Ok so we’re well into 2013 now but a few late responses to my orginal articles prompted me into sending a few more feelers out and I’ve got a final wrap up to do.
Thanks to 4our Pillars, Boom Bap, Cappo, Eatgood and the legend who is Rodney P for the answers this time and if you missed Aspects, Associated Minds, Caxton Press, Chemo, Disorda, Donnie Propa, Itch FM, King Underground, Mystro, Rapshack, Rarekind, Ryan Proctor, Tom Caruana, Wyt Fang and the guys from Hoochinoo/Rappertag the first time around then check the links at the bottom of the page.
4our Pillars
introduce yourselves and what you do
introduce yourselves and what you doWe are the 4our Pillars
We organise Hip Hop events that are hosted and backed by some of Europes MC’s, Aerosol Artists, DJ’s and MC’s. Many of them have been involved in the Hip Hop scene for over 20 years.
The 4 Pillars are the foundation of Hip Hop; each pillar represents one of the following:
Aerosol Art, MC’s, DJ’s and last but by no means least, B-Boys.
Many people claim to be involved in Hip Hop but only seem to represent one or two of the 4our pillars. Hip Hop culture is EVERYWHERE and has touched EVERY genre of music. If the truth be told, Hip Hop is more than a culture; it’s a way of life and what we aim to bring to you at the 4our Pillars events is a night of pure Hip Hop in its true essence, whether you’re from the old school or the new school, we are one and all are welcome. We want to bridge the gap between the new and old school and share the knowledge.
what was your highlight event of the year?
Watch The Throne Tour (Jay-Z and Kanye West) at the O2. Outstanding show
which artists impressed you most during the year?
Rodney P, Kamanchisly, Wretch 32, MCM, Kendrick Lemar, Mystro, Pheonix Da Icefire, Joey BadA$$, Slaughter House. Soul Mavericks (UK BBoy Crew), Morning of Owl (BBoy Crew from Korea). Mode2 (Aerosol Artists), DJ Big Ted, DJ Shortee Blitz, DJ Stylewarz (Germany), DJ Renegade and DJ Mada. To be honest the list is endless.
what are your plans for 2013?
To bring more 4our Pillars events to real Hip Hop heads not only in the UK but Europe too. Who knows, may be organise a tour..
how do you see the health of the uk scene at the moment?
The health of the UK rap scene is strong. However, the UK Hip Hop scene seems to have been disfranchised. For an example; MC’s no longer have real scratch DJ’s. When was the last time you saw an MC and DJ perform a real live show on a set of 1210’s….? The days of team work seem to have disappeared.
Everyone seems to be doing their own thing. BBoys are being used to promote commercial pop acts that have little or no knowledge of the art form. The knowledge of Hip Hop culture needs to be shared in order for the scene to unify. If you ask anyone involved in the current ‘UK Rap Scene’ to name an old skool UK act, MC or DJ, most of them wouldn’t know the likes of MC Mello’, London Posse, Mighty Ethnics, Fingers, Trouble Rap, Family Quest, Caveman, DJ Pogo, Cutmaster Swift, Hijack, Hardnoise, Demon Boyz etc… That’s like asking a dancehall artist to name a legendary reggae artist and them not mentioning Bob Marley… INSANE!!!!
Everyone seems to be doing their own thing. BBoys are being used to promote commercial pop acts that have little or no knowledge of the art form. The knowledge of Hip Hop culture needs to be shared in order for the scene to unify. If you ask anyone involved in the current ‘UK Rap Scene’ to name an old skool UK act, MC or DJ, most of them wouldn’t know the likes of MC Mello’, London Posse, Mighty Ethnics, Fingers, Trouble Rap, Family Quest, Caveman, DJ Pogo, Cutmaster Swift, Hijack, Hardnoise, Demon Boyz etc… That’s like asking a dancehall artist to name a legendary reggae artist and them not mentioning Bob Marley… INSANE!!!!
The scene needs unification and cats should do the knowledge on the art that they claim..
give us a tip for 2013
Do what you do because you’re passionate about it. Never let money be the first or only reason for doing it. If there’s money to be made, it will come to you eventually if you’re real.
Oh yeah, don’t eat yellow snow!! Lol
shoutouts/thanks/christmas wishes
Shout out to the UKHH team, Mode2, KSly, MCM, Rodney P, Daddy Skitz and all those that support real Hip Hop
any final blatent self promotion, twitter, links etc.
