UK Hip Hop - Who rates it?

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
I've been listening to piles of UK Hip Hop lately. Mostly the Skinnyman and Klashnekoff albums, but a little of the rodney p as well, and I'll be getting the new roots manuva album as soon as I can afford it and it comes out over here.

But I've been slightly surprised at how little discussion there is of UK Hip Hop on here, given that the elements that appeal to me in that style seem to be the elements that appeal to lots of the rest of you as well, like the ragga influence etc.

UK Hip Hop seems to wear it's influences on it's sleeve a lot more, which appeals to me, and has a very distinct and mature style. Compared to Aussie hip hop which while beats-wise is ok, seems so obsessed with being 'ocker' that it becomes a pastiche of cultural references with no real content. UK Hip Hop seems to avoid that mostly, even if it does have a fairly severe case of younger brother syndrome when relating to the US (check the 'Fuck New York' track on Skitz & Rodney P last week...)

So anyway, what do people think? Who else should I be checking out?
 
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MBM

Well-known member
The other thing about Aussie hip hop is 'slacker' ethos.

US hip hop has a high bling quotient. Probably as most know they'll never win an ARIA / sell a platinum record, the Aussie scene is more about battlers than winners.

Who's the biggest hip hop artist(s) in Oz? Hilltop Hoods?
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
MBM said:
The other thing about Aussie hip hop is 'slacker' ethos.

US hip hop has a high bling quotient. Probably as most know they'll never win an ARIA / sell a platinum record, the Aussie scene is more about battlers than winners.

UK hip hop has that as well i reckon.

Who's the biggest hip hop artist(s) in Oz? Hilltop Hoods?

Maybe Bliss and Eso, who have at least one terribly homophobic lyric. The one time I saw Hilltop Hoods, they came out going "Are you ready to rock hard, youse cunts?" Put me right off.
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
On the UK hiphop tip, whatever happened after Big Dada released that Extra Yard comp? What was all that 'bouncement' business about anyway? Some good stuff on that comp tho': a relick of Roots Manuva's "Witness", some New Flesh (whose album Understanding featuring Beans, Gift of Gab and the Ramm:Ell:Zee was quite good), Infinite Livez, Gamma, the eternally underperforming Lotek-Hifi and Ty (whose appeal I fail to grasp).
 

AshRa

Well-known member
Klashnekoff's 12"s have been the only thing i've liked UK hip hop wise in the last few years, to be honest I've missed the album - i'll have to go and check it out. I have to say that almost all the UK stuff on the Grand Slam cover CDs was nothing short of embarrassing!
 

gdw

Active member
a lot of uk hip hop is let down my unimaginative production and doesn't go down well in clubs (except the hard core uk hip hop ones obviously) as a result.

some recent exceptions -
ty/roots manuva - oh you want more refix
yungun - dancing shoes / nico suave
estelle / joni rewind - uptown top ranking version.
and rodney p's real rock version 'the nice up' which is really reggae but has fat production and a wicked chorus which is a tribute to michigan and smiley's 'nice up the dance'

and evil ed is probably the best producer i've heard recently....

haven't heard the new roots manuva lp yet though.
 

tox

Factory Girl
Having seen Roots Manuva live last night I started to worry a little about what place UK Hip-Hop has, given the rise of grime.

Its not that Manuva's performance wasn't good, but the crowd were the most po-faced bunch I have seen for a while. Most people were only there to hear Witness, and spent the rest of the set talking. I must admit that they were probably not representative of the UK Hip-Hop Headz though, as they completely ignored tracks played by the warm-up DJ (including Manuva himself on the Oh You Want More - refix). Compare this to the Dizzee Rascal Showtime tour, on which the crowd were singing along to Bizzle's Forward and a cross section of Fresh US Hip-Hop, long before the first support even took the stage.

Perhaps this is symptomatic of a change in UK Hip-Hop. Apart from Jhest, Klashnekoff and TY, not many others seem to have made a blip on the radar. Klashnekoff appears to be chilling with the Grime crew recently, and TY is often placed with the BrokenBeaters. Does this mean that many who were involved in the scene have moved on - leaving us hanging on to the likes of Witness?

