Album Review - Dweller - Record Of Achievement

One sentiment I hear a lot these days, mostly from the mature hip-hop fan incidentally, is that hip-hop is dead. Or rap died in the Nineties.
Anyone in possession of even half an ear could point you in the direction of some decent ish, you just have to dig a little deeper is all.
To whit, this new piece of wax from a man hailing from the North - Greater Manchester if we're being right and exact - and not afraid to wear his regional heart proudly on his sleeve. His upcoming album, Record Of Achievement, is the result of the blood, sweat and tears of two years of personal struggles making life choices that can only come about from having the determination and confidence to make the switch to the unknown. Has this gamble paid off? Only a fool would release a half-hearted collection of beats hoping they'd do the business and expect to hit paydirt. One listen to RoA and immediately you can hear the time and effort exuding in layer upon layer from the heartfelt, 'grown-up' lyrics to the sultry jazz licks that engulf the loops and rhythms.

My first foray into the world of Dweller was relatively recently when I heard him guesting on a couple of tracks on Haynesy's Dope Beat Biz Volume 1 (2019). With this full-length project Dweller now has room to stretch his legs and speak on anything his lips care to fall on. Whether it's bringing up the problem of stress ('World On My Shoulders'), supporting family ('Breadwinner') or an ode to the missus ('Queen of English'). Braggadocio is minimal, knowledge is subliminal.
Overall the album is filled with smooth, jazzy riffs and snappy snares with cool choruses to keep the earworm community alive and thriving. One of my favourite albums of the 1990s is Digable Planets' 'Reachin' (1993, Pendulum Records) and RoA reminded me a lot of it in parts.
It's honest and unapologetically humble whilst simultaneously audacious with the production - I can't think of the last time I heard snatches of Ellen DeGeneres, 'Frasier' or 'IT Crowd' over hip-hop beats.
This album is a definite headphone experience - late at night, rum & Coke, comfy chair. Your ears will thank you.

At this point it's worth noting that the album is not actually ready to snatch just yet. This isn't K-Tel and it isn't available in all good record shops. Dweller is self-releasing it via the crowdfunding route. To order a copy you will need to go to https://qrates.com/projects/19712?fbclid=IwAR1eTYfsI7VF_ZvGviwRt84uzUH3F-4sjdp2r5DD2tdS8cFjkps5DRnPQcU whereupon you can become a backer of the project. Only 100 punters (or 50 DJs!) need to open their wallets and this dream can become a reality.
With help from Lomax, Batfunk, Mastarblastar, Jonny Capicola and Ex-P, this album is so very worthy of your time. A lot has gone into it and it clearly shows.

Closed Caption Craziness: Wild Style on Amazon Prime Video

"Mamacita rock your nuts..."

As the title suggests, Wild Style is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video at the moment (free with Prime).
I thought I'd give it a go seeing as it had been a while since I last watched it all the way through. But something struck me. I watched it with subtitles on and it soon became clear to me that whoever's job it was to do them clearly had no clue what Wild Style, or even hip-hop culture and history, was about.
I hereby present to you the frankly odd utterings and bizarre translations of an Amazon employee who probably didn't understand the wholly historical importance of the task they had been given.

THE REALNESS - "Crime does not pay"

Here we go and already things have taken a strange turn. The opening credits have just run and we're about to get back to the action. Fab 5 Freddy oversaw the soundtrack although I don't recall any stories of him inserting subliminal voices into the songs attesting to his greatness.

 THE REALNESS -"..because 'MC' stands for Mic Control.."

Eh? Why would you run from mic control? It doesn't even make sense! Then again perhaps if you'd never grasped the basics of holding and using a microphone onstage then you might have a wobble.

THE REALNESS - "And like, Mickey Mouse, the Son of Sam"

Equating New York City's 1970s serial killer, David Berkowitz aka the Son of Sam to Looney Tunes' cuddly, rootin'-tootin', diminutive, firebrand, Yosemite Sam is a bit of a reach if you ask me. Although in retrospect he was rather handy with his six-shooter so who knows what he did after filming had finished at the studio. It's a lonely life in the movie business. Restless nights, sick of all the neverending fans all wanting a piece of you. I wouldn't blame him.

