Hip Hop Night on BBC Four

Rodney P

Tonight it's Hip Hop Night on BBC Four from 9pm!

21.00 - 22.30 - Hip-Hop World News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07vxmxt)

Embarking on an immersive authored journey, Rodney P reveals a fascinating alternative version of reality as seen from the perspective of a culture which was created in the black and Latino ghettos of 1970s New York, and has since evolved into a world-dominating cultural powerhouse.

22.30 - 23.30 - Rubble Kings (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07vxmxw)
Documentary that tells the story of how hip-hop was vital to the truce that ended the near-apocalyptic level of gang violence in New York during the 1960s and 70s.
 
23.30 - 00.30 - Hip Hop At The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017zrm5)

Hip-hop through the decades from the BBC archives, including the Sugarhill Gang in 1979, Run DMC, LL Cool J and Eric B & Rakim in the 80s, Ice T, Monie Love, Fugees and The Roots in the 90s and concluding with Dr Dre & Eminem, Dizzee Rascal and Jay-Z.

ABU Podcast #63 Sept 2016 - TONITE!

Big Daddy Kane | Nas | Sweet Tee | Stevie Wonder | SL2 | Style Wars | DJ Shadow | Jimi Hendrix | Daddy Freddy & much, much more…!
Listen to the Podcast at 9pm tonight on http://discoscratch.co.uk/
Join the chatroom: https://vector.im/beta/#/room/#discoscratch:matrix.org

Oh, and from now until further notice I dub thee oh Podcast as Down By Law. Ok? Cool!

Marvel Goes Hip Hop

The artists of world-renowned comic book behemoth MARVEL have been having a go at creating classic hip hop albums with some of their comic superhero family.
Dopeness!

CrumplStock #5 Festival

The next CrumplStock (virtual DJ) festival is on the way. This is #5 and the stage you will be interested in is Raychelle's ABU Get Down Stage.
This stage runs on the Friday & Saturday, 7th/8th October.
First DJ is up at 6pm and the last goes on as late as you wish (although usually by 1am).
Each DJ has a STRICT one-hour slot.
You NEED to have signed up with a Mixlr account (http://mixlr.com - it's free). This URL will be unique to you and will be the only way the audience will know where you are and hear you.

Wanna be a part of this? Do it live or pre-recorded it is up to you.

If you want to be involved, comment below and choose your preferred time slot. First come, first served.

N.b. The majority of the names have already been entered from the ABU Facebook group. Join it now!

Friday 7th October (GMT)
1800
1900 - Dren
2000 - Kevin (http://mixlr.com/fak)
2100 - Waxer (http://mixlr.com/disco-scratch)
2200 - Repo (http://mixlr.com/repo136)
2300 - Deathhop (http://mixlr.com/deathhop)
0000 - Dayle (http://mixlr.com/the-boogie-down-under-radio-show)
0100 - Jason (http://mixlr.com/mr-jason)


Saturday 8th October (GMT)
1800
1900
2000
2100 - Garry (http://mixlr.com/garry-andrew-potter)
2200 - Shan
2300 - Berty (http://mixlr.com/electroberty)
0000
0100

No Half Steppin' September 2016

Norwich's NO HALF STEPPIN' returns after the summer break for more blistering evenings of classic hip hop, electro and breaks in the Underbelly of The Rumsey Wells pub in the heart of the city.
A late addition to the lineup is ILLINSPIRED who seems to appear less and less these days so grab him while you can.

Free entry from 8pm until late.
Get on down and partay.

Digging 4 Victory Show #16 September 2016

Get a load of this, ladies and gents. It's the latest show from Style Warrior counterpart, Digging 4 Victory and it's a corker.
Show #16 (September 2016) features music from Brand X, Steve Miller Band, Hammer, Shirley Bassey and MFSB, Stateless, 2 Banks of 4 and Ben E King plus more.

Jump in!

Direct link: https://www.mixcloud.com/digging4victory/digging-4-victory-show-16-september-2016/

Hip Hop Rap Attack - The Telmak Mixtape

Remember those mostly well-meaning but ultimately crappy compilations that hit the High Streets in the early 80s to cash in on the new breakdancing craze?
Remember how they used their in-house artists to recreate popular songs of the time such as Rockit? Or the legendary Alex And The City Crew? K-Tel's classic "Electric Breakdance"?
Can you believe that an even better* series of albums exists? Search the name 'Telmak' and you'll find some truly unique songs.
Relive those great memories with this from Dayle Dickson. The version of The Message is brilliant* and worth the admission price alone with its' surreal lyrical adaptation and crazy MC. And the utterly hilarious versions of It's All In Mr Magic's Wand as well as Buffalo Gals. 

You honestly couldn't write this.
And neither could these 'artists' either - their lyrical substitutions for misheard words are priceless.

*It's not.

Seal Of Approval - Vintage Hip Hop Gig TONITE!

If you happen to be in Norwich tonight then drop into NORTH (7-9 Fye Bridge Street, NR3 1LJ) where DJ MR JASON and myself are playing some vintage electro and hip hop.

Come and say hello! It's free! (the event, that is, not communicating with me. Talking to me costs, and right here is where you start paying).

Record Reviews - DJ Shadow and De La Soul

So here are two huge names in hip hop -  although one moreso in EDM circles these days - both with new-ish albums released this year.
I plonked myself down in my ABU chair and forced myself to listen to them.

Up first was De La's 'De La Soul and the Anonymous Nobody...'.
This was all produced with the help of Joe Bloggs off the street, meaning it was a publicly-funded effort rather than funded by a record company. I remember reading about the campaign to help out and the emphasis on the fact that there would be NO samples and that everything would be created in-house to cut down on any copyright wrangles (cough, 3 Feet High & Rising...).