Furthermore, consider Westwood's new found love of Grime. Towards the end of last year, him and Dizzee Rascal were both saying that Grime was the new Hip-Hop for the UK. If that is the case, where does it leave the original UK Hip-Hop scene?

These are genuine questions, as I am not an expert on UK Hip-Hop by any stretch of the imagination.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
uk hip hop has always been a cottage industry in this country, i dont see that fading nor improving anytime soon. it has a small sizeable following, and probably will continue to do so. ukhh heads are a staunch bunch and arent likely to switch to grime and i dont see the fans switching either. theyre all too stuck in purist mode to get into grime.
 
D

droid

Guest
Ayone know what happened to Bristol Based label Hombre?

There were a couple of great acts on that label, 'the numbskulls' (great instrumentals, and very 'white' UK rapping) and 'The Aspects' who did some great stuff over the course of a few 12's.. Jazz fudge style beats with some brilliant rhymes, all with a bizarre mix of different english accents..

Great stuff - but they seem to have vanished into thin air...
 

hint

party record with a siren
droid said:
There were a couple of great acts on that label, 'the numbskulls' (great instrumentals, and very 'white' UK rapping) and 'The Aspects' who did some great stuff over the course of a few 12's.. Jazz fudge style beats with some brilliant rhymes, all with a bizarre mix of different english accents..

aspects are now signed to antidote. released a kinda wonky LP recently http://www.aspects.tv/ - still doing their own thing.

numskullz are just a bit rubbish at getting together and recording. there was a single not so long ago (we're talking years not months, though) with a few spare tracks, but don't hold your breath for another album anytime soon.

but above and beyond the activities (of lack thereof) of the above, hombré doesn't really exist any more as a label.
 
D

droid

Guest
hint said:
aspects are now signed to antidote. released a kinda wonky LP recently http://www.aspects.tv/ - still doing their own thing.

numskullz are just a bit rubbish at getting together and recording. there was a single not so long ago (we're talking years not months, though) with a few spare tracks, but don't hold your breath for another album anytime soon.

but above and beyond the activities (of lack thereof) of the above, hombré doesn't really exist any more as a label.


Thought so.. that blank website at http://www.hombre.co.uk/ is a bit of a giveaway.

Have to track down that Aspects release..

Thanks again for the info Hint - your'e a regular mine!
 
for me

apart from my mate Due Catalyst, Klashnekoff, Goodz p.k.a Goodz, TY, Roots Manuva, J2K and TY are the only UK hip hop I bother listening to.
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
redcrescent said:
On the UK hiphop tip, whatever happened after Big Dada released that Extra Yard comp? What was all that 'bouncement' business about anyway? Some good stuff on that comp tho': a relick of Roots Manuva's "Witness", some New Flesh (whose album Understanding featuring Beans, Gift of Gab and the Ramm:Ell:Zee was quite good), Infinite Livez, Gamma, the eternally underperforming Lotek-Hifi and Ty (whose appeal I fail to grasp).

Yeah, I thrashed that when I got it, that 'Witness the Swords' relick was just stomping. It seemed like a musical concept that had some potential, but I guess it was too abstract an idea, and not enough based on an actual musical movement.

AshRa said:
Klashnekoff's 12"s have been the only thing i've liked UK hip hop wise in the last few years, to be honest I've missed the album - i'll have to go and check it out. I have to say that almost all the UK stuff on the Grand Slam cover CDs was nothing short of embarrassing!

I think it's actually a CD comp of the 12s. The first track is 'zero' followed by 'It's Murda'.

Are people liking the new Roots Manuva?

The grime/ukhh thing is an iterestign one. Grime does seem like a more ingidenous hip hop, but ukhh always had a distinct sound which is why it seemed worthwhile to me.
 

Pearsall

Prodigal Son
Melchior said:
UK Hip Hop seems to wear it's influences on it's sleeve a lot more, which appeals to me, and has a very distinct and mature style. Compared to Aussie hip hop which while beats-wise is ok, seems so obsessed with being 'ocker' that it becomes a pastiche of cultural references with no real content.

What's 'ocker'? Is that being Australianly Australian in the most Australian way possible?
 
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