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kashmere

King Kashmere – North Star ft Maddy

October 27, 2021 by Kieron Sullivan

Loving the King Kashmere renaissance that’s currently in motion. The former iguana man and dude who put the strange in Strange U is on toppest of forms again on ‘North Star’, the second single to drop lately in collaboration with producer Alecs DeLarge. Did somebody say album? No. Nobody’s said that yet. Fuck it. ALBUM. There. If it turns out to be true you heard it here first. We predict its arrival in 2022 on invisible vinyl with demonic artwork and a secret track that only dogs can hear.

For something more tangible, the humans at High Focus have digitally rereleased In The Hour Of Chaos the debut project from Kash, which originally appeared in 2006 on Receptor Records. Well worth a listen in full whether revisiting or bumping for the first time!

King Kashmere – Soul Calibur

September 24, 2021 by Theo Specone

High Focus Records is proud to present King Kashmere – ‘Soul Calibur’, produced by Alecs DeLarge.

Caspar Grant – Snake Oil

April 19, 2021 by Theo Specone

Caspar Grant teams up with High Focus artist Kashmere (Strange U) for And What’s fourth release

Tesla’s Ghost – MIRROR IMAGE

March 7, 2021 by Theo Specone

Tesla’s Ghost – MIRROR IMAGE Produced by – Kashmere Taken from the new project by Tesla’s Ghost “AMAHL FAROUK”

Pre order now!! teslasghost.bandcamp.com

Strange U – Maybe

February 26, 2021 by Theo Specone

‘Maybe’ is lifted from Strange U‘s forthcoming 7″, landing on the 25/03/21! Available to pre-order now on both black and white wax accompanied by a die-cut sticker, and an extremely limited run of fresh T-shirts.

Video by Zygote.

King Kashmere – Rappertag Season 3 Episode 1

April 23, 2018 by dylan

King Kashmere of Strange U kicks off the third season of Rappertag UK in style, over a Dr Zygote beat, find out who gets tagged in.

4orce & Kashmere – On The Run

March 6, 2018 by dylan

Another new visual from 4orce lifted from Setting Standards this time featuring UK veteran King Kashmere. Video by Global Faction

Posse Cuts! 10 times that the number of guest spots on a UK Hip Hop Track got seriously out of hand

May 5, 2017 by Kieron Sullivan

Just over a month ago, jaws hit the floor when Leaf Dog‘s The Legacy dropped a couple weeks ahead of the release of the rapper’s second full-length album ‘Dyslexic Disciple‘. After a lot of head scratching, discussion and trawling through artists’ back catalogs here in the UKHH camp, we couldn’t think of any examples of UK hip-hop tracks that had as many features as the whopping 19 guest MCs boasted on this (nearly 8 minute long) beast of a tune. Then we discovered Eskar‘s FluteJam which also crams 19 extra heads onto one long-arse song. If we’ve missed an obvious example that packs a bigger crew then please get in touch and correct us but to the best of our knowledge Leaf now holds the joint record for the biggest posse on a tune. This would of course be worth shit all, if The Legacy was a pile of steaming faeces. Fortunately though its sick. In addition to it managing to stay listenable for twice the length of a normal song with one loop, no hooks and 160 bars split into 8 bar segments the line-up of talent assembled is also pretty momentous. Joining half of the High Focus label roster, a handful of UK hip-hop royalty ices the Legacy cake including spots from Jehst, Klashnekoff, Mysdiggi (fka Mystro), Sonnyjim, Chester P, Farma G and a surprise Phi-Life Cypher reunion for good measure.

So hats off and mad props to Leaf Dog for all that and to mark this achievement we’ve put together a list of 10 of our favourite examples (not ranked) of guest appearances getting crowded.

Artist 01: Eskar
Track Name: FluteJam
No. of Guests: 19
Guest Artists: Scorzayzee, Sandy Minto, Tenchoo, Spee 69, Micky Swagz, Spida Lee, Doberman, Junior Disprol, ABD, Krankit, Watson G, Mury P, Kinetik, Jolly Jay, Ciaran Mac, Lego, Obi Joe, Gen, Micall Parknsun.

