow It Out" comes next. Another message laden track which once again doesn't have an interesting enough musical composition behind it. In fact it's a painfully boring "electro meets bongo drums" beat which kinds sounds like an MC Tunes track slowed to 70BPM.

"Less Mellow" closes out the LP. I guess it's sort of a Part2/remix of their "Just Mellow" track from LP numero uno. Again the rock guitar is picked up for this one with a slightly grating on the nerves effect and 70% of the track seems to be just music without rhymes. Personally i prefer the orginal "Just Mellow" 100 times more than this.

So i guess this album is hit and miss for me - some gems, some sub-par efforts. Full marks for lyrical content and wisdom dropped but unfortunately some of the music couldn't match the quaility of the lyrical content. Great use of audio samples within and between tracks and overall not a bad follow-up effort which i probably rate 7/10. They should've left the guitars at home though .

WARPED ETHICS EP - PROMO (2006)

People like myself who love the old days when UK hip hop was fast, noisy and hardcore have been frustrated for too many years hoping for a new artist to appear and deliver that exact style that we long for and have been missing for close enough to 12-15 years. Sure there have been a few artists like Eastborn and Dead Residents who have a big influence from the old days in their sounds but no one in the current era has really stepped on the scene with that exact 1991 UK sound. I had really lost all hope of ever hearing that sound again until 2006 when my dreams of britcore resurrection were finally realised with the emergence of Warped Ethics (MC/DJ Exile and MC Phet) and their absolutely incredible 7 track demo EP.

The EP starts with “From the Underground Up” which is the type of intro that you’d hear on old albums from Gunshot, PE or Ice T. The first thing you hear is a horror movie type extract which ends with a “now it beings” quote and then the beat starts, and what a beat it is ! It sounds like Gunshot meets Killa Instinct, with pounding drums, ominous classical music samples and all sorts of screams and howls. To top it off Exile drops some sharp cuts over the track to complete the package of a great hardcore hip hop intro. It sets the tone for the EP perfectly and it's the kind of intro that would have any britcore fan of old going weak at the knees in excited anticipation of what is to come ...

... and "Attack Ya Whole Format” is exactly the opening track you'd be hoping for ! It starts off with more horror movie type excerpts, sticking to the aura set by the intro (an aura which continues for the whole EP), and then the music kicks in and Exile’s DJ skills immediately take centre stage in the form of frenetic scratching over a hyper beat and we haven’t even heard him on the mic yet. After a minute of so of amazing buildup we hear Phet rip the mic in a rather impressive manner and I would say that his performance on this track is probably his best of the whole EP as he absolutely tears the track to shreds with his somewhat rough and rugged tones. We also get to hear Exile grab the mic here and as good as Phet is, his partner Exile is probably even better. To me he sounds like the almighty MC Iceski from The Criminal Minds with a slight Ad Rock aspect to his voice at times and he also possesses a lovely pronounced drawn out ending to each line he spits. Whoever he sounds like, he and Phet are perfectly suited to these fast, hard beats and they’d be right at home as alternate MC’s on Gunshot’s Patriot Games LP. Speaking of beats, this track has wonderful drums which hit hard and pacey and an underlying ominous sounding dramatic soundtrack which all combine to make an awesome hectic, noisy and hard track. Exile multi-tasks beautifully on this track with even more of his rapid scratching in the breaks.

Howling werewolves and a “terror stalks with the stealthy steps of death” quote bring in “The Beast Must Die Part II”. Picking up right where the previous track left off this is another fast paced song which will leave you breathless with its relentless yet perfect musical mayhem and rapid fire verbal attacks. Very noticeable on this track is the tag team relationship between Phet and Exile on the microphones with rapid blasts of lyrical attack coming equally from both MC’s as they take turn upon turn of slaying the track as if the beat was the werewolf that’s being tracked down by our dope duo of underworld hunters. Musically we are presented with another rapid beat with dramatic type strings and other effects to give that horror movie on wax feel. The tension and drama actually builds as the song progresses and you almost feel like you are out there with them closing in on their metaphorical beastly prey. "Endeavour to rock hardcore whatever the weather", lyrics penned in this fan's hip hop heaven !

UK hip hop legends Bandog and Remark feature on “Maniacal Strengths”. Whilst the tempo is still right up there with the prior songs this one has somewhat of a funkiness to it with a catchy use of piano keys giving the track a bit of a bounce (in the most hardcore way possible of course) but at the same time there's a lot of Gunshot in this track. All 4 MC’s shine on here and whilst I can’t really pick a clear standout I would choose Bandog as the highlight (if ordered to choose the best at gunpoint). His classic, natural and amazing flow is on show in all its glory here (which it always is on ANY song which he is part of). Taking nothing away from Phet and Exile though who stand equally dope alongside their legendary brethren on the track.

