The Best Rap Battle EVER.... And then some

Two good friends of mine and lifelong buddies (pause), Scizzahz & Wizard, doing the damn thing. Nothing in this battle is fabricated; everything they say is 100% reality. And that's whats popular.



Scizzahz - I Still Work Harder - LP Sampler



Scizzahz - Workaholic



Scizzahz - Scrape That



Big Wiz is ALWAYS on his grind. Check for all of his business below, including his new FREE download remix project and his infamous beat batch, where everything is for sale (unless otherwise stated).

'Spare Time' Remixes


http://wizardbeats.bandcamp.com/album/spare-time-3-remixes

Beats for sale (some of which have already been claimed by me!)

http://osbz.bandcamp.com/

CHWOOIIITTTT!!!!!

Granville Sessions : Pubsteppin'

Big up the big man Aaron Jackson, not only is dude a top notch writer for Knowledge Magazine (www.kmag.co.uk) who has also been kind enough to feature yours truly in the publication, but he is also a certified bad man with the bars alongside his cohorts in Granville Sessions, a crew local to myself in the dutty streets south of the river. Be sure to check their debut LP 'No State' being released through Brixton based Trinity Music on 1st August 2011. See below for the video and further info on the crew.



(Video made by Chris Hugall)

"Since forming in the summer of 2008 Granville Sessions have supported the likes of Necro,Coki, Congo Natty, Kashmere, Stig of The Dump, Tenor Fly, and many more established acts. The band pride themselves on their live show and deliver a weighty combination of sample based productions and live instrumentation. The sound draws on a wide range of influences and is constantly evolving, Hip Hop is definitely the foundation of their sound but dont be suprised if you hear elements of Reggae, Jungle and even Afro Beat along the way. In terms of vocals the bands three MCs; Mnsr Frites, Luca Brazi and The Archetype, endeavour to honour the tradition of MCing through their work. Many topics are covered; some jovial, some serious. In short, they're a must-see for any live Hip Hop fan."

CHECK IT OWWWWWT

The Greatest Graphic Designer In The World

Ever wondered where my super ill, glossy to fuck, bling bling graphic design came from?





"Obese Aesthetics is a graphic design/illustration platform for a rather charming young man named Sam Stirling...often mistaken for the legendary sasquatch and seen foraging for crayons in the bins outside Lidl he has been drawing pretty pictures with or without permission for some time now, and does it rather well if truth be told. Throw him a few chocolate coins (fee TBC) and he might even fancy up your flyer / poster / brochure / website / face / mum's house."

PEEP.

http://obeseaesthetics.com


I can't recommend my man highly enough. Super professional. So professional he had to give Blade some design lessons over the phone during the manufacturing of the album. Real talk.

My mans pen game is not only crazy with the designs, but with the bars as well, AND he makes his own beats too. Go check them shits out -

http://soundcloud.com/tripledotbeast


AAAAAAAAAAND the Facebook pages and blog, standardly -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beast/30686974105 music

http://www.facebook.com/obeseaesthetics?ref=ts design

PLUS the blog -

http://dotdotdotbeast.tumblr.com/

My man ...Beast is truly a don in this shit, so if you want things done right then holla at him to chop it up. Of course, you can own some of his work (and mines) by copping that good Cold Lazarus LP from http://enlish.bandcamp.com. Do it NOW! NO QUESTIONS!

Dope, New, FREE Music

Straight back in this bitch like a horny dog, son.

Some of my fam dem have been mad busy in the lab churning out some absolute heat for your listening pleasure and, seeing as its essentially free, there is absolutely no reson why you shouldn't go and download that shit.



First off, we got my boy Wizard with his new Instrumental joint 'Chill Pill 3', featuring a number of other well respected beatsmiths doing their thing. Wiz is an absolute boss on the boards and has done a few joints for me in the past and also for upcoming projects, which needless to say bang harder than a whore house door in a force 10.

You CAN download it for free, but you also have the option to choose a price to show your appreciation for underground, independent artistis. I chose the latter, seeing as we're in the same boat. How much did I pay? £3.17. Don't ask why, but at least I paid. Ask Wiz if you don't believe me.

