Lizard Flex & King Bracket – Funkenstein
New one just landed from Folkestone’s Lizard Flex & King Bracket. ‘Funkenstein’ is lifted from their collaborative album Still Fizzy. Shot by Dfacer.
A Hip Hop Guide to Nozstock 2022
We’re not sure if it’s in spite of or because of soaring temperatures, lingering global catastrophe and political instability, but the UK is experiencing one of the strongest festival seasons in recent memory. Returning to the ‘hidden valleys’ of Herefordshire, Nozstock (ticket link) has long been friendly to the hip hop scene and this year hosts it’s biggest roster yet. This provides the perfect opportunity to give a UK hip hop head’s guide to the festival (also we have our own goddamn stage takeover – more on that later)….
Fun-loving is pretty much Nozstock’s middle name at this point and there are few headliners more fitting of that title that Dirty Dike. For the minority who are unaware, Dike’s unique brand of psychedelic story-telling has been a cornerstone of UK hip hop ever since he took the scene by storm as part of Contact Play in the 2000s. Well over a decade later and he shows absolutely no signs of slowing down, having recently founded his own label Melonskin Records and releasing some of boppiest and most ignorant music yet.
Representing UK hip hop’s northern pole is outright renaissance man Lee Scott. Rapper, producer, author, cult leader – the list goes on. Armed with infamous one-liners and one of the most identifiable voices in rap, Lee is poised to turn Herefordshire to Jonesville for one night only and I’m all here for it (laaa).
Wait. Did you say UK hip hop? Well, what do you know, we’ve got a 3 hour stage takeover and we think you’ll like it. The line up includes superhuman syllable slaughterer Vitamin G as well as local Herefordshire legends Coosie & Habitus a last minute replacement for Chillman and G00SE (also known for their work as part of Verbal Highz). Brain Scran Records are also in tow to takeover the takeover, featuring performances from King Bracket and frequent collaborator Chie, Bristol-based spitter Komposa, the mind-bending Katz with A K and heavyweight boom-bap murderers The Last Elect and a performance from the label’s latest signing Ella Mae Sureef who will reportedly be dropping new bass heavy music on the label in league with King Bracket. Rumour has it that Vitamin G’s cronies Kemastry and Wundrop are also sneaking into the festival this year to bring a super secret CMPND performance. These UKHH favourites should be familiar names at this point, so get down to the The Bullpen stage on Friday to hear them do their thing.
Also making an appearance is TrueMendous, fresh off making history with UK hip hop’s first ever female-only tour. Mixing heartfelt bars with the sort of timeless flow anyone can appreciate, TrueMendous is a High Focus signee who has had music recently featured in FIFA 21 as well as featuring in Pepsi’s 2020 Christmas Campaign. Equally true & tremendous is the infectiously energetic Sparkz. Producing and shelling down hip hop, bassline and everything in between, Sparkz somehow has somehow found time to work with not one but three supergroups- The Mouse Outfit, Voodoo Black and LEVELZ. Also bringing consistently dope hip hop vibes last minute addition to the line up Harvs Le Toad and Hutch can be found on the Garden stage on Friday and for a vocal talent that has regularly released hip hop while also skirting every type of wub to ever grace a soundsystem keep em peeled for Skitz cosign Joe Burn.
Practically completing the full breadth of the UK is Cornish resident MCMC Spoken aka Megan Chapman– a published poet and rapper poised to provide the lyrical antidote to the weekend’s debauchery. Meanwhile, Traffic MC arrives to guide hip hop head’s towards the rave, mixing watertight lyricism with a panache for drum & bass.
If Dike didn’t bring enough dirtiness for you, Cardiff-based jazz-inflected collective Dirty Alex are also in attendance, blending golden age hip hop with a live band set up. On a similar vibe are scallywag flag bearers The Midnight Zu who have been killing the festival circuit this year. Bringing soaring melodies, instrumental solos and stellar flows and freestyles from frontman Feline, The Midnight Zu menagerie are definitely one to catch.
Taking the hip hop tradition further afield is the ‘Say Less’ live show from poet/rapper Shak, exploring Black British culture through a combination of DJing, rap and spoken word. Similarly entertaining is the youth club and workshop paragon Natty Speaks, whose positive message has graced the likes of Glastonbury, Boomtown and Lovebox in previous years. Here’s hoping he’ll have the uplifting words to keep me powering through the long weekend…
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you fancy a bit of Sister Sledge, Bill Bailey (not a comedy set, probably still funny), Andy C, Flava D, Mungos Hi Fi and tons more, then come join us this weekend. Final few tickets available here.
We’ll see you at the Bullpen Stage on Friday.
Chie & King Bracket – In The Box / 27th
New double video from Folkestone’s finest Chie & King Bracket – ‘In The Box’ & ’27th’ are lifted from last years excellent Steezy Wonderz.