If you've read this far you won't be surprised to find out that “Fire and Brimstone” brings us more of that fantastic ominous darkness. It’s a bit more stripped back than the first couple tracks which actually brings the dark horror feel of the track to the forefront. It’s the kind of song that if it came up on your Ipod whilst walking alone through dark streets late at night, well you’d hide out and wait for daylight. Again the guys are controlling the mics in modern day RunDMC back and forth manner and I really couldn’t imagine one without the other, their interaction is perfect in it’s execution. At almost five and half minutes the song or the MC’s do not lose steam at all and they rhyme for almost the entirety of the song with only ONE break halfway through for a chorus (which is something I never noticed before writing this review). It’s a marathon effort of hardcore hip hop bliss and is truly amazing.

“Turn’in The Backs” is probably the least “busy” song on the EP with more of simple production style on display (horns stabs off and on over a mid tempo break) but in no way is that detrimental. Musically it might actually be the sort of song that would convert those new school fans unfamiliar with the old sounds towards the britcore style as to me the sound sits somewhere between “1991 britcore” and “2007 head nodder”. However despite the slightly different sound the MC's are still on high speed overdrive, and that's a good thing in my books. Interestingly the chorus is slightly different with the rappers verbalising the chorus this time instead of cutting which may also lend itself to the idea that the track may appeal to "standard" hip hop fans as well as the UK old school massive (plus this track is giving Exile’s hands a well deserved rest from the DJ cutting work). Significant in this song are the shoutouts to other current britcore groups towards the end of the track – such as Sonz of Hardcore, Dark Craftsmen, MonkeySons and Sharpshooterz who are all artists that any britcore fan should be listening to and supporting. I certainly won't be turning my back on these groups or this style of hip hop.

The final track is “Schizophrenic Epidemic” and to my ears seems as somewhat of a Part 2 to “Maniacal Strengths”. Bandog and Remark are on board once again but this time they are joined by their mate Aleon and the very distinctively voiced Rage from another great UK crew of old, Deliverance. Nice little flutes and horns throughout, a fast tapping hi hat and less darkness give this song a slightly lighter feel although again not to the extent that the pace and feel of the EP lets up – because it doesn’t. Again the whole collective of MC’s are dope here but Rage is particularly impressive with his incredibly clear and strong verbal diction, which has me thinking back to the days of listening to old Deliverance EP’s and how he stood out there. Overall it's a brilliant all star posse cut and a great combination of new and old britcore torchbearers. This track is the Ying Yang of the EP where the old meet the new and combine in perfect harmony.

Well in fact everything about this EP is in perfect balance. I do not exaggerate when I say that in all honestly this is the BEST hip hop release I have heard for many, many years and it is EXACTLY what I want my hip hop to sound like and when I first heard it I was actually awestruck that someone came out of the blue with music like this (which is something I always wanted to happen but never really thought would). I cannot fault even one tiny aspect of this EP. It's as if someone jumped into a time machine, went back the early 90's and the heydays of the britcore era and returned to the present day with this EP (and for the naysayers who think that hip hop needs to sound progressive, experimental or modern to be good, screw you because many of us live and breathe to hear music like this again). As Phet said they might be "coming from the land that time forgot" but I for one have never forgotten this sound and never will and I am so glad and overjoyed that Warped Ethics now exist in this modern era !

X POSSEE - PROJECT X (Mango Records - 1989)

X marks the spot and in this case X also identifies the Overlord and his incorrectly spelt "Possee" with their "X Project" compilation showcase ...

"X Possee Theme" is the intro to this collection of tracks. Although listed as an Overlord X track it is really just an instrumental intro which i guess was produced by the man himself. It's a quite enjoyable intro, if slightly too long, which is simply a heavy beat with PE type whistles over the top, dramatic horns stabs and the Overlord X in "Lord V" disguise chanting "X Possee" which sets the scene for the album ...

"Kickin it Live" by the Freshski Dames comes in as the first vocal track. I've never been a big fan of female MC's but these two dames do bring it FRESH enough. Imagine the harder side of Cookie Crew mixed with PE and you'd have a good idea what this one sounds like. The PE whistle runs throughout this one as do sirens and some nice DJ work. In all honesty the girls are not great MC's and in fact at times they sound closer to talking than rapping on the mic but the dopeness of the music behind them really carries this one.

The king of the Posse, Overlord X, brings us a solo effort next in "The X and the V". In fact to be totally correct it's actually a "duo" effort as he rhymes along with his deep voiced alter ego Lord Vader in the background. As i've written elsewhere the Lord V thing didn't always sit too well with me but it's not too overdone here. The track itself has a pretty simplistic yet dope sparse drum break driving it and the Overlord comes with his usual rugged vocal perfection on the mic. The kind of track that could've easily sat on his first solo LP.