Seems only fair to start with the joint champ at rounding up a posse. Although it has the feel of something old, on second glance this appeared on YouTube less than a month in front of The Legacy!! In fact a lot about the two tunes surfacing at almost the exact same time feels like a bit of a cruel joke on poor Eskar. To be honest I don’t really rate Eskar’s other material that I’ve heard but this is pretty cool. Firstly, particularly as his name doesn’t have the same clout as Leaf Dog’s, the organisational mission of getting this many artists involved isn’t a small feat. Credit where it’s due as well, while it looks like Eskar only held the record for the most guests for a few weeks before The Legacy popped up and equaled it, he’s still definitely the longest by a huge measure with everyone putting down 16s. Also, considering its gargantuan length it manages to be mostly sick throughout. The majority of rappers involved are more or less unknowns but there’s a good level of variation in style and texture achieved in part by drawing lyricists from all over the country.

It’s not really surprising that this has been eclipsed by The Legacy, mainly because of the calibre of the names involved. While the talent on FluteJam isn’t shit, there are only really 2 MCs out of them who are in the same lane as the rhymers on The Legacy. It’s obviously not a mistake that Scorzayzee opens and Micall Parknsun finishes being the two heaviest hitters involved. This being said, while at the time of writing The Legacy has 115,000 views, FluteJam is barely a blip on the radar with only 120! That works out as 6 views for each rapper involved. It 100% deserves a fuck load more checks than that especially as it’s had its parade pissed on a bit.


Artist 02: Tony Broke
Track Name: 68 Sag
No. of Guests: 6
Guest Artists: Bill Shakes, Lee Scott, King Grubb, Tommy Dockerz, Black Josh, Bang On.

For the sake of coming up with this list, the main rule was that it had to be specifically the number of guest artists not simply the number of people on a tune. E.g. Split Prophets or Cult of the Damned wouldn’t make the cut alone. So this one verges on seeming a bit of a cheat as COTD member Tony Broke has roped in 4 out of 6 of the guest spots here from the Damned talent pool. However, as this track dropped in 2014, at this point Cult of the Damned were still Children of the Damned which didn’t include Black Josh and Tony Broke’s involvement with the crew was minimal with him featuring on only 1 tune on the Brick Pelican album. Also it’s off a solo release. Also its vibes.


Artist 03: 184
Track Name: Posse Cut (Kashmere Remix)
No. of Guests: 7
Guest Artists: Skuff, Koaste, Dr Syntax, Sonny Jim, Rup, Stig of the Dump, Salvo Mifune.

Nice selection of barsmen on this bite sized yet crowded number from 184 off the album When Producers Attack. Possibly the most surprising thing about it in contrast to the rest of the beats in this category is how it manages to bung 7 rappers onto such a short track. The second Kashmere remix posted here runs a modest 3.34 but the harder album version is somehow a full minute shorter. Fucks off the intro, gets down to some savage bars and done. Efficiency points. Cambridge’s Skuff and Brighton’s Koaste start it off strong making way for some heavy hitting verbiage from Syntax, Sonny and Stig. Sick.


Artist 04: Roots Manuva
Track Name: Swords in the Dirt
No. of Guests: 6
Guest Artists: Blackitude, Fallacy, Big P, Skeme, Niara Scarlett, Rodney P.

This list would seem weirdly incomplete without an entry showcasing uk hip-hop’s old guard repping hard. We struggled to think of many UK hip-hop albums from a way back that had high feature numbers but Swords in the Dirt off 2001’s multi-influenced masterpiece Run Come Save Me fits the bill pretty nicely. This spacey yet stompy one is a classic, with an MC line-up that includes the UK scene’s last man standing Rodney P killing it as per usual.


Artist 05: Dirty Dike
Track Name: Future Posse Cut One Thousand
No. of Guests: 10
Guest Artists: Stig Of The Dump, Dr Syntax, BVA, DatKid, Verb T, Jam Baxter, Edward Scissortongue, Mr. Key, Fliptrix, Leaf Dog.

As obscene Posse Cuts have become something of a High Focus trademark its unsurprising that a couple places in this selection have been reserved for HF artists. The Legacy for now is the culmination of a trend amongst label mates of seeing how many rappers its possible to cram on to a track, with this offering by Dike in particular establishing itself as a heavy hitter. While the meagre 10 spitters Dike dragged along might not quite compete with The Legacy on the headcount, it’s definitely funnier. Dr Syntax, Stig and Verb T stand out for jokes with Jam Baxter and Fliptrix bringing some savage bars as well. Also noteworthy, the beat absolutely bangs, the video is dope and each MC comes with a 16 which results in track length being a massive 10.19 mins.

Check out number 6-10 on the next page.

