BBC Proms - The Breaks

A few weeks ago the BBC televised this year's Proms. Unfortunately they decided not to televise the only concert that would actually be more beneficial from viewing and instead only broadcasted it via radio.
This was something different. Yes, it was an orchestra but it was an orchestra with soul, namely The Heritage Orchestra who can certainly parp out a fine rendition of a classic break or 2 (or 26 if we're counting).
Classic funk breakbeats being covered by an orchestra not populated by stuffy shirts is actually a pretty good idea. Who'da thort it?

Not only was there a fine group of musicians onstage led by the maestro, Jules Buckley, BUT there was a well-funky drummer AND, get this, a fookin' excellent turntablist (DJ Switch) to complement them. As if this wasn't enough there was also a gaggle of b-boys & gals (Soul Mavericks) throwing down. We'll never know how good they were thanks to the Beeb's odd insistance of not broadcasting the visuals during the whole Proms specials over the season on BBC Four. But from the sounds of things they did provide a perfect backdrop to this event which was held in the Royal Albert Hall. Plus I have it on good authority from our man on the inside that were indeed dope as gravy on chips.

However, you do have the chance to listen to the 1 hour and 45 minute show on the BBC website. Again, these are never given long and the opportunity will soon be whipped away - 17 days from now in fact.
If you happen to view this page sometime in the future (hey, how's it going! Is Trump still there? How did Brexit go? Did Marathons stay as Marathons after their limited edition experiment?) and still want to to hear it then hit us up. Yeah, it contravenes all sorts of copyright laws but seeing as this blog gets only marginally more views than the latest iPhone terms and conditions agreement then who gives a monkey's? Just like that irritating northern England broadband supplier, we'll do you proud.

These are the breaks... (sorry):

01 Apache (The Incredible Bongo Band)
02 It’s Just Begun (The Jimmy Castor Bunch)
03 Hot Wheels - The Chase (Badder Than Evil)
04 Space Funk (Manzel)
05 Think (About It) (Lyn Collins)
06 Goldfish (The Herbaliser)
07 North Carolina (The Poets of Rhythm)
08 Get on the Good Foot )James Brown)
09 Forty Days (Billy Brooks)
10 Freaky Dancing (Cameo)
11 All This Love That I’m Giving (Gwen McCrae)
12 Castles (The Futures)
13 Ashley’s Roachclip (The Soul Searchers)
14 Rock Steady (Aretha Franklin)
15 Give It Up or Turnit a Loose (James Brown)
16 Get Up (One Way)
17 Ready or Not (Herbie Hancock)
18 More Bounce to the Ounce (Zapp)
19 All Over Now (Alice Russell)
20 Rated X (Kool & The Gang)
21 The Mexican (Babe Ruth)
22 Night Of The Wolf (Esperanto)
23 Disco Connection (Isaac Hayes)
24 Dance To The Drummer’s Beat (Herman Kelly)
25 Beggin’ (Madcon)
26 Theme From S.W.A.T. (Rhythm Heritage)

Trevor's Rapper's Delight

Being that we have just celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of arguably the first rap record, Rapper's Delight (it's not), BBC Radio 2 decided to shove out another of it's ever-so-informative hip-hop documentaries.
The usually-reliable Trevor (these days sans his mad hat) Nelson is on board to trawl out the old heads to chat about stories we've heard a million times before over safe, radio versions of commercial rap classics.
Morgan Khan pops up at one point to talk about the Streetsounds Electro series and mentions UK Fresh 86 where we learn that Mick Jagger was in the audience - it's one of those facts that you probably already knew but forgot.
Monie Love materialises and uses her Battersea Voice as she's addressing her British crowd which I thought was awfully nice of her. Trevor gets a bit flustered and thinks that Ladies First was recorded in 2006. No one bats an eyelid.

Anyway, it's a pleasant way to pass an hour if you're bored but note that this is a limited time listening only (at the time of writing just over two weeks left).

I won't give this a rating out of 5 but instead shall just say that normally I record/rip hip-hop-related programmes from BBC iPlayer for prosperity. This time I listened to it on the Sounds app and went on about my day afterwards.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00089yn

Record Review - Haynesy Dope Beat Biz Volume 1

Haynesy aka DJ Cue Tips, returns with a fully-fledged album with help from some stalwarts of the UK rap scene.
At first glance one look at the tracklisting makes you involuntarily rub your eyes and do a double take. The calibre of artists on the cover seems like a wishlist rather than those on an already completed project as this actually is. It reads like a who’s who of current UK rap with artists such as Whirlwind D, Blade and Chrome.
Did I say Blade?
Yes, the underground master of the British scene is included here and seems well at home. This is not an old cast-off vocal that’s been hanging around on a floppy disk from 1995 either - it’s all new.
The content on this album is fresh in all senses of the word. Production is taken care of by the boom-bap brother himself, Haynesy in this follow-up to his Hip Hop Advocate debut from last summer.