The raw, rather hardcore "X Army" by Dark Heart spins next. Driven by rather fast drum machine programming, alarm sounds in the chorus and speedy MC delivery this one is quite rugged and rough in the best possible way. For some reason some of the tracks on this compilation sound more like 85, 86 old school style hip hop but this actually sounds a lot more like 1990-91 hardcore UK Kold Sweat style. Must mention that DJ Vietnam "works the wax" beautifully in this one as well. Great track.

Female MC Kandy comes at us next with her "Ain't Got the Time". This one is an example of going back towards the mid 80's sound i mentioned above, probably mostly due to the fact that the song uses a sped up Spoonie G bassline, basic drum programming and a lot of words echo and fade themselves out old school style ie. "i ain't got the time time time time ....". It's a pretty good song though and Kandy (or Kandie as she spells it out on the track - different from the album cover) is a much better MC than the Freshski girls.

Super T and Sir Preme T hit us next with their DJ only track "Return of the Breaks". Not too much elaboration needed on this one aside from the fact that the DJ's go to work nicely over an instrumental version of Kane's "Raw". At 6 minutes long, it does get a bit boring after 3 or 4 of those minutes but that's the only weak factor of an otherwise decent DJ track.

The rough voiced Stingray delivers the "Project X" track next which is a very raw and funky James Brown laced effort. The curious thing about this one is that Stingray actually sounds a lot like "Overlord X standing 3 metres away from the mic" or to put it differently Stingray sounds like X except that his voice doesn't boom and resonate through the mic as clearly or loud as the Overlord's does. Anyway the similarity is a definite bonus and i really like this guy. The familiar and very funky bassline (from Stetsasonic's "In Full Gear") doesn't hurt the appeal of this track either.

Midrange (R.I.P.) has talent to tell you about on his "I Got Talent" song. This one rocks very hard on a deep, heavy, funk beat beat on the slow and low tip. Midrange actually has a very interesting touch to his voice where he seems to drift between many sytles and accents - touches of a Silver Bullet "almost" growl roughness and then back to more clear clarity and then slightly into other varied emphasis on various pronounciations - it's quite weird. Whether it's talent or not can be left up to the individual listener but it's not a bad effort really.

After hearing Stingray and now the "Suckers" effort from Magnificent Sam i'm starting to think that Overlord X has been letting his alter ego's run wild and that the Derek B/Easy Q split personality phenomenon has a lot to answer for ! Magnificent Sam sounds 98% like the Overlord with the only slight difference being that Sam is marginally less clean with his articulation of words on the mic. Anyway the track itself is solid, if not somewhat 1987 generic sounding with it's beat and funky soul horns. If i could stop thinking of him trying to sound like X i'd probably be more into this track.

"X Possee Reprisal" is the outro and is nothing more than a re-run of the Intro.

There's a news broadcast message at the start of this album which states that "The X Posse could single-handedly change the face of music as we know it today." ... unfortunately that ambitious claim wasn't anywhere near the truth. However it is a solid little compilation with a couple outstanding tracks and certainly nothing wack or weak. None of them come close to the Overlord X himself though (even if a couple of them did their best to sound like him!) ...

KATCH 22 - DIARY OF A BLACKMAN LIVING IN THE LAND OF THE LOST (Kold Sweat - 1991)

Deep, intelligent, conscious, afrocentric lyrics.
Hardcore, raw, funky beats.
Articulate, aggressive, wisdom possessing, unique MC...

... that is Katch22 and this is their debut album "Diary of a Blackman Living in the Land of the Lost".

The album starts out with short excerpt from a live show, a few words from an old Louis Farrakhan speech and then you are greeted by the track "Ghetto Child". This track sets the scene for the whole album topically with black consciousness in full glorious effect (and it stands as one of the most afrocentrically aware LP's to come out of the UK scene at the time along with Black Radical's "Blackman's Leviathan"). The MC of the group, HuntKillBuryFinn, is easily one of my top rappers of all time - he comes with a clear, commanding, strong voice - intelligent, thought provoking lyrics - yet rough and rugged enough to give his flow the necessary hardcore street appeal. Musically this track comes raw yet funky enough with the "often used but never over used" Apache beat quite well concealed beneath a solid bassline and spicks and specks of horns and keyboards throughout.

"Katch Mission" brings you a somewhat abstract use of what sounds like a screechy trumpet or saxophone screaming constantly over nice guitar licks and beats. It actually sounds quite like a less structured PE track. HuntFinn tears this track to sheds with his commanding tones laying out his description of Katch22's mission statement.
"UK rap can't excel if we copy the US" - indeed!