Boom Bap
introduce yourselves and what you do
introduce yourselves and what you doWe are Boom Bap. And we are here for hip hop, lots of it, as loud as possible and if we can make sure it hammers out for extended lengths of time we WILL. We like to push forward thinking, building and put UKHH in the forefront of our agenda. Founded and formed in November 2011 and we are here to stay!
what was your highlight event of 2012?
Aside from the festival, other dope nights that we/you may have been to: Dilated Peoples, Bronson, Madlib + DOOM and the album launches that Boom Bap put on, Jam Baxter, Stig, Verb T. Putting on Lord Finesse was a big highlight for us too. Unfortunately didn’t get to do any other festivals this year as we were just far too busy, but got love for SoundFlow Festival, Boom Town Fair and Symmetry Festival.
which artists/labels impressed you most during the year
UK Labels EatGood, High Focus, BBP, YnR. Artists specifically Jam Baxter, Sonny Jim, Piff Gang, Mystro. Production wise The Purist, 184, Ghost Town, Illinformed, Sumgii, 2late agghhh really too many to mention. Too many to even start on U.S acts so i’m just going to mention a few that we have played a lot. Bronson, Evidence, Roc Marciano, Kendrick Lamar DOOM, The whole Stones Throw collective, Party Supplies, Apollo Brown. I could go on…….
what are your plans for 2013?
Really focus on Boom Bap 2014 as we want to really expand and hop up to a 10,000 capacity event. A winter weekend ting we got an idea for in a holiday village somewhere in the UK. Obviously another festival this year. Dirty Dike & Jam Baxter 15 date UK tour that we will be putting together for Dikes next full LP release. More US acts, a new night dedicated to live performance called The Lick, regular Boom Bap nights all over the country, album launches as well as all the other nights we run and hold down. Croatia for Outlook, we will be at Symmetry Festival amongst a few others. Boom Bap exclusive mixtapes! Our documentary collaboration with will rap for change. Some other plans we have but is to early to mention and then some…………like Tom Hanks we gwan make it BIG!
how do you see the health of the uk scene at the moment?
Obese. Brimming with HEAVY weight emcees and FAT beats hahahaha.
The scene’s looking good again, but for it to be healthy people have to keep supporting. Buying records, going to nights etc. etc.
give us a tip for 2013
If High-Focus have another year like 2012, all those releases can be eagerly anticipated. Looking forward to Task Force dropping MFTC5 and touring again. Also watch out for new material from the likes of Efeks, Cracker John, Dead Players, NLP, Frankie Stew and Concept Of Thought.
shoutouts/thanks/new year wishes
All the heads keepin’ it movin’. Real music heads who support UKHH fully, Mystro, Disorda/Suspect Pakages, Sika Studios, Hoochinoo, Sensi-Tize, Equality, Dean Huson, Rebel Lionj. All my peoples Jaksun, Michael Weston, Jimmy Two-Can, Joe b 1, Leegalize the slackest rapper out there, Schema Grand, Donnie Proppa and The Heavy Links connect, and YOU ukhh.com!
any final blatent self promotion, twitter, links etc.
Cappo
for those alien visitors who won’t know give us a quick resume up to now
for those alien visitors who won’t know give us a quick resume up to nowBorn by caesarean section and holding a large blood clot, signifying a true warrior, I was made legendary at a very early age when two poisonous snakes tried to attack my cot whilst I slept. Upon hearing the hissing of the snakes my parents rushed into my room to find I had broke the necks of both snakes and was playing calmly with my toys surrounded by snake blood. At the age of 4 my father passed away, leaving me the super powers that he had kept secret for his whole life. I acquired the skill of rhythmical poetry, the power of hypnotic instrumentation and the ability to fly. After several years of honing my craft I released my first musical onslaught and was soon after kidnapped by the Japanese army.
Whilst in captivity I was genetically merged with the Akai MPC 2000xl and became half man, half machine.
Upon realising my new found strength as an Ultramagnetic Cyber Beast I broke out of captivity and went into hiding, creating my own Hyperbaric Time Chamber that I remained in until I reached my adolescence.
Since then I have roamed the earth in secrecy, attacking and destroying any competitor who I have encountered.
