Dilated Choonz: hip-hop

Dead Prez vs. Higher Ground

Big J — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:45:00 +0100

Good strong heartfelt a cappella over Hudson Mohawke’s “Higher Ground”. What’s not to like?

Play loud and get angry as nothing they’re angry about has improved since they released it in 99.

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Alboy's Best of 2011: #3

The Mighty Alboy — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 23:48:00 +0100

Ghost Poet – “Survive it”

Just a beautiful track this, from South London (Tooting Bec!) lad Obaro Ejimiwe, aka Ghost Poet.

If you havent got his LP peanut butter blues and melancholy jam, then you’re missing out- like Ghost Poet missed out on the Mercury Prize in 2011. Shoulda been his…

Cool video too:

ghost poet homepage ::
buy it from rough trade ::

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Samooo - Wreckd

Big J — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:00:00 +0100

Bassline.

ahem…
How is everyone?
I’ve been buried knee deep in fatherhood and work.

Glad to report Hurricane Irene wasn’t angry with us here in Brooklyn.

Remix by Samooo on G.A.M.M. an extremely reliable label…

G.A.M.M Myspace ::
Turntable Lab MP3 store :: Buy pretty much anything by G.A.M.M Enterprises

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2:30 Minutes

T Pot — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:26:00 +0000

Populous – Bottom 01

Here is a nice ambient slice from ‘Populous’. The LP is called ‘Quipo’ from 2002. I love this tune despite it being so short….nice dope beat, guitars, glitches & I read somewhere that the other sample is a clarinet….anyway sounds nice to my ears. Production is crisp.

If you are going to purchase one of his records, I would probably get ‘Queue for Love’ (2005) as overall its a better LP than ‘Quipo’

His later LP ‘Drawn in Basic’ is slightly different in style and more song based – also interesting in my opinion.

Buy ‘Queue For Love’ from Amazon

nice one. T-pot

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RIP Guru Pt 2

P Rice — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:52:00 +0100

Gang Starr – Just To Get a Rep

Its been a long while since I’ve blogged but thought I should pay my own tribute to Guru. Not the most original tribute by any means but a great tune and a reminder of a time when Hip Hop had a conscience, often spoke about the futility of greed and violence and Guru’s voice was loud.

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RIP Guru

The Mighty Alboy — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:50:00 +0100

gang starr – “above the clouds”

Sad news today that Keith Elam aka Guru passed away on Monday, following a year long struggle against cancer, at the young age of 43.

There’s some strange stuff being said in and about his alleged last words- this Solar sounds like a dubious character to me- but that wont be what Iwill remember Guru for anyway. For me he’ll be remembered for his smooth flow and his many positive contributions to hip hop.

“Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal”- RIP Guru

Obituary ::

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Brand new second hand, and quite old

The Mighty Alboy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:46:00 +0100

roots manuva – “inna”

It’s just over 11 years since Roots Manuva released Brand New Second Hand, and I just wanted to remind people what a great and fine album that was.

One of the great things about Rodney Smith is- as this track clearly demonstrates- that he’s at his most on point when he’s wandering off-point. Kick ass rhythm track on this one too.

Inna…

buy brand new second hand brand new ::
just buy everything ever by roots manuva :: from ninja tune

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pizza hut i don't do...

The Mighty Alboy — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:23:00 +0000

A completely compelling song about fried chicken and chips- amazingly catchy, hilarious and completely bonkers!

peep this…

Hit the Smiths

The Mighty Alboy — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:45:00 +0100

Aaron Lacrate and Debonair Samir feat King Slixta – “Hit The Road”

A quickee post of a tune from a collection of B*more tracks that’s doing it for me at the moment- it’s off of Baltimore Crack, an LP of B*more joints with a more downtempo hip hop flavour. All pretty sleazy and banging as you might expect, selected and produced by a team that includes Debonair Samir who’s Samir’s Theme is a classic B*more banger.

I’m pretty sure this one is sampling the Smith’s How soon is now, and it features a monster bassline and killer drums that give it a particularly tough edge.

Koch records page ::
aaron lacrate's myspace ::
debonair samir's myspace :: samir only has one friend...

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You have to talk louder, cos I am...

The Mighty Alboy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:09:00 +0100

Mos Def – “Quiet Dog”

A very welcome return from the very talented and nice Mos Def.