THE REALNESS - "Chief Rocker Busy Bee"

 *Sigh*.

 THE REALNESS - "And the way I shock the house for the young ladies"

*SPLUTTER!!* Without even addressing the intricacies of the differences between language on both sides of 'the pond' this just looks so, so wrong.
However if you recall, they are on their way to the hotel in the Limo and we know that shenanigans are to be had (that's if Mr Bee can stop spelling out bleedin' B's with his dollar bills all over the bed first) so maybe this delicate sexual practice is on the cards.

Lucky Lisa Lee, says I.

 THE REALNESS - errrrrrr?

This one requires VAR or somesuch as I'm not entirely sure if this is the proper line or not. Until now I always thought it was, "and I'll dog your face".
Upon looking at what I've just typed I'm feeling quite sheepish now.

 THE REALNESS - "Now just get on the mic and take command"

Dota Rock (RIP), who introduces the next in line, Ruby D, seems to think he's in The Blue Oyster rather than at The Dixie.

 THE REALNESS - "And if you wanna know why they call me Whip"

"Whimp"? Pretty bold insult to throw around especially as KRS-One once remarked back in the days when he wasn't sticking up for alleged kiddie-fiddlers, if you pop that junk up in the Bronx you might not live.
This subtitle mishap is doubly confusing as the text "Whipper Whip" has been used correctly otherwise all throughout the song so why suddenly change tact now?

 THE REALNESS - "All the def MCs, Double Trouble..."

This switcheroo actually helps to convey the greatness and splendid rhyming skills of all the performers who are about to appear at the Ampitheater at the end of the movie. Freddy is busy handing out flyers to the neighbourhood kids (albeit the ones still able to walk or breathe after being crushed by the impromptu crowd who pushed Patti A's broken down car) doing his hard sell patter.
Good work, Subtitle fella!

 THE REALNESS - "I'm MC Dota Rock, sho 'nuff, sureshot"

Well, peel my tangerines! Just as we were on the up, SubtitleFella throws this into the mix.
We have now arrived at the Ampitheater Jam and the Fantastic Five are bounding up to begin their set on the stage. Dota Rock throws down first with a bit of braggadocio rap which has confused the hell out of Subtitling Simon.

 THE REALNESS - "Ruby D is my name and you can't deny"

 THE REALNESS - "That I'm slick as a ... but all the way live"

Another one that I'm not 100% sure of but I'm willing to put money on the fact that it's not "prick". 'Prince', maybe?

 THE REALNESS - "Just rockin' the house, can you realise?"

This could be a valiant attempt by Ruby D in trying to sort the crowd back into nice, uniform lines after they've been bouncing around all boisterous-like and got themselves all out of kilter.

And so we reach the end of the film. Roll credits. By now the work experience lad in Amazon’s Subtitles Dept really could not give one more hoot as it’s Friday afternoon and he's on a promise with Dirty Debs in Wetherspoons later on.

Wild Style. The film that keeps on giving.

Peace,
Repo

If you have Amazon's Prime Video service then try this link to watch the film yourself:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Style-Lee-Quinones/dp/B07V6ZSLHX/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=wild+style&qid=1580126098&s=instant-video&sr=1-1

Random Rap Radio & DIG Mag - Live On Air

Only three weeks into the new year and warrior of style, Mr LG under the guise of  the wonderful DIG Mag drops this bombshell.
Teaming up with another ABU regular, Irish Craig going under his hot-as-balls Random Rap Radio moniker, LG is about to release 'Live On Air', a compilation of (as well as being a truly affectionate ode to) some very rare radio performances.
You may have heard these back in the day but chances are you probably didn't. These performances were played once and only once on the radio and then would have been deleted or at best, archived for a while and then trashed by the radio stations.
However if it were not for the nerd-like talents and savvy reflexes of one man then these recordings may well have been lost forever. Craig from RRR, if you are not aware, has been providing us with many hip-hop radio shows from yesteryear which he has ripped from his own recorded cassettes for a while now. This new release on the DIG Mag label is a collection of all-new unearthed audio all put together in a superb cut 'n' paste fashion of seamless editing from one performance of freestyles to the next.