My strength seems to have tripled upon each year of my existence and I am now a 30,000 ft rhyme colossus who can transform into an iron winged Patagonian Condor.
I have also been known to work for international government agencies as a Button man.
how was 2012 for you and what were the release highlights that might have been missed
Kendrick Lamar L.P was definitely the highlight for me, the Action Bronson mixtapes have been sick. Asap Rocky album is dope also. Dark Knight Rises OST by Hans Zimmer is my gym music. The Clams Casino beat tape was undeniably crazy ILL. All the Curren$y releases are dope as usual. Jahlil beats is ILL and Dom Kennedy is a sick rhymer. I’m playing mac and Cheese 3 a lot (French Montana). Hodgy beats was a sick tape. Joey Badass also. Rick Ross albums are so dope and the MMG production is so slick, plus Stalley is a true lyricist. Riff Raff is crazy plus I am rocking the Roc Marciano album a lot too. Smoke DZA is ILL plus there is plenty more thats inspiring me right now.
what are your planned releases for 2013?
Cappo / Nappa collaboration L.P called #RebelBase for release mid 2013 on King Underground, first 12” from it called Red Hot is set for release February.
My solo album is set for summer release.
Wytfang / Cappo e.p on gatefold double 7” called BEASTS is set for release soon, plus the Zircon / Cappo e.p Unprogrammable Raw is set for release soon on Boot records.
Me and the Theorist are going back to the lab this year for the Mercury music prize.
what other music hit the spot for you in 2012?
The Theorist 33 ep.
Eazy E – Eazy Duz it album.
LL Cool J – Radio album.
My new fuckin solo album is my best most diverse shit to date so I have to honorably mention it.
how do you see the health of the uk scene at the moment?
Good health right now, young artists are making moves and the true artists are shining through, still some foul music floating around but the truth will out when it comes to rhyme skills.
Some labels are making fraudulent music look huge right now but that is how its always been.
I respect anyone who is trying their best and has respect and dignity in their music plus for themselves, plus you have to let the times and music move on, respect the changing of the guard and embrace change.
Music doesn’t make the money it used to so you have to be of resilient character to survive.
any thoughts on the future of the industry? are physical formats dead? are you worried about piracy/filesharing?
Me and Theorist were talking about YouTube, he said his 3 year old son asked to use it, when he was asked what he wanted to see he said ‘a dog in a blue hat’. Theorist said he thought it would be too random to find anything, but when he searched he found 3 or 4 different videos of cartoon dogs in blue hats. The next option was to choose the best out the 4 video results. Its difficult to explain, but this random process is similar to how I see the music industry right now; as soon as anything is made, its immediately downloaded and everything in conjunction with it is devoured, you can literally download an artists whole back catalogue in a matter of minutes. When I was growing up I had to wait each month for the next big release, so I would play my latest purchase until then. Nowadays the consumer doesn’t have to wait, they can keep devouring and devouring back catalogues and new music forever. But the truth is, they still have to wait for the artist to create and finish their next product before they download it. So the power is still in the hands of the intellect who created it. The intellectual property has become far more important than before because the onus is focused on the artist’s next release. The consumer can download everything in conjunction with that artist, but they cant download whats in the artist’s head or rhyme pad, they still have to wait until the music is finished to be able to immediately download it. As long as it doesn’t get leaked…
shoutouts/thanks/new year wishes
Happy New Year to all who have just read this tirade and shout outs to all the artists and labels I’m working with right now –
any final blatent self-promotion, twitter, links etc.
Twitter: CAPPO_GENGHIS
Facebook: Grand Imperial Cappo
Website: cappohq.com
Eatgood Records
for those alien visitors who won’t know give us a quick resume up to now
for those alien visitors who won’t know give us a quick resume up to nowEATGOOD Records is the Birmingham (UK) based hiphop label, we play home to artists Sonnyjim, Kosyne, Redbeard, Taharka, Percy Filth, TLG and RTKal.
we’ve put out a mixture of full length albums, mixtapes, freebies an mixtapes from all the artists on the label! some releases you guys may know of are.
we’ve put out a mixture of full length albums, mixtapes, freebies an mixtapes from all the artists on the label! some releases you guys may know of are.