DOWNLOAD CHILL PILL 3



Secondly, we have the long awaited EP from another producer that I rock with, the young and up and coming Mad Hatter who also rhymes on this joint alongside my 2nd personal favourite gorilla/human hybrid (after Sean P), Rum Com's own Prince Kong. I downloaded this last night, for free, and bumped it all the way through. I suggest you do the same, otherwise you're a bum ass ninja, and nobody likes them. Go cop that or one yourself with a bayonet.

The dope artwork comes courtesy of RumCom MC/in house illustrator Bukioe, who has also handled business on my very-soon-to-be-released Summer EP. For more info on his works, contact etc click HERE

And, of course, no post would be complete without me mentioning that you can now download the 'Rap Ain't Real' LP (by myself) for FREE (or donation!), featuring production from Wizard, Mad Hatter, Scizzahz and more.

DOWNLOAD THE MAD GORILLAS TEA PARTY



DOWNLOAD RAP AINT REAL

If they're free, what in the fuck are you waiting for? Click download, go and make a cup of tea, it'll be downloaded by then. Listen to them. If you don't like them, delete them. If you do like them, spread the word. They're FREE. Get it? Good.

Enlish Interview with Knowledge Magazine

Big dap goes to Aaron Jackson. For the full interview click HERE



You're close to dropping your Rap Ain't Real, My Life Is Real LP, tell us a bit more about that project...

The project will be made available as a bonus download upon purchase of the Messed Up / Arrogance single on April 23rd. Really it's just a precursor to my main LP, Cold Lazarus, that will be dropping in the near future.

Rap Ain't Real... is a collection of songs written and recorded during the last year or so that I will be making available for free to my dedicated followers upon purchase of the single.

As anyone who knows me knows, I am a big fan of Sean Price (hence getting him on the single) and have been since the first Heltah Skeltah LP dropped in the mid 90s. Rap Ain't Real, My Life Is Real is actually a Sean P lyric, where he continues on to say 'Rap ain't real, my life is real... If you talk about my life, fuck around and get killed'.

I personally found this hilarious as Sean P has said in numerous interviews that he may rap about shooting / murdering people etc, but in reality he is a grown man with a family to look after. However, he is also insinuating that by stepping over the boundary between rap and real life you may be causing a major problem for yourself (he obviously isn't all talk).

I essentially used that line as a green light to include a number of tracks where I go a bit OTT in my lyrics with regards to subject matter (but not too far, of course), but also offset those tracks with ones that are entirely truthful and personal to me on certain levels.

I also used the line to name my blog, where I not only write about my exploits as a rapper including anecdotes, stories, etc from my 'career' but also simply write about day to day things such as heavy weekends, bizarre dreams, good meals, etc. A lot of people seem to think that by being a rapper you're supposed to live a certain lifestyle, where in 99.9% of the cases out there worldwide it's simply not the truth.

I tell stories and home truths through rap and writing, but I'm also quick to poke fun at myself and not take myself too seriously at the same time, although when it comes to my love for the music, I am 110% serious. I just enjoy exploring both sides of the coin and it gives the listener / reader a little more insight into my persona.

For the full interview click HERE

Get Your Shine On - Scizzahz

If you don't know Scizzahz, get to know now. Im not ashamed to say I'm proud that he's 'my motherfucking protege' (his own words), as my man has been on the grind for a long time now consistently churning out dope material. Not only that, but he mixed and mastered both my 'Heart Shaped Glocks' EP and 'So Massive Volume 3' (as well as dropping a number of guest verses), plus produced and rapped on the Lion's share of our Genius Squad LP 'The Cleverlution'. Add to that the fact he has been overly active on the battle scene for some time now and you'll see that Big Sciz is 110% dedicated to this Hip Hop ting.

There is also the tiny matter of him producing most of the tracks for and mixing and mastering my entire 'Rap Ain't Real' LP and mastering my entire 'Cold Lazarus' LP and you'll understand the reasoning behind the name of his forthcoming LP, 'I Still Work Harder'. Keep an eye out for that.



