Flicking thru those
plastic wrapped 10 thou a pop CDs I stumbled upon
this little sliver of quality hip hop. some may
have noticed how music distribution in these parts
is based on buzz words rather than musical knowledge
– someone goes to Jakarta, looks for anything
with lounge, chill out, Buddha, R&B, Ibiza
or hip hop in the title and crap graphics on the
cover, then buys it. The cover of this compilation
is hell tacky and the title is corny too so I
guess that’s why it slipped through the
cheese-peddlers’ lack-of-quality control
net.
So anywayz, this April release is UK based label
Fat City Recordings first of 2004. The binding
concept is, go figure, hip hop on a love tip.
Being Fat City, they’ve come up with the
goods, employing the services of Nicci Cheeks,
one of the majorest forces in UK Hip Hop (her
eponymous management company is giving much needed
exposure to local underground acts). The primary
focus is hip hop, with a smattering of Nu Soul
towards the end. Her choices here are diverse
and all relatively obscure, but one thing’s
for sure, they hit the mark.
After a jokey freestyle from Chali 2na of Jurassic
5, introducing Nicci, we move straight into a
trippy, pared down work out from SA-RA, Glorious,
built around a soul clap beat, deep bleepy bass
line and a George Clinton inspired vocal line
complete with mock operatics. Little Brother is
an outfit a lot of people are talking about and
the next track, Starship shows why: using a haunting
break from 9th wonder over loping beats they’ve
got a tight spit to match some wicked production.
Other stand outs include Defari with Diamond In
The Rough with a hell catchy chorus and an irresistible
break, J-Sands’ (Lone Catalysts) Southern
Lady, getting some serious heft out of an old
ragtime jazz sample, Main-Flow Featuring E-Lone
with She Likes Me, mos def one for the dance floor
and LIB featuring the Underdog Sound. Ambersunshower’s
quirky vocals take us home on the soul train with
a track entitled Funnie and it’s all good.
Keep on with them cheesy covers is all I got to
say. JD
|