All well-meaning I'm sure you'll agree. However the finished product comes off sounding rather lacklustre. The beats are by no means as suicide-inducing as Dre's for his Compton album of 2015 but then De La have branched out to the more erm, experimental audience during their tenure and show no signs of changing direction any time soon.
Guest spots adorn the long-player and artists such as Snoop Dogg, Jill Scott, David Byrne, Damon Albarn, 2Chainz and.... Justin Hawkins(!) and splattered all over the place.
Now I'm not a big fan of multiple guests on albums be they singers or producers and prefer less to give it a more focused direction. But hey, more artists means more fanbases being hit, right?

After solid listen I can honestly say that none of the tracks stayed with me afterwards which is a real shame considering the talent that was involved. Would Prince Paul have made it any better? Well, he couldn't have made it any worse.
I remember only a few months ago being sent a link to a "lost" track from the De La Soul Is Dead recording sessions via De La's mailing service. This song was better than anyone on display here.
This quote taken from a Discogs review of 'Anonymous...' sums up my feelings, "...this sounds like someone from Radio 6 music kidnapped De La and made them make an album they could play to the 50 something beard-strokers and wannabe Hip Hoppers".

So, in summary, crowd-funded but not entirely crowd-pleasing album that looks better on paper than listened to on your headphones.


Now onto DJ Shadow....

Since 1996's Endtroducing....., Shadow has desperately tried to distance and reinvent himself from that mid-90s beatmaking 'trip hop' head. Each subsequent album has progressed in terms of ideas and concepts not to mention studio tricks yet has lost a lot of funk each time.
2016's The Mountain Will Fall has some great moments and almost reminds you of how great he can be before everything after The Private Press happened.
The majority of ideas and contributions here are Shadow's with minimal input from other artists although when he does have a guest with him then they feel like they should be there rather than included for pure record sales. Run The Jewels almost steal the album with Nobody Speak and it's bluesy-guitars based hip hop plodder. The video for this is pure brilliance, too.
The Sideshow which features newcomer, Ernie Fresh is a great return to the turntablism tricks that Shadow showed us on The Number Song with crashing breaks and superb scratching.
Audio soundscapes are always on evidence with Shadow's work (Three Ralphs, Ashes to Oceans) and album-closer Suicide Pact is a perfect downtempo, late-night plodder with plenty of delay effects.

Over the years Shadow has shifted from straight up hip hop - not that Endtroducing..... was that at all - to the more EDM crowd and this album features plenty of bass and bleeps, however used correctly they are not cumbersome and feel right and not at all annoying.

ABU Show #62 August 2016 80s Groove Special DOWNLOAD

Here's last month's (August 2016) ABU! Podcast.
It was refreshing to do a mostly non-hip hop one for a change although I'm dying to get back to normality this month.

Enjoy!
And SHARE!

Listen here:


EDIT: Apparently the download link wasn't showing up anywhere which is a complete mystery. If it should happen to NOT be showing above then it has obviously nipped off into town down Cinderellas for the evening where it'll be sipping on some Hofmeister whilst wearing some Farah slacks, Pringle jumper and slip-on Timberland deck shoes. Probably.
In the event of this, please go directly to here: https://hearthis.at/repo136/62-abu-show-august-2016-80s-groove where it can be heard.
Thanks to the literally hundreds of listeners who alerted me to this omission.

That sound you can't hear right now is me pressing my silent Sarcasm Alarm.

Pip-pip!


Tracklisting 

01  The Fatback Band - I Found Lovin'
02  Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long
03  Joyce Sims - Come Into My Life
04  Keni Burke - Rising To The Top
05  LL Cool J - Eat Em Up L, Chill (Chill Remix)

The Empire Strikes Back Trailer

06  Atmosfear - Dancing In Outer Space
07  Evelyn Champagne King - Love Come Down

Iranian Embassy Siege

08  Third World - Now That We've Found Love
09  Midnight Star - Midas Touch
The Long Good Friday Trailer
10  Blondie - Rapture
11  Rene & Angela - I'll Be Good

Ads/Breakin'.. Trailer

12  3V - Heart Of The Beat
13  Gwen Mccrae - All This Love That I'm Giving
14  Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
15  Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

An American Werewolf in London Trailer

16  Tom Browne - Funkin' For Jamaica
17  Dexter Wansel - Life On Mars
18  The Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park

Channel 4 Launch

19  Freeez - I.O.U.
20  Eddie Murphy - Party All The Time
21  Maze - Twilight
22  Booker Newbury III - Love Town
23  Meli'sa Morgan - Fool's Paradise

Zola Budd/Mary Decker 1984 Olympics

24  Wish & Fonda Rae - Touch Me (All Night Long)
25  Roy Ayers - Running Away

Kids TV Themes

26  Gibson Brothers - Cuba
27  Quincy Jones - Ai No Corrida
28  Change - Searching
29  The Isley Brothers - Between The Sheets

Steinski's Lesson 3 (1985) Unlimited Remix Remastered

For all you Double Dee & Steinski fans this is some good news.
Go to Steinski's Soundcloud page and you will see that he has uploaded a new version of Lesson 3.
There are extended breaks throughout it sounds a little cleaner, too.

Here's Lesson 3 Remixed, Remastered, and Unlimited (actually just a touch). PLAY IT!
Please note, this version is not as loud as the other more compressed version. Take your pick, I think this sounds much better!
I found my original 8 track master tape, so here's my remix. PLAY IT!

Jump on it!

https://soundcloud.com/oubleeeandteinski/lesson-3-1985-unlimited-remix-remastered-2016


Thanks to Dayle for spotting this.