The mighty Mos has been one of my favourite MCs, since I first heard him on De La’s Stakes is High LP and he continued to delight with the Black Star album with Talib Kweli and the fantastic Black on Both Sides. I kinda lost track of him for a while after that- I think he was concentrating on his acting- and he hasnt put much out in the last 3 years or so, so it’s good to have him back with a new LP- the Ecstatic

And he is back on form with a flow that is both completely dont-give-fuck and deeply serious, on point and innovative throughout, even when it’s utterly whacked out. Combined with production from Madlib and Oh No and a new track with Kweli, it’s a real treat. Mos is still keeping true to those two great principles of hip hop- expressing oneself and having loads of fun at the same time.

dont be asleep while everyone else is listening to and enjoying it!

buy it from rough trade ::

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You're Just Poppin A Pill

Mr Wooly — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:27:00 +0100

Digital Underground – Packet Man

Sex Packets were these amazing mythical pills we all believed in and wanted to get our mits on back in the early nineties when we first read the inner sleeve of Digital Underground’s “Sex Packets” album.

I remember sitting at home with Johnny K, the Kanko Kid and The Droog and spinning this on vinyl and dreaming up the kinds of packets we would design for ourselves and enter pilled up sex packet bliss.

The cover sleeve told stories about these pills designed by NASA to give to astronauts in orbit, who sometimes had to go for months without getting proper sexy actions. To help alleviate the many months of sex-free time in low gravity, all you had to do was pop one of these magical sexually-charged pills to get taken on a fantastic, visual sexy voyage, complete with ahem, plenty of comage. I wanted a sex packet pill! I wanted the fucking factory!

The Sex Packets album has many many glorious rapalong choonz all the way through it and it’s well worth a re-listen to after all these years and if you ain’t heard it before, now’s your chance to snap up this gem. Either way, have a listen to the wondrous lyrics in tracks like Underwater Rhymes – “Now last night underwater I saw a French mermaid / Treated her to caviar and wine over shrimp brain / In the raw on the ocean floor need I say more? / You never heard nobody kick it like this before.” And we sure hadn’t!

As you listen to this choon, be sure to heed the packet man’s wise advice “Remember, there’s only one thing safer than using your hand – dial that beeper number and call the packet man.”

Discogs :: Get the album at Discogs marketplace
get the 12 inch :: also at discogs
Wikipedia :: for more info
Official Site ::

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something old...

The Mighty Alboy — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Lone Catalysts – “due process (ft. talib kweli & rubix)”

So this is some quite old hip hop, not what I would call “old school”- that’d be Rakim, Run DMC, EPMD and Public Enemy – and certainly not pre-historic old like the 1984 proto-hip hop the Mr P Rice has posted- but rather the mellow 10 year old mid-nineties vintage of hip hop. Jazz enfused, laid back, conscious, thoughtful and entertaining.

The Lone Catalysts are J Rawls (a prolifically talented producer) and J Sands (an equally talented rapper), joined by the ever-earnest Talib Kweli and Rubix to bring seriously smooth flows over tinkling keys, fat beats and killer bass (it’s the bassline that really makes this joint for me)- happy days.

j Rawls dot com ::

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Something Blu...

The Mighty Alboy — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Johnson & Jonson – “The Only Way”

So here is some new hip hop that’s worth listening to. Californian rapper Blu saying something that means something over a well crafted soul inflected track produced by longtime collaborator Mainstream- who does a bang up job on this and the rest of the album. Check the John Lennon sample in the other album track “Hold on John”.

The Johnson and Jonson album project powder and oils- off which this track is lifted- is well worth getting ahold of. Blu’s talents with the mic are well in front of the pack- in terms of both lyrical style and content- pondering a broad range of subjects close to his heart in an honest, soul-baring way, shunning the cliched posturing, a rapper for who content appears to be as important as style.

Check it out and be reminded of what hip hop used to be all about….

J & J myspace ::
buy the album at juno :: seriously, you should....

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From quite a way back in the day

P Rice — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Members Only Crew – Rock Your Body

I’m quite excited about this one. I heard it on a mix recently then got some very expert help in tracking it down.

Its taken from an EP that was released back in 1984 by the Members Only Crew, a Bay Area outfit who were putting out solid Hip Hop in the very early days. The EP ‘You’re Just Not Down’ is as rare as the proverbial rocking horse shit, but is an essential early Hip Hop release, and can be bought on CD for a lot less than the fortune that it costs on vinyl.

Buy the CD ::

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Big Bounce Theory

P Rice — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Jneiro Jarel – Big Bounce Theory

Earlier this week on this very blog, the Double K raised the question of whether there was still much quality Hip Hop to be found. I love Hip Hop, but many of the records in my collection come from the ‘golden age’ that the Double K referred to, so I don’t feel overly qualified to critique the world of contemporary Hip Hop. Quality Hip Hop was everywhere in the early to mid 90’s.

