Tim Westwood

luka

Well-known member
this is not a thread about his stupid way of talking.
this is a thread about do you think that he is a good dj. i think that he is a good dj, especailly when you compare him to his direct competitors.
he isnt constrained by some ridiculous purist hiphop asthetic. that's whats allowed him to be far ahead of his rivals when it comes to picking up on hot music be it miami bass, the new wave of records coming out the south musch beofre i heard the word crunk, or now grime. it also means he avoided stupid things like playing shitty uk hiphop or any of that rawkus/fondle 'em type wacky stuff. he knows that stuff wasn't doing it. he might not be very informed about grime or whatever, he migh insist on calling it hiphop, but he knows its hot so he plays it. same way he played badboy records when puff was running everything, or swizz beats or anything rather than playing endless premier rehashes. he's got a much better attitude. some djs think theyre there to educate the crowd but tim wants to entertain it. he is a dickhead in a lot of ways, everyone knows that, but give him the respect he desrvers
 

xero

was minusone
you have to respect him at least a bit because he has been promoting hip hop in this country for so long and is still on top of it. I've even heard it said that, by breaking US hip hop in this country via his capital show, he paved the way for its popularity throughout the rest of the world and that is the reason the americans give him so much support - I was always amazed that he could pull in such huge names for his show - because without him they might never have had a market outside the US
 

hint

party record with a siren
I agree with you luka

there's this lame kneejerk reaction amongst a lot of the UK hip hop community whenever westwood's name is mentioned... but if you talk to the people who really matter, the people who really made a difference, they have respect for him. even if they no longer listen to his show or like the music he plays. he tirelessly championed hip hop in this country, back when he was rocking a moustache ( :D )... before it was fashionable, before it was making anyone any serious cash, before it was a regular fixture on TV or the radio (hip hop I mean, not moustaches).

as you say - he's never stood still. he genuinely loves the music and wants to see it change and grow. he plays what the fans want to hear right here, right now and makes no apologies. he can come across as a bit pathetic sometimes - the accent, the general presenting style. he's also clearly right under the thumb of some of the big players in the industry. but I see that all as somewhat endearing - he's like a little boy, eager to learn and eager to please.

there's a good experiment you can do.... play someone that infamous interview between KRS one and westwood... it can tell you a lot about how openminded a person is with regard to hip hop according to whose side they end up on. ;) personally, I think neither comes off very well, but I'm always surprised by the number of people who rejoice cos they feel KRS totally slaughters westwood. everyone's encouraged to see KRS as the teacher, the scholar... but I chatted to nosleep nigel about the clip and he said "that's the point at which most of the old school UK heads I know lost their respect for KRS".

anyway - I'm waffling... bottom line is, I listen to his show whenever I'm driving about on a friday or saturday night and I always hear at least 6 tracks I like. job done.
 
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Blackdown

nexKeysound
i used to cuss Westwood, circa mid 90s when the Wu Tang/Mobb Deep/Gangstar/Jeru axis was fading from the spotlight and the Puffy/Jay-
Z/bling era began. but no matter how silly he seems the bottom line is Westwood plays hip hop black British people like. that seems fairly hard to diss really.
 

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
Tim Westwood is smart enough to keep a great street team around him that keeps him in touch with what people actually want to hear.

He is incredibly successful, and whether you like what someone does or not, if they are a consistent success you cannot argue.
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
Top post Luka. Been thinking about this a bit recently. Cos when I listen to the radio -- usually in the kitchen -- I always seem to wind up listneing to the W. And he makes me laugh, and he always plays a lot of records I like. He also plays a lot of ragga and once did a fantastic show with Sean Paul. I think he's OK, but then I'm not an underground hip-hop fan trying to define myself against the mainstream, if you know what I mean.

By the same token, I like a lot fo records Tong plays. I'd miss them both if they weren't on the radio.

Then again, Luka won't let me play my Jurassic 5 CDs, so HE IS WRONG!! :)
 

bo!ne

Member
agree with whats being said. Westwood IS a bit of a cock on a personal level - I used to work at BBC doing IT support including Radio 1 and one or two hip-hop-mad colleagues got into the Westwood inner circle as a result so I went to a few shows and industry gigs etc as one of the posse as it were. He's a nob re women and he's a wuss about getting seen bunnin' weed (maybe understandable given his BBC employer and all that?).