"Cynical World" comes with a very different sound to the prior track as this track is far less urgent and more laidback but far from being mellow as it is very raw in a sparse sense - a simplish beat with dirty horn samples at much lower levels behind the main track. HuntFinn also rhymes somewhat differently and at times stylistically here he reminds me of KRS on "Criminally Minded" - interestingly enough the Teacher earns himself a sample on this track as well.

"Service with a smile" is probably one of the harder tracks for me to write about as it is one of my favourite rap songs of all time and once i start praising it i won't know where to stop ! Anyway here it goes in a few words - booming, rocking, uptempo, smash your head in beat ... HuntFinn aggressive and threatening as you'd ever hear him but at the SAME TIME crystal clear and 100% perfect vocal execution and amazing lyrical complexity ... and to top it off THREE DEEJAYS ON ONE TRACK - each with his own turn at cutting up s**t in the chorus breaks - one with the brilliant name of DJ Kill-A-Man-Twice. That's it i'll say no more ... u just gotta hear this !

"Son of Shem" gives the listener a chance to catch their breath and think for a little bit after the last head banger. This is basically an interlude with a jazzy track topped with various samples from mostly Farrakhan with a bit of Malcolm X and some UK people along the black awareness lines. It's not the kind of track that's really possible to rate as dope or wack as such - it's just "there" and seems to fit the theme of the album perfectly in fact.

Keeping things at a mellower pace is "Mindfield". Not normally my style with it's jazzy, laidback stylings and sung chorus however it has great drums and HuntFinn can really make most tracks exciting and interesting with that voice of his. Obviously the title indicates it's another knowledge dropper of a song - this album is certainly not for those who like nonsense babbling talking loud but saying nothing freestyle MC's, the man HKFinn comes with wisdom for the uneducated masses ...

... and he will "slap you with the truth from his microphone" as he does on "Diary of a Blackman". This gem comes full circle back to the harder sounds found in the earlier LP tracks - rugged and busy beats, dramatic horn stabs, nice DJ cutting, it's all here. No prizes for guessing that he gives Chuck D a run for his afrocentric knowledge in this one and yes he does it WELL. Farrakhan gets sample airtime once again as does Richard Pryor amongst others. Great, great, great song.

The jazzy side of HuntFinn shows itself again on "State of Meditation" - a side which seemed to come more to the forefront as his career evolved. Rhyming quite slowly almost to the point of being a spoken word track this one won't have you waving your fist in the air but will have you kickin, back, chillin to the smooth sounds and expanding your grey matter with this knowledge laden meditation track.

The scales tip to the hardcore side once again with "Who's Business". Featuring a soundtrack that sounds like someone adjusted a 33RPM reggae loop to 45 this one is really raw and rugged with HuntFinn dropping a style akin to a rougher Mike J with just a small touch of "rapping down a telephone" 75% recording quality to his voice - and it comes off something lovely.

"Stalag 22" actually brings us reggae dub style at normal speed this time. Not too much i can say about this track as it is a rather token "rap over reggae" track but without doubt he sounds much better over beats like this than a lot of US MC's with their fake Jamaican wannabe attempts in the past.

The quality posse cut "Rogues Gallery" is next batter up and features label mates Dynametrix and the always superb Shaka Shazam (i always wanted a solo album from him to be made!). A very funky bassline sitting behind a pretty simple uptempo beat drives this one but the definite highlight here are the MC's. The Dynametrix guys sound almost better than on their own stuff (the Busta Rhymes syndrome?), Shaka Shazam delivers his booming aggressive messy style and HuntFinn closes out things above them all with a nice verse at the end. Not the posse cut to beat all but very, very solid and Shaka and HKFinn together on another track is what my UK hip hop dreams are made of (also heard on Hijack's 10/10 hardcore perfection "The Contract").

Once again the now slightly strange speed it up/slow it down pattern continues with "The Brown Clown". This has another very slow pace to it with a kind of plodding drum programming with a flute behind it. I can't hate on it as it is nice for what it is and the flute is somewhat hypnotic and HKFinn again "keeps em eager to listen" with his voice and message but it's not the sort of thing you'd want to be playing on a long drive if you're half asleep behind the steering wheel of your car !

Busy drums welcome you to "Get Together Now". The track has that James Brown funky soul feel to it and is basically the instrumental outro to the album with only 20 seconds or so of rhymes from HKFinn. Pretty good way to close out the album but it would probably be a better 1 minute track than a 3 minute one (i tend to stop it halfway through).

Despite the somewhat confusing 2nd half of the album structure with extreme tempo/style changes from track to track this is overall a superb album (thanks mostly to HuntKillBuryFinn's vocal and lyrical presence). It goes down in my personal music listening history as one of the albums that made my love for UK hip hop what it was and is to this very day and for that i'm ever grateful to the sounds of Katch22 with their hardcore tracks of knowledge.