There is a strong return from Scorzayzee (who was ever-present on the previous collection), taking up a quarter of the album beating fellow HHA alumni Dweller, who comes correct with a couple of cuts himself.
The production is really quite strong with nice slappy snares and deep, punching basslines. The fact that Haynesy is happy to use from familiar sources gives the album a real feeling of intimacy. You don’t have to be a nerdy trainspotter to recognise some of the audio steals and this makes it rewarding when you place where you’ve heard the music before.

What I noticed upon my first listen through of the album was that there is a solid pattern that emerges. Each track follows a simple formula; scratch intro, verse, scratch chorus, verse, scratch outro. And Haynesy has employed the turntable talents of South Coast maestro of the mix, JabbaThaCut, to keep this important element omnipresent. Jabs scratches everything that isn’t nailed down in the cut. In fact he even cuts up Chrome in the last bars of his own track, Start The Panic. It’s like he can hardly wait for Norwich’s boy wonder to finish spitting before he mashes up the place with Chrome’s own vocals.
The overall tone of the album is mainly positive vibes which are indeed helped by the upbeat production. The scorching sun outside my window whilst I listen to this really does help to elevate the experience, it has to be said. Certainly it would not sound out of place at a BBQ either.

In hindsight I would loved to have seen a DJ track purely to show off Jabba’s talents.
Also to offset the largely vocal volume of the album, an instrumental cut might have been a nice idea to break up the flow midway through perhaps. Haynesy shows he is more than capable of delivering a killer soundscape and a chance to spotlight his undisturbed beats would be more than welcome.

So who is this collection of tunes aimed at? If you’re reading this then you are more than likely the target audience. Whilst it would be fantastic to get a new, younger crowd on board I think it’s pretty unlikely as this type of hip-hop would sound as alien to them as most modern day stuff does to our own ears. Unless you’ve been feeding your kids a regular diet of the realness then it’ll be mostly down to us dad-aged, balding, waistline-expanding, sofa-enthusiasts who will be heading to Bandcamp to procure this album.

With nine different artists across 13 tracks there is guaranteed to be something for everyone here. You’ll soon be able to digitally download the album (from 06/09/2019) on Bandcamp (http://fatman.bandcamp.com/album/dope-beat-biz-volume-1) and a vinyl release is also set to follow after this date.

Who’s on the album?

1 Put Me On - Geebag & Neek The Exotic
2 Trained Assassins - Scorzayzee
3 Back In The Day  - Suspekt
4 Use Your Head - Blade
5 Jungle - Dweller
6 Pioneerz - Scorzayzee
7 Pick It Up - ddubble
8 Tri Polar - Scorzayzee
9 These Days - Dweller
10 Now & Then - Whirlwind D
11 Start The Panic - Chrome
12 Evolution - Scorzayzee
13 W-E-G - Weg




See also:
https://repo136.blogspot.com/2018/07/haynesy-hip-hop-advocate-album-sneak.html

https://repo136.blogspot.com/2018/02/new-from-haynesy-feat-ddubble-ddubble-ep.html

72 ABU Show August 2019

Hey freaks!

Big shout to whoever is still checking out this dearly-departed, shell of a once-thriving communication hub.
Ahhh, ABU. The blog. The place that once connected me to so many of you. Sadly Facebook came along, took me to a bar, we got chatting and before you know it we were knocking boots. And it's been that way ever since. I cannot turn away from that sultry siren, my meandering mistress.

And so here I am, cap in hand. Foolishly trying to explain that I still have feelings for all of my faithful readership even though I've been playing away. I feel as if I need to apologise to you but it's a two-way street. Not to sound like a bad Cliff Richard song but it feels like we don't talk any more.
It's okay. I understand. We all lead busy lives so I guess we have different places we need to be nowadays. We can't stay in the past, awkwardly tring to rekindle those feelings we had at the beginning, can we?
Just know that I, Mister Reeps, will always be here for you.

That said, here is the latest ABU Podcast. It's show number 72 and tends to feature a bit more 1985 business than usual - no problem as far as I'm concerned, it was a great year.
There's some seldom-heard album tracks from BDP, Eazy-E and Beastie Boys as well as a nod to the recent UK Fresh 86 anniversary (its' 33rd actually - wow!).
I've been listening to the majority of the available (on the t'internet at least) radio shows featuring the World's Famous Supreme Team lately so have included some nice excerpts from them. One of them features a caller who tries to swear down the telephone but Just Allah The Superstar has razor-sharp reflexes!
We also focus on British composer and jazz pianist, Roy Budd who came up with some brilliant film scores over the years. Three songs are evidenced on the show which capture just how funky he was.
Plus the usual off-the-wall spoken word drops and crap scratching from me and that concludes the show.