Available on vinyl, CD, Cassette from brainscran.com & all digital streaming platforms.
Kiss – Self Sabotage ft Chie, In’ovative & Skwid
Loving this one from the Folkestone fam. It’s a bit nuts that this is the first ever video from Kiss, as she’s been about for more than a minute. ‘Self Sabotage’ makes it worth the wait though. The King Bracket produced beat is hard and hip hop’s first lady of Kent is verbally at her best, as are the local mob she’s brought along. Verses from Chie, In’ovative and Skwid all bang. Messy poker video is also a vibe. Full marks.
Chie & King Bracket – Sunny Sands
‘Sunny Sands’ – lifted from Chie & King Brackets’ LP Steezy Wonderz which is out now and available at brainscran.com.
Chie and King Bracket – ‘Steezy Wonderz’ Review
People living in lockdown broadly fall into one of two groups. Either you’re a normal person, who lost six months to Netflix, wake’n’bakes and midweek drinking, or you’re a psychopath who spent their entire lockdown working out, reading and bettering themselves as a person.
But, it turns out there is a third group – a minority who managed to indulge in every indulgence possible while crafting unholy classics as if they were rolling a J. Chie and King Bracket would fall into this third group.
After tearing up the festival circuit as half of Backward Sun all the way back in 2019, the Kent-based duo spent a year polishing their debut LP. But with Steezy Wonderz, the boys aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, they’re offering a lawless journey to the dankest corners of hip hop.
Chie’s gravel-throat drawl rolls around beats like a drugged-out labrador, but his delivery is sharper than a paper cut to the eardrums. Even as he spits about breakfast bongs and late-night writing, Chie makes a point of giving you the unfiltered truth. On ‘A Wagwhan PhD’ he sneers, “Play the drug game // wake up a fuckface // Waste of my wage // Licking flavour from packet.”
Debut single ‘Flavoured Recipe’ captures the mood of the album perfectly; an Illinformed-inspired blend of gloopy horn loops, smooth bassline and bars so sweet they’ll rot your teeth. And while the bars are a big part of Steezy Wonderz, it’s King Bracket’s beat skills that tie the album together.
Previous productions have explored everything from trap to folk to DnB. It’s that depth of experience that allows the duo to take you from dinner drinks at upmarket jazz bars to gurning your way around a 2 am nightclub to smelling keys in a house party kitchen at 5 am in the space of two tracks.
But Steezy Wonderz isn’t here to glamourise anything. It’s unsparingly honest about the struggle of following your own path. Even the most hedonistic scenarios come with a healthy dose of reality. It’s just that the southeast boys wouldn’t want it any other way.
They might make it look effortless, but Steezy Wonderz is really just the product of choosing to work smart instead of working hard. So kick back, spark a zoot and embrace your inner steeze.
Steezy Wonderz drops September 4th on Brain Scran Records. Get it on pre-release here.
Chie & King Bracket – Erry Day Mk3
We just dropped the visual for Chie & King Bracket‘s second single ‘Erry Day Mk3’ on the channel yesterday. Weirdly this monster of a tune was written before the Corona apocalypse had reared its ugly mug, so the ‘Repeat the task with the mask face/Play your part mate/We’re living in this dark age’ hook has taken on a whole new meaning.
Lifted from Chie and Bracket’s upcoming 14 track debut LP Steezy Wonderz. Available for pre-order on Vinyl, Digital and Green Cassette through Brain Scran Records HERE.
Chie & King Bracket – Flavoured Recipe
We shot this with Chie and King Bracket a year back at Nozstock festival after they shelled down the Bullpen stage as part of Backward Sun. We’ve sat on it for ages and its finally seeing the light of day in the absence of festival season as the first single from the debut Chie X Bracket LP. Dropping soon on Vinyl, CD and Cassette through Brain Scran Records.
Check out the new Brain Scran Website/Shop HERE.
Pickle Rich – ‘My Way’ ft Chie
Pickle Rich – ‘My Way’ ft. Chie (Prod. King Bracket). Mixed and Mastered by King Bracket.
Mysteronz – ‘2 Martas’ Video + EP Release
Brain Scran Record’s debut EP release Parental Guidance for first signing Mysteronz has arrived today! In preparation for this occasion we took to the streets of the seaside town of Folkestone to run a political campaign aiming to get Mysteronz party candidate and DJ/Producer King Bracket elected as the MP for Folkestone and Hythe. Polls suggest that regardless of whether Mysteronz are aliens masquerading as a hip hop crew or a hip hop crew masquerading as aliens, nobody is willing to vote for them to represent the constituency in parliament. Which is probably a good thing as they definitely couldn’t be fucked. It wasn’t a complete waste of time though as the video for second single ‘2 Martas’ turned out sick.
Parental Guidance features UK Boom Bap ambassadors Chie, 7th Sense and King Bracket repping impressively across 7 lazily funky bangers. Listen and cop it here.