To order and for more info go here >>>> BOOM!

Hip Hop Connection Magazine - Issue 10

Dis This!

This is Hip Hop Connection Magazine - Issue 10 from November 1989.

What have we got?

There's a first-ever appearance of The Powerlords (Mighty Shotgun, Magnum & DJ Big E). They sent a tape into HHC of their single - The Posse's Ready - which gets a favorable review

A couple of ABU FB members get their top 10 choices in the Readers Chart section

The Fat Boys reckon The Beastie Boys are wack ("they can't rhyme worth Jack Diddley")

Delicious Vinyl Records were blowing up and here's a feature on them

A poster of 3rd Bass awaits you in the middle pull-out section. However, that's NOT DJ Richie Rich with them. Who's the imposter?

Face To Face with LL Cool J who has some interesting thoughts on acting being that he hadn't yet made the transistion into that sphere yet

A competition to win a Fostex X-26 4-track recording unit with the most convoluted questions ever asked (incidentally, I bought the same model off Dave The Ruf in the mid-90s)

Stephen Hastie has the whole Letters page devoted to his own personal rants

More Connections hopefuls

Three starstruck schoolgirls from Cheshire meet the Demon Boyz for their school paper

The sharp ascent of New Jack Swing

Paul Oakenfold - when he was still into rap - takes some time to listen to tapes in the Demo Blaster section

And STILL no MC Jason Squires


Download the PDF here
pw = reeps

Ultimate Breaks & Beats Instrumentals Vol. 2

This collection of dope instrumental versions of tracks from the legendary UBB series aren't actually THE instrumentals - c'mon, really? - but are instead super-tight cover versions from The El Michels Affair.
If you've heard their Enter The 37th Chamber (2009) album then you'll know what to expect.

1     Papa Was Too - Joe Tex     3:16
2     Give It Up Turn It Loose - James Brown     5:54
3     Let a Woman Be a Woman - Dyke & The Blazers     2:33
4     Sport - Lightnin' Rod     2:43
5     I'm Gonna Get You - Joe Quarterman     2:53
6     Break Interlude     1:28
7     Diff'rent Strokes - Syl Johnson    2:27
8     Hand Clapping Song - The Meters     3:20
9     It's My Thing - Marva Whitney     3:08
10   Break Interlude     1:48
11   T Plays It Cool - Marvin Gaye     3:57
12   You Got What I Need - Freddie Scott     3:18
13   Rock Creek Park - The BlackByrds     4:45
14   Break Outro     1:50

Download

Hip Hop Connection Magazine - Issue 9

It's been a while but I've decided to start converting my old Hip Hop Connection (HHC) mags again.

Doowutchyalike

Here we go with issue #9 and rather fitting it is too as it's exactly 30 years old this month that it was published to a young generation of rap-starved b-boys (& gals).

What have we got?

4 Star General have closed down! Remember that? It was when George shut up shut from his Carnaby Street site and eventually ended up in Camden Town.

KC Flightt talks hip-house

A rather large, un-PC, full spelling on the abbreviation for NWA

Digital Underground chat about Sex Packets

Amongst the album reviews is Straight Outta Compton in which HHC feels that NWA are "no more radical than The Fat Boys"

Malu Halasa (be still, my beating heart...) kicks the "Science" on rap and religion

An all-too-brief feature on the history of London graffiti - featuring an incredible pull-out of MODE 2's 'The Lads Are Coming Home For Tea' piece

Interviews with Schoolly D ('popping boners') and Queen Latifah (from the top of the Empire State Building)

As usual everyone's getting in a hump over on the Letters page

Bernie Grant and the Beyond The 16th Parallel single

HHC takes a look at the Nottingham scene and features Sing A Song Records, MSD and The Rapper Groove as well as the local graf scene

Alas, still no MC Jason Squires

Download the PDF here

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/)