Strange Universe

Strange U #LP4080 Review

February 13, 2017 by Kieron Sullivan

Strange U #LP4080Presumably at some point at the start of this strange decade we have been living in, Kashmere the longstanding man of a thousand names decided that there was a gap he was compelled to fill in the UK hip hop scene. While this is entirely speculation, I imagine an epiphany moment down a deep rabbit hole induced by days of acid at which point the Iguana Man realised that it was his responsibility to take on the mantle of the UK’s answer to MF Doom. Emerging from this entirely unsubstantiated spirit quest, he set about creating a soundscape and new identity typified by heavily psychedelic melodies, jarring beats, poetically dislocated topics and imagery and then even threw in the Marvel Comics inspired mask for good measure.

The shit works for him. Choosing to do something so ambitious and managing for its stylistic similarities to come off as more of a nod to Doom than jacking his style is no small feat. While comparisons to Doom are unavoidable, Kashmere and Zygote’s Strange U are not a tribute act in the slightest and carve out a take on the Doomesque approach to hip hop that is distinctively UK and markedly more raw with a heavier drive and weirdly loose bangers abounding.

Strange U emerged with their first EP in 2013 shortly followed in 2014 by EP #2040. Not too hard to muster up a connection here. Bar a few singles in between, #LP4080 is the first Strange event in the last few years. After a chunky waiting period the first full length album is finally here and the good news is that it’s sick.

From start to finish, Kashmere lyrically bobs and weaves. Balancing the deep and the ridiculous, he manages for the most part to maintain an ability to surprise throughout. Although as that’s what I’ve come to expect from Kashmere I guess the fact that he does isn’t that surprising. In terms of topics, #LP4080 in some way or another has the tone of a comic nightmare all the way through, tempering a terrifying outlook of people, culture and where the world is heading with beatscapes and lyrics that revel in embracing the ridiculous.

Strange Universe

It’s probably a sound decision in light of the chaotic imagery cascading through the verses that Kasmere (aka Obiesie Adibuah) as standard opts to break up the insanity with hooks of a simpler nature. In opposition to the weird wordsmithing that forms the bulk of the tracks, the choruses generally take the form of a perverse phrase on repeat soaked in delay. The function of this often acts as immersing the listener in attempts to clutch at the meanings tied together in the verses before throwing the overall abstract meaning of the song in their face in its simplest form. Equally useful in breaking up the verbal assault are the couple of odd instrumental tracks where Zygote masterfully adds a surreal intermission.

Doctor Zygote deserves props for consistently bizarre production. Strange U’s instrumental sound has forged a distinctive style since their first releases, typified by sounding like retro video games and the far future simultaneously. Zygote throws together a mix of 8-bit sounds, cinematic samples, chugging bass lines and off kilter kicks and hi-hats that creates a width and depth to the tracks which fully immerses the listener. Everything sounds crisp as fuck while being laden with enough echoing effects to vary between sounding like travelling down deep tunnels to riding a satellite through space. All this adds up to creating a sound for Strange U which has the feeling of a current view of our future phrased from a sonic platform a few decades in our past. It’s like an audio version of watching cult sci-fi horror movies from the 70’s and 80’s.

The LP boasts a solid number of stand out tracks with a range of different strengths. Terminator Funk is a great opener. Lurching forwards like a giant robot on a mission, it’s a stomper that it’d be sick to see live. It’s not the only head nod tune on the album. Other examples come in the guise of the tongue in cheek braggadocio of Grizzle and contrasting hilarious self mockery of penultimate track Waste of Space where the Iguana Man departs from his oddly dark musings on present and future to childishly take the piss out of himself in lyrics like; ‘This ain’t a Freddy mask, this is my face, I’m a loser, I might try living in space. Never been a popular guy, I was only trying to say hi and I got rocked in the eye, Never ask me how the music is going, It’s going terribly, I think about quitting this bitch and going therapy.‘

Mumm Ra, King Kashmere’s ode to a monster is probably the biggest banger of the project. Lyrically its one of the least elusive tracks on the album with the subject matter chronicling a lust turned to hate tale with a horror story as its vehicle. The vocal journey works perfectly on a driving bass and beat combination that from its drop is reminiscent of what was so sick about hearing Tribe’s We The People not so long ago.