However, in the job I do at the moment, involved with running the Love Music Hate Racism campaign (www.lmhr.org.uk) I've seen a different side to him too. Basically he came up to do a gig for us in Burnley, where the BNP have 7 council seats, for no money, on a Sunday night, and totally rocked it. He came onstage and the first thing he did was lead a large mixed crowd of mostly young Asian and white kids in a chant of "fuck the BNP" that lasted a minute or so before dropping Dead Prez#'s "Hip Hop" and then MOP's "Ante Up" and it was fucking fantastic - spot on! He hung around the whole night, most of which he spent standing behind our info/merch stall chatting to kids and signing t-shirts etc. So fair play to him for that if nowt else.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
"He is incredibly successful, and whether you like what someone does or not, if they are a consistent success you cannot argue."

of course you can. westwood often seems to play it safe and only play the big names.

this idea from luka that all that fondle em and rawkus stuff was 'wacky' or 'weird' and thus not worthy of westwoods patronage is ridiculous. not all of it was golden, no, but both labels put out some great stuff. just cos it wasnt like puffy, jigga, or busta or everyone else ruling hip hop at the time, doesnt mean it was shit or 'not real hip hop'. this kneejerk reaction to the late 90s indie boom is as bad as those who dis westwood for playing crunk and bass and bounce, etc; all things which westwood was backing before any of the other hip hop djs at the time. he was playing three 6 mafia and hot boys well before other NY-centric djs in the uk.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
Blackdown said:
i used to cuss Westwood, circa mid 90s when the Wu Tang/Mobb Deep/Gangstar/Jeru axis was fading from the spotlight and the Puffy/Jay-
Z/bling era began. but no matter how silly he seems the bottom line is Westwood plays hip hop black British people like. that seems fairly hard to diss really.

but theres other things westwood could have played in the last five years to provide a bit of balance to all the thug/bling/etc mainstream hip hop. i remember he had common on once, and much as ive been indifferent to a lot of what commons been making since the late 90s, westwoods tone towards him was like 'youre doing this weird DIFFERENT hip hop thing' from a slightly snotty POV. it was almost condescending, as if it wasnt worth his time as it wasnt 'what the streets want!' or should that be, what the majors say the streets want. im not saying he should be playing shit tunes by talib or whoever, but that a less 'thats not real hip hop' attitude would be welcome.
 
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Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
gumdrops said:
"He is incredibly successful, and whether you like what someone does or not, if they are a consistent success you cannot argue."

of course you can. westwood often seems to play it safe and only play the big names.

You can argue all you want, but your opinion becomes insignificant next to the million people that listen to his show every week.

You can say you don't like what he plays or how he talks or what he represents, but then your option is to go and support someone who you DO like. Argueing about someone being shit when they have been successful for nearly 20 years now is an excercise in futility.
 

hint

party record with a siren
gumdrops said:
this idea from luka that all that fondle em and rawkus stuff was 'wacky' or 'weird' and thus not worthy of westwoods patronage is ridiculous. not all of it was golden, no, but both labels put out some great stuff. just cos it wasnt like puffy, jigga, or busta or everyone else ruling hip hop at the time, doesnt mean it was shit or 'not real hip hop'. this kneejerk reaction to the late 90s indie boom is as bad as those who dis westwood for playing crunk and bass and bounce, etc.

I agree with you in the sense that both fondle 'em and rawkus put out some of my favourite hip hop 12"s, but I think the issue is that westwood doesn't represent that side of hip hop. never has, never will. similarly, he doesn't play a lot of UK hip hop because it often falls outside of the "style" he plays.

when indie hip hop fits in with his "style", he plays it. I heard roots manuva's witness for the first time on his show, for example, long before it was out and he was hyping it up just as much as he'd hype the new DMX single. I listen to something like fortified live and it makes sense to me that that is not "westwood music". I listen to typical me and it makes sense to me that westwood supports what kano is doing.

so I'd say it's more a matter of being suitable, rather than worthy.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
Logan Sama said:
You can argue all you want, but your opinion becomes insignificant next to the million people that listen to his show every week.