Sonnyjim’s Trading Standards Mix CD, Psychonaut LP. Redbeards Agency Scum EP, Percy Filths Elbow Grease EP and our joint EATGOOD Compilation Vol 1.
how was 2012 for you and what were the release highlights that might have been missed
2012 was great; we moved studios, did some great shows and put a whole load of releases, release highlights..well we had the Sonnyjim & Wizard EP
“The Executive Branch” which was great in showing a new sound both Sonnyjim and Wizard have steadily been moving to independantly of each other
so it was great meeting of minds. Sonny also dropped his excellent single with AG produced by Chemo “The Greatest Sin” that’s been sitting in the vaults
for a minute so it was good to get that out there.
“The Executive Branch” which was great in showing a new sound both Sonnyjim and Wizard have steadily been moving to independantly of each other
so it was great meeting of minds. Sonny also dropped his excellent single with AG produced by Chemo “The Greatest Sin” that’s been sitting in the vaults
for a minute so it was good to get that out there.
Other than that the Sonnyjim and Kosyne EP was quite the highlight as it finally got Kos out there
with a project and some new material! oh and to top the year off we put out our first Wizard release “Chill Pill 4” and Redbeard will be gettng some
freeness out just before the years out with his Sumthin Old, Sumthin Borrowed, Sumthin Red compilation/promo mix. Oh and Kosyne’s side label
“Louis Den” also put out a dope 7 inch single from Pete Cannon featuring Guilty Simpson!
with a project and some new material! oh and to top the year off we put out our first Wizard release “Chill Pill 4” and Redbeard will be gettng some
freeness out just before the years out with his Sumthin Old, Sumthin Borrowed, Sumthin Red compilation/promo mix. Oh and Kosyne’s side label
“Louis Den” also put out a dope 7 inch single from Pete Cannon featuring Guilty Simpson!
You can get the lowdown on everything over at eatgoodrecords.com
what are the planned releases for 2013?
Hopefully, the long awaited Sonnyjim and Apatight album; this should be considered his true debut album (not to discount any of his previous long players) but
this has a steady theme and concept throughout and a cohesive sound.
this has a steady theme and concept throughout and a cohesive sound.
Kosyne should be dropping a couple projects next year including collabs with Ralph Rip from Associated Minds and JND from Sinoptic.
Redbeard will be releasing his first album.
and hopefuly a Taharka project somewhere in the mix. Oh and look for a new Percy Filth and Milestone album coming courtesy of Crudely Cut!
what other music hit the spot in 2012?
I’ll just throw some names out that everyones been playing lots of
Kendrick Lamar, Roc Marciano, Nas, Trellion and Sniff, Action Bronson, Metabeats, Oddisee, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mowhawke, Childish Gambino, Schoolboy Q, AbSoul
Jokerstarr, Pac Div, Flame Griller….yeah..
how do you see the health of the uk scene at the moment?
Good…real good, It’s just a shame some of the bigger “outlets” still aren’t laching onto whats really going on and theres still politics on “getting heard” once you
try and get past certain one man blogs/radio shows etc But yeah, the standard is certainlly getting better and people are more prepared to throw money at their
art.
try and get past certain one man blogs/radio shows etc But yeah, the standard is certainlly getting better and people are more prepared to throw money at their
art.
any thoughts on the future of the industry? are physical formats dead? are you worried about piracy/filesharing?
Sounds like a cliche answer but “It Is What It Is!!”, with the recent Sonnyjim and Kosyne EP, we actually dropped the whole thing for free..It’s not even about
devaluing music to the point you are giving it away…It’s just its more important to be heard/seen than it is to be immediately financially rewarded.
devaluing music to the point you are giving it away…It’s just its more important to be heard/seen than it is to be immediately financially rewarded.
The guys will be dropping the EP again in the New Year, the one they gave out was the clean version; the retail will be uncensored and have a few bonus tracks
so hopefully those who rocked with it will be prepared to go out and spend and maybe those who got it for free might tell a friend…watch a few videos or come to a show!
so hopefully those who rocked with it will be prepared to go out and spend and maybe those who got it for free might tell a friend…watch a few videos or come to a show!