In these post J Dilla years, I would say (somewhat predictably) that Madlib still carries the torch for new and exciting Hip Hop (check the recent Beat Konducta releases) , but I’ve heard lots of other stuff that I like, such as Little Brother, and I’m sure there’s plenty I haven’t heard which is great. This particular tune isn’t that new (it was released in 2005), but I’ve been enjoying it recently, and Jneiro Jarel is still producing lovely tunes, often under the name of his alter ego – Dr Who Dat?

Buy the album on ebay ::

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Contemporary non-sucking hip hop

Kevvy K — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Q-Tip – Manwomanboogie (ft. Amanda Diva)

Following on from some comments made by the Double K... some contemporary hip hop that caught my ear, that doesn’t suck. OK, so it’s Q-Tip and therefore more classicly inclined than groundbreaking and cutting edge, but a sprightly track that defintely works for me nonetheless.

TBH, I’m not that comfortable bemoaning the contemporary state of a genre in this fashion… it makes me feel like a bit of a grumpy old sod, when the reality is that I’m probably just not being exposed to the more interesting side of things. I can easily see how it could be a genre in stagnation, but can also see how beyond watching The Wire there’s not many of us getting all streety these days.

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Pullin' Out My Lance To Kill You And Advance...

The Double K — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:12:00 +0000

Gang Starr – Step In The Arena

It’s finally time to come with a couple of tunes that I’ve had lined up for months now but never got round to posting. It’s just as well they’re timeless classics or they might have got stale in the meantime!

The amount of Hip-Hop posted here has tailed off dramatically over the last few months (at a rate way above the decline in postings in general), which is a bit of a shame because it’s great, as these tracks here demonstrate.

Gang Starr – the sublime combination of Premier’s awesome production skills with Guru’s unique lyrical flow – should be news to no-one, I know, but honestly when was the last time you dug them out for a listen? Take these posts as a reminder to do so at the earliest opportunity.

First up, the title track from Gang Starr’s seminal LP Step In The Arena – an instantly catchy guaranteed head-nodder of the first order. And the rest of the LP is equally brilliant – easily up there with P.E.’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions…. If you don’t know it already then you should certainly Get To Know, and if you do then treasure it like an old friend.

Buy it here ::

I'm Ultimate, and I'm About To Let (One) Off!

The Double K — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:12:00 +0000

Gang Starr – Words I Manifest

This track was Gang Starr’s first single as the duo of The Guru & DJ Premier, from way back in 1989 (the Gang Starr releases from ‘87 and ‘88 are Guru working with various other producers, all of whom split… I suspect because Guru is not an easy man to work with). It’s not as immediately catchy as Step In The Arena but after a couple of listens the plinky-plonk piano and bongo-fuelled b-boy break really make sense.

It’s worth checking out the video, if only to see how young they both look!

Sadly, quality new hip-hop seems a bit thin on the ground these days, with the scales tipping toward slickly-produced but substance-free R’n’B instead, not at all like the glory days of the 90’s when you couldn’t move without tripping over some great new hip-hop release. Or perhaps I’m just not looking in the right places – I’d be glad to hear anyone’s recommendations for good new stuff.

Buy "Mass Appeal" here :: A recent Best Of Gang Starr compilation which includes this track

So who the hell IS Clutchy Hopkins?

P Rice — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:47:00 +0000

Clutchy Hopkins – Song For Wolfie

There’s been a fair bit of action around these parts recently, and I don’t wish to be left out so….

According to legend, Clutchy Hopkins is an instrumentalist/producer who has travelled the world on a spritual and musical quest, and left a series of recordings dating from the 1970’s onwards. I’m not so sure about this, but whoever Clutchy Hopkins is/are, they have left us with a clutch (sorry) of really nice instrumental tracks, heavy on the drums, and with a few sounds from around the globe chucked in.

More music to lie back and listen to than to dance to, it was difficult to pick one particular track to post, but this seemed as good as any. It comes from the album ‘Walking Backwards’, which was released earlier this year after (again according to legend) his daughter found some of his old tapes. Whatever the case, its both unusual and intriguing that Clutchy Hopkins’ true identity genuinely seems to remain a mystery. The MF Doom meets Clutchy Hopkins tracks are well worth checking out too.

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Soul Brothers

P Rice — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:01:00 +0100

Grap Luva – Beats & Rhymes

A little something that I hadn’t heard before today. Grap Luva is Pete Rock’s brother, and was a member of InI, who I have bleated on at length about here before. This tune features production from Pete Rock and, as the title suggests, its all about the beats and rhymes.

This tune features on bootleg release of Grap Luva tracks that was released in 2004. I don’t have a copy myself and haven’t tracked one down as yet, so I’m afraid I can’t give any pointers. If you find copies, let me know. Or buy me one.

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