just re reading that OMM dizzee piece - must have missed the bit where he says he was into all the snap and trap stuff out at the moment. no wonder his bars are so basic now. i knew it was a bad omen when blackdown interviewed him and he said he really rated the first young jeezy album.
At the same time, Dizzee made clear that he relates to the American rappers, but still criticises English MCs who try and copy their style page for page. Funny that someone who seems so dedicatedly English has been making records that are getting increasingly compromised artistically by a duty to produce hits for the mainstream.
I pulled out the Movement's Tempo Specialist mixtape again the other day, you know, the one I talk so much shit about. I like it now.
See, I currently live in Toronto where we live in a frozen wasteland for half the year and forget what it's like to be outside in a T-shirt. Then it happens, and for 6 months the city turns into Miami.
This is a proper summer vibes mixtape, despite it's horribly frequent use of cheesy hip hop beats. Sometimes they really pull it off though without sounding pathetically reverent of everything American (a la "Murder Captial"). Tracks like "Can't Go On", "Fly Away", "The Reason" are actually really good for what they are.
I've been warming up more to hip-hop esque beats these days and accepting them as still being part of the overall grime sound. Some other examples off the top of my head here: Tinchy Styder's "Breakaway", Kano's "Layer Cake".
I just wish artists wouldn't make this such a focus on their mixtapes, but rather a way for them to explore their versatility as MCs. That's really what The Movement appear to be trying to achieve, if you take seriously what Wretch was saying on Logan's show back whenever.
Ghetto and Scorcher are absolutely ruthless MCs.
