Welcome back hoppers of hip. Returning yet again from the murky mists of the UK scene triumphantly clutching a handful of essential rap appetisers and honestly with a disproportionately inflated sense of achievement that we’ve kept this regular 6 weeks in a row so far… Its another one of these Round Up thingamajigs.
During an arguably embarrassing moment in the upper echelons of the US scene, with J Cole coming out sort-of-kind-of swinging at Kendrick for all of two days and then issuing a public whoops/sorry… Pleased to say its been a good week in our little scene on the other side of the pond.
WATCH
This one from Mega S.A.S with Turkish Dcypha on production duties and a killer hook from Kaeko bangs too hard.
On the topic of murkage… Ocean Wisdom just resurfaced with crazy new cinematic visual for new single ‘I Exist’ and holy shite does it go hard. Ranking this up there with his all time best tracks.
Kofi Stone strong as ever with this gloriously old school instrumental underpinning a lyrical celebration of black love and excellence in the face of struggle. Stone always seems to have a vision for his visuals that expertly captures the facet of the human experience he’s speaking on and visual for ‘Black Joy’ is no exception.
Manchester’s Pique Roscoe takes a pensive moment to pay respects to departed friends. ‘Downtown’ continues a consistently dope streak with with producer Rokz.
On the face of it, Masta Ace and Large Professor link up ‘Come A Long Way’ could easily be mistaken for a straight US hip hop tune. However, everything but the bars is homegrown British. For the uninitiated, Son of Sam are a live hip hop band boasting a naughty rhythm section, horns, keys and production legend Tom Caruana. As this iteration of SOS’s original has Jehst on remix duties. We’re counting it as one of ours.
LISTEN
Continuing the theme of under the radar cross Atlantic rap antics… Underground connoisseurs Gold On The Mixer dropped an ill collab album entitled Dur Er Smuk with label head honcho Zatoichi’s Ears on production for Subtex (formerly of dope US outfit Grey Sky Appeal.)
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from The Mouse Outfit with just a couple of singles spread across 2022 and 2023 but they’re back on top form this week in collaboration with London’s AyiTe. ‘Propane’ feels like a return to a core sound that fuelled their initial rise alongside some of Manchester’s best flow merchants. One for the summer playlists.
For fans of the mellow end of hip hop and introspective lyricism, Noah Bouchard kind of gives art-school Frankie Stew and Harvey Gun vibes. It works for the guy and his first full length LP is a musically rich journey that feels frank and personal.
Finally Mylo Stone dropped a full length project named after his Pirate King alias. Landing courtesy of Green Brick Records the project see’s Mylo bring in a stellar cast of features from Bristol and beyond and body 13 tracks with content ranging from slick braggadocio to unflinching self-examination.
LIVE
For heads in and around London, Friday the 12th is boasting a truly top tier line up at Earth in Hackney for the Foreign Beggars 20th anniversary celebration. Celebrating the group’s 20 year legacy and paying respects to greatly missed founding member Metropolis with a line up that includes Illaman, MC Zani, Sonnyjim, Dabbla, Dubbledge, Dr Syntax, Pete Cannon and other special guests, it’s sure to be a moment.
AND THE REST…
Skirting the fringes of UK hip hop relevance here. Just thought this shit was funny…
Irish priest accidentally bumps Black the Ripper to his congregation. If there’s an afterlife hopefully the MC/activist/weed evangelist has been notified and is grinning.
And while Drake’s names been tied to the Cole, Kendrick beef but he’s yet to make any form of reply… Seems like a good time for this skewering of his style. Too accurate.
That’s all folks. Tell us what new hip hop you’ve been feeling and come back next week for more UK essentials.