The horror theme rears its multiple contorted heads repeatedly as #LP4080 progresses, phrasing different facets of itself deftly. Darkly sci-fi imagery is commonplace over the course of the album, most prominently when painting twisted future portraits on Eden’s Husk ft Jehst where the two genre heavyweights paint a dismal view of a burnt, toxic world in the year 2050. Extending the global environmental crisis currently escalating to its possible crippling conclusion Kashmere and Jehst descriptively track through the various attributes of a planet where man’s days are finite.

‘The sky’s burning, aviation is over, the ozone is gone, radiation exposure, can you handle all the dread, the ecosystem is fucked, all the animals are dead, could all have been avoided if we thought about the future, now it’s all up in the toilet, polar ice caps melting into the ocean, 200 ft tidal waves crashing over the barriers, to travel as far as the inner city, the one’s who escape will be the ones to write history, unless they cannibalise each other’s flesh, in a mess trying to rationalise each others deaths.’

There’s a heavily dystopian edge to a large bulk of the material on #LP4080 some of which sees Kashmere dwelling unnervingly close to the present day. Dipping their reptilian toes into the waters of political satire, one of Strange U’s most scathing tracks to date is Mr Kill, which dropped on Nov 11th last year. Featuring a nauseating mix of gross out imagery and depictions of excess with a darkly comic political narrative Kashmere tears into the political establishment by caricaturing the intentions behind the masks of our ruling elites. There’s an obvious added irony lurking in that when its rolling off the tongue of an abstract mask wearing counter-cultural poet such as Strange U’s front man.

For a cutting extension of Mr Kill (although it actually appears earlier on the LP), see also Hanging Chads for Kashmere’s campaign ad which says it all really about the political status quo as its remained unchanged in living memory. While this is essentially just a skit track, its worthy of mention as he hits the nail on the head when the preposterous disgusting nature of what he proposes in his bid for head of state is a clear mirror for the actions of our world leaders in reality. Its done simply but by putting crude satire in a psychedelic format that seems to distort reality it forces home how insane it is that the social destruction that he describes his intent for is actually far more of an honest depiction of how the powerful operate today than the sugar coated version we’re fed and come to accept to some extent as being real.

It’s worth mentioning that the videos for all singles off #LP4080 are another way in which Strange U have managed to forge a continuity between all facets of the project. A signature style visual jams together disturbing and pop culture footage and random images that look like they’ve been cut out of magazines with scissors. Bulletproof Moustache ft Lee Scott showcases intentionally shoddy camera work like a child filmed it on a camcorder in the early 90’s mixed with 8-Bit avatars of the two MCs spewing surrealist lyrics loaded with retro references colliding off juxtaposed pop culture clips. All of which compliments Zygote’s SNES style synths and bass nicely. Shots is another one to check and cracked me up multiple times. The scathing take on the hip hop mainstream and idiot culture in general, is effortlessly fuck you, intelligent and silly at the same time and the ridiculous video adds to the crease effect.

Going overboard on collaborations has been a common phenomenon on hip hop albums for a long while, with vastly varying levels of effectiveness. LPs saturated with guest spots on occasion are excitingly diverse but often come across as packing in too much filler or dick riding credible associations to pick up the slack for an inability of the title artist to provide enough fire to compose a dope album on their own. This in mind, you can’t really argue with the balance that Strange U have struck with features on #LP4080. Collabs are limited to four cameos. All of which are sick and don’t detract from Obiesie’s ownership of the lyrical terrain.

These team ups appear as contributions from industry legend Jehst and Blah Record’s main man Lee Scott (as already mentioned above) as well as verses from High Focus’s founding father Fliptrix and Nottingham rapper Cappo. As line ups go this one is pretty flawless. Every one of them steps up to the plate and kills it in keeping with the audio arena provided by Zygote and adds a complimentary texture to Kashmeres lyrical approach. Breaking from the verbal pace and flow style that is Kashmere’s signature throughout the rest of the album, on Illuminations the Iguana Man speeds up his verse to keep pace with Fliptrix’s excellent guest spot. Particularly as the instrumental is Zygote’s most chilled, spacey and minimal offering on #LP4080, this sudden alteration of momentum in the vocals towards the album’s end is a welcome shake up. Final track and penultimate single, Zuul, complete with 80’s b movie style ominous bass and a runaway metronome dot see’s Cappo throw down the gauntlet with an imagery laden boast rich in mind bending scheme extension.