Remember if you have any ideas, requests or a mix (30 mins max) for upcoming shows then get in touch by either leaving a comment or flinging over an email to ageingbboys@yahoo.com




(or go straight here https://hearthis.at/repo136/72abushowaug2019mp3/MJi/)

Whirlwind D - Doin It Review

Here's the latest single from Whirlwind D, the stalwart and perhaps, flagship act of the south coast's leading rap label, B-Line Recordings.

Side A's DOIN' IT is the lead track which gets the video treatment and is an uptempo stormer. D does as the title suggests and conveys his feelings of still being involved in the scene even now as an elder statesman ("I might be old but it doesn't really matter, the beat gets fatter, my knees are being battered.."). I like that he doesn't shy away from the truth of the ageing process and is quite brutally honest ("..hairs out my nose and my hearing's all shattered, six-pack's gone, complexion's all tattered.."). If it wasn't for the dopeness of the beat then I might just sit here wailing in concurrence about the demise of my life.
But back to that dope beat. DJAR ONE is on production duties here and has provided a funky blank canvas for D's lines to be clearly heard without overloading it.
If this song was a cake then Djar One would obviously be Paul Hollywood with SPECIFIK undoubtedly channeling Mary Berry, adding the icing and cherry on top of the final mix with his super-sharp chorus cuts - The Great British Break Off, if you like.

The flipside is a real change around both sonically as well as literally. Djar & Specifik swap production duties this time.
Beginning with a snippet of a very slinky jazz number before heading into a boom-bappy, funk groove courtesy of Specifik, 'SOMETIMES' proceeds to kick off about those who continually seem to have had the jam taken out of their daily doughnut.
Social media - amongst other factors - comes under scrutiny here with D looking at the various ingredients which can make up our stress in modern times.
Djar One cuts up the chorus in fine style using a plethora of classic rap tunes all featuring this b-side's song title. Lovely stuff.

As always, with B-Line product, you know that the product is geared mainly towards the collector so you can expect high quality all the way from the photography to the packaging.

If this has whetted your appetite then rush over to the B-Line shop and purchase a copy before they disappear.

Well. There's nothing more to add except than, he's done it again!
Hip-hop is still alive and well, you've just got to seek it out.

EXTRAS…

Check out the video for Doin' It.
https://youtu.be/A6ZYkXL_zPI

Soundclips available here on Soundcloud.
https://soundcloud.com/dudleyjaynes/doin-itsometimes

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/4yeDxSwaIPrwVxwkFvqPwe?si=9l6X__84S_K5yJOOkRuFDw

iTunes
https://music.apple.com/gb/album/doin-it-sometimes-single/1470975977

Funkbox Reload - The Summer Solstice 2019

Jorun Bombay returns with another dope hit of his Funkbox Reload show.
The Summer Solstice Edition features classic joints all mixed, cut and scratched the funk up in that inimitable style that he is known for.
I haven't listened yet but going on past shows this will be another doozy. I'm hoping the smug factor will be dialled down a notch but if I'm honest it probably won't be.



( or go direct here if you prefer)

Garbage Pail Digs tee

Mr LOVEGROVE has another superb new t-shirt design out and it's perfect for all you ageing diggers this summer
As always, it's available for a limited time only so get on it quickly (only 7 days remaining)

For all the info go right here.

Why DID more Hip Hop to TDK?

Why DID more Hip Hop to TDK? Just like Smarties, Irish Craig has the answer in his always-fantastic, Random Rap Radio blog https://randomrapradio.com/2017/07/23/why-did-more-hip-hop-to-tdk/

DJ Telao's Old School Blog

Just discovered a great blog called https://djtelaodiscogs.blogspot.com
Contains stacks of Electro/Drum Machine/Mike Allen-era mp3s all for free download. Well recommended.

Dig in!

Infamous Alliance present Break It Down Vol 1

The East Coast is rocking again. This time to the sound of Ipswich's finest, Infamous Alliance aka Jimmy Green and DJ Ben Marr.
ABU recommends their fantastic mix, Break It Down Vol 1 which is a lovely blend of classic hip-hop cuts and their original sources.

Here's some words direct from them:

"We've been doing the Break It Down nights for two years now, and this is a condensed version of some of the music we've played on those nights. DJ Shadow, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, Dilla, De La Soul, Golden Era Hip Hop, Classic Breaks and Beats, Public Enemy, and DJ Premier / Gang Starr.
We use four decks, some tracks are played all the way through, some tracks are cut up and messed with, but we play the original samples and the tracks that sampled them. Biggup The Smokehouse in Ipswich UK for hosting us.
More nights coming soon!"