Dot Rotten - You Wasted My Time (cover)

I am often awake at these stupid times, asking myself "WHY WHY WHY AM I AWAKE?!". I never usually have a good reason... until today, courtesy of Dot Rotten, for if I had retreated to my slumber at a normal time like a normal human, I would have missed out on Dot Rotten dropping a bomb.

A little over 24 hours ago Krept and Konan gave us the UK remix of Don't Waste My Time. It being a madness, naturally encouraged me to post about it here, and if you read it, you will see written in ink/pixels, me telling you to be excited because it is these types of tunes that get the whole scene going on one. And that's when good ol' Dot comes into play.

Since Dot's fairly decent album, he hasn't really been doing much, or not enough to be causing a stir at least (except on twitter). Well, I assure you after you let you ears get assaulted by this then you'll be saying: "Sorry I forgot just how good you were Mr Rotten because GAT DAHHHHHHM!". I don't know what ruffled his feathers, it could be absolutely anything because, as I said before, judging by his twitter, lately he seems to be frustrated with anything and everything on the UK scene that isn't Minarmy. Whatever it was, he let something go fo' sure and consequently he absolutely, unequivocally, totally and completely went in RUTHLESSLY during this therapy session he partook in, in his studio. It's evident that once he embarked on this outburst he couldn't stop; "F*** THAT I DONT WANNA HEAR NO CHORUS...!!!!", only this is a much more skilfully executed outburst than your usual. The bars are well constructed. His delivery, even with the 'Tempz Next Hype' level anger, is controlled and as a listener you're not just left drowning in a mess of poorly executed bars flung carelessly at us. This control is packed into two flows, the first; a fast, more spiteful, yet calmer flow and a second slower but heavier flow, adopted after the beat drops. Considering that this remix was one of the first to fall at our feet, and it being a freestyle at that, you'll feel yourself wanting to apologise to Mr Rotten yet again for forgetting how good he is.

Go and 'ave a listen m8.

Read More

Don't Waste My Time UK Remix - Krept, Konan, Chip, French Montana,Wretch 32, Chinx Drugz and Fekky

2nd of January, everyone awoke from their slumbers, rubbed out the eye bogeys and sat in their beds at 11:30am scrolling through twitter forgetting about the words of "wisdom" they were blabbering the other day across all thier social networks about productivity, pumping up the work rate and positivity. Amongst the "WE BE ALL NIGHT LOOOOOOOOOOOVE"//It's not everyday...//Real men shouldn't this and should that tweets as they scrolled they would have come across snippets of drama (which was very much over hyped by twitter land) surrounding the two Don't Waste My Time remixes dropped today. Now although I'm here to talk about the track, not the industry politics and the misunderstanding surrounding it, I must quickly address one thing...

Due to all the hoo-har on twitter, the one real issue in all of this was overlooked: the lack of respect French (along with pretty much the rest of the US scene) showed for the UK. He used a UK song for his mixtape. Okay, that's cool, thanks. But could he not have even credited Krept and Konan on the track listing? Is this twitter - there are no character limits. And did he really have to take the UK artists off the song to put it on his mixtape? Last time I checked, Lana Del Ray wasn't part of Coke Boys but she's still featured so it cant be that  he took off Chip, Fekky and Wretch's verses because it's a purely just a Coke Boys project. They executed strong verses - it would not sacrifice the Coke Boys' rep or quality of mixtape to keep them on there. He's not obliged to do anything but if the UK scene was rated let alone respected then just a simple gesture to support our scene would not harm himself, his career and would take him minimal effort. I guess it's that American artist "superior" attitude thinking that remixing one UK track is one too many favours for us.

That's just my thoughts but anyway...

The original version of 'Don't Waste My Time' is a straight greezy, raw, gas-material track. It doesn't carry the substance Krept and Konan's more concious stuff does, and although I love me some music with a message, from time to time you have to switch it up and give credit to the bangers that, when blasted, have you nodding your head like you're the don dadaaaaaaaaa. This is exactly why I was clinging onto the edge of my seat for the remix to drop. It's these types of tunes that get the artists on their toes making sure they go H'IIIIIIIINNNNN competing for the hardest verse whether they get put on the remix or do their own cover. And that's the real beauty...it gets the whole scene going!

You don't even need to get past the first verse for proof of this - Chip wins! He said it was a "killer verse" and he tells no lies. It's not technically  the best in terms of lyricism blah blah but for the type of track it is, the verse is perfect. For me, French got a bit lazy on this. Although they're decent bars - they're recycled and given that he always raps about the same old stuff anyway it's nothing more than a poor effort from him especially for something he is putting out on his mix tape where it's usually nice to deviate and experiment in the safety of the non-mainstream waters. Moving on...Wretch has never been the "greezy" type of rapper and if you were to match a track to him, this wouldn't be it - it's way darker, far too trappy and hence a lot more Americanised than his usual stuff. However, he manages to sound more than comfortable on this track controlling his verse and letting it build momentum as it progresses, leaving on a good, solid ending;"kabooooooooooom". Surprisingly, it's not his lyricism that stands out for me in this, but it was his delivery that took the spotlight - it was strong and was what gave his verse fire. Another piece of evidence proving he is one of our most skilled and versatile rappers right now. Chinx Drugz verse was decent. I'm not gunna lie, I haven't really made effort to listen to his other stuff so I can't really comment against his other work but judging from this he is iteeeee. If I wasn't the eager beaver I am, after hearing this I probably wouldn't have much motivation to listen to anything else of his. Fekky was good. Not at his best for me but he was decent and definitely continued the theme of Team UK > Team US which echoes through the track. It goes without saying that Krept and Konan's original verses were hard and even with the new additions they still remained strong (if I had to choose between the two though it would be Krept).  