Theres not much to level at #LP4080 in the way of criticism. If anything, it would be that most swords are double edged. Creating and maintaining a project that through its sound, lyrics and visuals has as much continuity as Strange U, amounting to being a defined artistic whole that has been a distinctive entity since its inception is very impressive. The one downside of this is that even if that entity is something as weird, wonderful and ingenuitive as Strange U, by the nature of being a specific thing it means that at its least stand out moments (of which there aren’t many on #LP4080) it can sound like ‘another Strange U beat’. As #LP4080 stands at a point where the group are fairly new and still very exciting this is barely a noticeable issue, particularly as the vast majority of the songs have something that give them an individual significance. The challenge for them with future releases will be to continue to surprise when the benchmark they’ve set for insanity thusfar is already more experimental than the majority of hip hop artists ever get.

Strange U, as the name suggests, aren’t ever going to be everyone’s cup of Tetley’s. Fans of a more standard UK hip hop beat and flow pattern or hip hop with a grimier edge may be likely to disregard them. While this means that they will most likely permanently occupy a specific niche in the UK scene without many comparable acts to keep them company in that space, it is also likely to ensure them dominance over it (in the short term at least) and a dedicated long term fan base. #LP4080 is a consolidation of an expectation of quality and integrity based on all the smaller releases that have come before it. Production and bars kill relentlessly from start to finish and I’d be very surprised to talk to fan’s of Kashmere, Zygote and Strange U who weren’t more than satisfied with this step in the Strange odyssey. The two artists are both pretty prolific so hopefully it won’t be too long before there is a new chapter. In the meantime, King Kashmere and Bambooman are releasing a short EP entitled Supergod on the 3rd of March and Strange U will be showcasing material off #LP4080 during the High Focus Records event at Concorde 2 in Brighton on March 10th.

#LP4080 is out now and available on High Focus Records.

High Focus Records 4th Birthday Party – London

May 15, 2014 by Sara Shipley

hfChoosing a 1,500 capacity venue for your 4th birthday celebration is a ballsy move by anyone’s standards, unless maybe you’re Blu Ivy or North West but the prospect seems less daunting when you’re talking about the UK Hip Hop powerhouse label that is High Focus Records.

Taking a step up from their humble roots in Brixton Jamm and Plan B, the pioneering UK Hip Hop collective will be celebrating their fourth year of existence at the famous Brixton Electric in the same unapologetically confident and truly original manner that we have come to expect from High Focus Records.

Boasting a roster full of fresh and innovative trail blazers like Edward Scissortongue and the labels founder Fliptrix, High Focus Records have stood out as a beacon of hope in what has previously considered by some as a dying scene, and they have definitely been putting in the hard graft over the past four years with over 20 albums released to date.

Exemplifying the slightly more artistically surreal side of High Focus on Friday night, will be Fliptrix joined by fellow label mates Verb T, BVA MC and Leaf Dog who form the avant-garde concept group, The Four Owls. It’s with this diverse and progressive range of acts that High Focus nights always promise satisfy the full spectrum of UK Hip Hop fans and they continually prove they are definitely not lacking style or substance.

Not only will the full line-up of High Focus artists be representing on the night but they will also be sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in UK Hip Hop including the legendary Klashnekoff, Jehst and the man credited with reviving afro futurism, Onoe Caponoe.

This will be a truly fitting way to celebrate four years of consistently high quality output from the label that continues to push the boundaries and challenge preconceived notions of the UK Hip Hop scene.

Full line-up and event details:

  • FLIPTRIX
  • VERB T
  • LEAF DOG
  • BVA
  • CONTACT PLAY
  • DIRTY DIKE
  • JAM BAXTER
  • EDWARD SCISSORTONGUE
  • MR KEY
  • RONNIE BOSH
  • THE FOUR OWLS
  • RAG N BONE MAN
  • RAMSON BADBONEZ
  • MAB & CHARLIE MAC
  • DEAD PLAYERS
  • DJ MADNICE
  • DJ SAMMY B-SIDE
  • DJ FINGERFOOD

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS:

  • JEHST
  • KLASHNEKOFF
  • CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED
  • KASHMERE
  • BUGGSY
  • ONOE CAPONOE
  • CONFUCIOUS MC
  • PETE CANNON & DJ JIVES (JUNGLE SET)

Friday 16th May – 10pm-6am

Tickets:

Super Early Birds/Early Birds/1st Release – SOLD OUT!

£12 2nd Release

M.O.T.D

Available from:

Ticket Arena | Resident Advisor | Fatsoma

18+ I.D Required // R.O.A.R

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