You can say you don't like what he plays or how he talks or what he represents, but then your option is to go and support someone who you DO like. Argueing about someone being shit when they have been successful for nearly 20 years now is an excercise in futility.

you mean, say something good or say nothing at all? fact is i can slag off westwood as much as i like, but hes so big, and so powerful its like throwing pebbles at a skyscraper.

i DO like westwood, hes provided me with some great tapes and endless comedy and i still listen to him cos hes the uks biggest hip hop dj. but it doesnt make a difference to me that hes so successful and millions check his show each week, its obvious hes gonna attract millions - radio one is national, not regional and it has a bigger profile than any other station in the country. but i dont see why any of this means hes immune from criticism. the sun is the biggest paper in the UK but that doesnt mean its necessarily the 'best'. the biggest selling rapper in the early 90s was mc hammer, dont mean he was the greatest MC or better than rakim or kool g rap or krs!
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
hint said:
I agree with you in the sense that both fondle 'em and rawkus put out some of my favourite hip hop 12"s, but I think the issue is that westwood doesn't represent that side of hip hop. never has, never will. similarly, he doesn't play a lot of UK hip hop because it often falls outside of the "style" he plays.

when indie hip hop fits in with his "style", he plays it. I heard roots manuva's witness for the first time on his show, for example, long before it was out and he was hyping it up just as much as he'd hype the new DMX single. I listen to something like fortified live and it makes sense to me that that is not "westwood music". I listen to typical me and it makes sense to me that westwood supports what kano is doing.

so I'd say it's more a matter of being suitable, rather than worthy.

im not saying he SHOULD play talibs new stuff for example, just cos hes seen as being 'conscious' - most of it is SHITE. ditto for much uk hip hop. i dont blame him a lot of the time though, theres a lot of utter shit uk and indie hip hop out there. im just saying his favoured style of hip hop seems to have become increasingly narrow over the years.
 

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
gumdrops said:
you mean, say something good or say nothing at all? fact is i can slag off westwood as much as i like, but hes so big, and so powerful its like throwing pebbles at a skyscraper.

i DO like westwood, hes provided me with some great tapes and endless comedy and i still listen to him cos hes the uks biggest hip hop dj. but it doesnt make a difference to me that hes so successful and millions check his show each week, its obvious hes gonna attract millions - radio one is national, not regional and it has a bigger profile than any other station in the country. but i dont see why any of this means hes immune from criticism. the sun is the biggest paper in the UK but that doesnt mean its necessarily the 'best'. the biggest selling rapper in the early 90s was mc hammer, dont mean he was the greatest MC or better than rakim or kool g rap or krs!

You seem to have skewed the entireity of my post.

Your options if you do not like someone who is a huge success are to sit down and criticise them all you want without it ever making a blind bit of difference, or to promote something which you personally feel is better.

If enough people agree with you then eventually that which you deem to be inferior to your personal favourite will be superceded with that which you champion.

Music is an Art and a Business. You can be successful in either and/or both. They are not mutually exclusive.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
Logan Sama said:
You seem to have skewed the entireity of my post.

Your options if you do not like someone who is a huge success are to sit down and criticise them all you want without it ever making a blind bit of difference, or to promote something which you personally feel is better.

If enough people agree with you then eventually that which you deem to be inferior to your personal favourite will be superceded with that which you champion.

Music is an Art and a Business. You can be successful in either and/or both. They are not mutually exclusive.

wow, you sound kinda corporate.

but point taken. theres no one else who can compete with westwood though really, not on that level. i used to rate 279 on choice, but hes boring now, and plays nothing thats really exciting. so yeah, westwood probably does do the job overall, the best. 1xtra has some good hip hop shows between them, but it doesnt have the exposure as its only digital.
 

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
The only avenue if you want to listen to good new UK music from a variety of genres would probably be one of Ras Kwame's shows

Semtex plays much the same as the big corporate US hip hop stations with some grime interspersed and I'm not very familiar with Excalibah.
 

hint

party record with a siren
Xcalibah represents the more underground style (mixed in with the odd big name) - UK and US... mixture of experimental stuff and bread and butter boom bap tracks.

heartless mix it up a fair bit
 
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