The team US link up (although slightly messed up with the way French dropped his remix first) is a great move for Krept and Konan but the US efforts on this are lazy. A straight UK link up with a few more of our homegrown artists could have this looking like the new 'Game Over' and definitely worth my time. I'm just excited for the next few days where everyone is going to be dropping their own verses over this. Round 2 commence *DING DING*

Read More

MOBO Awards 2013 - 18 Years Old

The past few years I found myself slightly... unsatisfied...with the nominations and winners of some of the categories in the MOBO awards - that being said, it's hard to complain when it is one of the biggest supporters fighting in the "urban" corner of the music scene. This year however, restored some faith into me I must say. I shall explain how and why in my MOBOs 18th birthday analysis which I know you didn't ask for but you might as well just read because you're here now...

Now, I'm abusing the powers of juxtaposition to make sure this post is positive, so I'll get my negative out of the way. Note that I said "negative". Singular. Which is progress from last years negatives.

The night kicked off with Tinie Tempah. He is a great performer, he did his thing and yeah... Quite frankly though, I thought that was all the stage time he really should have got. It sounds harsh, I know. I can't argue that he has done so much for the scene, I've hailed him on this very blog before, but when he returned to the stage to accept the award for Best Hip Hop/Grime Act I can't say I was pleased. I like Tinie. He's humble despite his success. Trampoline was a tune (even if it is slightly Americanised). However, winning the award over nominees such as Akala and Wretch 32 who fit the category much more appropriately made me feel like the MOBOs missed the spot once again. I know the vote is public, but he shouldn't have really been a nominee. You can hardly class Tinie's music as Hip Hop or Grime anymore - that's not a bad thing at all...he's got to do what he has got to do and he is still very much supporting the scene he came from. My problem here lies more in the hands of the MOBOs who seem to have slipped him in as a nominee not based on the music he is supplying but the hype he's surrounded by. With the power the MOBOs have, they shouldn't be filling the nominations with artists that will get the show the most views but supporting the artists who may be underground yet are simultaneously worthy contenders of the category. 

Anyway lets be happy now...

WILEEEEEEEEEES FINALLY GOT A MOBO! Joy and jubilation! For someone who created one of the most prominent genres in the UK urban music scene it's shocking that this is his FIRST ever MOBO award. It's so refreshing - and I mean cold glass of water after running a marathon in a heatwave (lol) refreshing - to see his years of graft paying off. Along side his plaques for his number one singles he can now put a nice, shiny MOBO on his mantlepiece. In true Wiley-styley there was no sign of him at awards but lets give credit where it is due...he did leave a video message and I'll give him 10 bonus points for putting Angel aka my babes on my screen to represent and pick up the award for him. Maybe in the near future he'll get the chance to accept his own award for the success of an album full of, dare I say it, Grime tunes? No, this isn't me getting caught up in the excitement of him finally winning a MOBO. Mr Cowie, dedicated to the genre he fathered, is apparently leaving behind the formula to success he's been using since Summer 2012 and is bringing it back to the days we saw in the Lights On video. It's not a crazy Wiley-styley stunt. Now that he's in a stronger position than ever and has a better experience of the industry, it's an educated move to become successful and in his eyes this means making music he wants to make. Who knows? It could be possible. Maybe he will bring real Eski to the charts. Either way....congratulations and a big fat GWAAN WILEY!

Krept and Konan winning Best Newcomer was not only responsible for another burst of joy but was also responsible for best reaction of the night, coming from Krept's evidently proud Dad. It makes me proud to see such humble and nice guys (I've met them so I can actually back these claims up) tearing the scene up. They're so unstoppable right now its unbelievable to think this is all being achieved independently. They held a top 20 position in the Official Album Charts for A MIXTAPE and then win Best Newcomer at the MOBOs with no backing of a major label. They had tough competition from fellow nominees (who were ALL worthy so well done MOBOs) Jacob Banks, Shakka, Daley and Etta Bond but the award belonged to Krept and Kones and their victorious past few months. It feels like their recent success is the brewing before the storm rather than the climax of it. That makes me really really excited because they're adding strength and direction to the UK rap scene, which seems like it's lagging at times. They have a real potential to impact.

Other stars of the show include Naughty Boy who won two awards (the second win was accompanied by a wonderfully entertaining drunken speech) with Sam Smith (who looked adorably shy on that stage...and much taller than I had expected) for Best Song and Best Video with their, not even catchy but, contagious song La La La La (dun know the Indian musical flavours seasoning that track!). Also getting the double was Laura Mvula who's soul cleansing sound  helped her cop Best Female and Best R&B and Soul Act. 

After playing a flashback of past MOBO performances - such as LL Cool J, Jigga, Destiny's Child and Mary J Blige - the performers this year had their parade slightly rained on. Nevertheless, the stage held the likes of Iggy Azalea whose cake is way out of Mr Kipling's leauge, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE ODG and Rudimental with a capital MENTAL. Now, if we are giving out prizes for the performance of the night then it goes to none other than So Solid Crew who closed the show with the same song they opened the show with 12 years ago: 21 SECONDS T-T-T 21 SECONDS T-T-T. They created a legacy so strong they were able to come back years later and still kill the stage using just their history and energy. It makes me wish I went to that comeback show. Maybe then I could have blagged my way backstage and asked Lisa Mafia how she still looks fiyaaaaaaaaaaa.

Read More