People are still latching onto physical product, and even if they are playing it out their iPods or off a CDR in the car they’d still want the vinyl or CD on the shelf
so physical will never disappear but the people who care about collecting are no doubt slowing down. As far as piracy; yeah we’ve sent the odd DMCA request
to filesharing sites to shut down the links; I think its important people still do that, we mess with Bandcamp a lot too and so quite a lot of our releases are actually out there
to stream, we’ve even put a full mixtape and lots of tracks on Youtube, plus theres Spotify / Deezer / Grooveshark etc…You really have no excuse if you want to try before
you buy as theres options..
so physical will never disappear but the people who care about collecting are no doubt slowing down. As far as piracy; yeah we’ve sent the odd DMCA request
to filesharing sites to shut down the links; I think its important people still do that, we mess with Bandcamp a lot too and so quite a lot of our releases are actually out there
to stream, we’ve even put a full mixtape and lots of tracks on Youtube, plus theres Spotify / Deezer / Grooveshark etc…You really have no excuse if you want to try before
you buy as theres options..
It’s a full time job being 100% militant on shutting down links, we’ve even seen a Russian mp3 site that rips stuff off your bandcamp and sells it on..no contact information
for taking stuff down or anything ha! so if people dont wanna pay or bootleg, you cant force them, but theres nothing wrong in making it a bit harder for them if possible!
for taking stuff down or anything ha! so if people dont wanna pay or bootleg, you cant force them, but theres nothing wrong in making it a bit harder for them if possible!
shoutouts/thanks/christmas wishes
big up all the blogs supporting, people downloading and heads coming out to shows! we’ll be hitting you over the head with even more of the same in the new year!
any final blatent self-promotion, twitter, links etc.
Big up all the EATGOOD artists, everyone we’ve worked with and anyone else out there pushing the good ish!
Rodney P
for those alien visitors who won’t know give us a quick resume up to now
for those alien visitors who won’t know give us a quick resume up to nowI’m the Father of the Style they’re all promoting
how was 2012 for you and what were the release highlights that might have been missed
2012 was cool for me. I did less shows but i was in the studio a lot more than recent years. I signed to Tru Thoughts at the end of 2011 so it was all about new music. I released the single ‘Live Up’ featuring The Peoples Army & Mighty Moe from The Heartless Crew and me, Fallacy and Zed Bias formed a group called Sleeping Giantz and released an album. I also got to work on the latest Dub Pistols album. I’ve been working with them for a while and did 3 tracks on their ‘Worshipping The Dollar’ album for Sunday Best.
what are your planned releases for 2013?
2013 is gonna be a FANTASTIC YEAR!!! More Sleeping Giantz music is on its way and we are also gonna re-release the London Posse ‘Gangster Chronicle’ with some additional unreleased London Posse tracks included. I’m also releasing my new album ‘Enough’s As Good As A Feast’ this year.
what other music hit the spot for you in 2012?
I think 2012 was a good year musically. I feel like there is a fresh wave of Hip Hop artists that are taking it back that ain’t scared of making the music they like and pushing the boundaries a little. But if i’m honest i listen to mostly old music.
how do you see the health of the uk scene at the moment?
UK wise its looking heathy right now. A lot of new crews doing a lot of good music and pushing the scene forward. I enjoy the success of the commercial side of the scene but i also think the underground is real lively right now.
any thoughts on the future of the industry? are physical formats dead? are you worried about piracy/filesharing?
Well i’m about to go crate digging for records when i finish this so i don’t think physical formats will ever completely die but times have definitely changed. As for filesharing/piracy its not really something i worry about to much. It is what it is!!!!
shoutouts/thanks/new year wishes
Shout Out to everybody that ever bought, downloaded or stolen my music, come out to a show, blogged about or just told their friends about what i’ve tried to do over the years.
any final blatent self-promotion, twitter, links etc.
Look out for new the next sleeping Giantz single ‘Raving Bully’ coming soon on Tru Thoughts and The Definitive London Posse album also on Tru Thoughts.
I’ve got tracks with new artists Harleigh Blu and Tom Prior recorded already so look out for those. And of course look out for my new album.
My web site is under construction as we speak and will be up soon at RodneyP.biz but until then you can get at Rodney_P on Twitter ( @Rodney_P )
or check my fan page on facebook
My soundcloud is https://soundcloud.com/rodneyp and i regularly put stuff up and there’s always something to watch on my YouTube page http://www.youtube.com/riddimkilla
That’s the end of it. No, it really is this time. Thanks again to everyone who took part. I said my piece in the 2nd article so won’t repeat myself….