As an added bonus, check out this Don't Flop battle from tiiiiiiiiiime ago when Sciz and I still flat shared in Brighton. Good times.

Yungun/DJ MK - UK Hip Hop History Dub (FREE D/L)

What can you say about Yungun? This man is a national treasure. Someone get him a motherfucking OBE asap. From humble beginnings MCing on pirate radio station 'Parlay' in North London during the mid-1990s, to rhyming in the park with MI5, Ricochet (UniSols) and a very close personal friend of his (and mine), Devise (what up D!), a CRIMINALLY unreleased EP from YG and Dizeaze under the moniker of 'Dupa Styles' (of which I actually have a copy circa 2000 and that you will NEVER hear, moohoohahaha!) complete with beats from the main man Harry Love and all of the relative heartbreak associated with seeing all of your hard work not coming to fruition, Yungun (AKA Essa) never lost faith in his ability and bounced back to drop the now certified classic LP 'The Essance' on Janomi Records in 2004.

The story behind the non-release of the Dupa Styles EP is an interesting story, but not one for me to tell. Maybe someone you know knows. Urban myths, the stuff that legends are made of. Anyways, having dropped 'The Essance' in 2004, Yungun followed it up in 2006 with Grown Man Business, a collaborative project with legendary DJ Mr Thing on Silent Soundz records. Since and during that time, YG has accumulated a laundry list of features to his name, but has not yet released another full length solo project. Why, I hear you ask? Well, I assume it's because he has a life to lead. Nothing more simple than that. I do know for a fact from a certifiable source that Essa has never stopped writing and recording (and he certainly hasn't stopped performing) and is currently sitting on a goldmine of unreleased material. Lets just cross our fingers and hope he shares it with us sometime soon.



Anyway, back in god knows when (a good few years ago, anyway) YG dropped this dub on an old DJ MK mixtape. I'm not entirely sure what the official name of the track is, but I named it 'UK Hip Hop History' in my itunes so for the purposes of this post, that's what we'll call it. Basically, download it. Listen to it. The whole thing is amazing, name dropping a lot of influential and also forgotten-about cats on the scene, to referencing the riot that occurred when Busta Rhymes flopped at the forum show in the late 90's, to Ol' Dirty turning up dolo (and drunk) to a supposed full Wu Tang show and getting booed off stage.

"It wasn't all glamour and glitz, it wasn't stardom, it started with the breakers and writers in Covent Garden"

"I used to listen to Skinnyman, Rodney P and Blak Twang and MCD and think Damn, I wanna rap man"

Listen/download (recommended) right HERE

http://www.zshare.net/audio/8781286638047844/

"They invented the tube train in dungeon town, so best believe its all about the London Underground"


Also, if you're not familiar with Yungun & Devise (shame on you), but even if you are, peep these joints below if you want to hear some real, honest Hip Hop music.

We look forward to your return Essa,

Yours sincerely,

Hip Hop. 1.

Get Your Shine On - Captain Bukioe

New segment. My peoples need to get their shine on, ya heard?



Far from being just a dope rapper, my man Captain Bukioe is also a bad man artist and illustrator and his pen game is off the chain. I've always been horse shit at drawing which is something I still resent to this day, although I'm relatively competent at rapping, but not many people can claim to be both and have the goods to back it up. Buk can. A persona loosely based on the lazer-gun toting green Hare that some of us may remember from our childhoods, but with the ever so subtly warped angle of a drunken Captain who has manned one space ship too many, the imagery that Buk conjures up is not just confined to an aural capacity but is right there in your face ready to give you two black eyes and a punch drunk hangover to boot.



In his own words -

I didn't go to art college but did study animation at Southampton, where I learnt more about being creative from my flatmates than I ever could on the brain-numbing course. I left and headed back to my grim place of birth,Reading.
With no drive towards the world of animation and at a bit of a loose end, I continued to do the odd bit of freelance and commissioned illustration work, producing a few one off pieces for BT, John Lewis, Oxford University, Coors beer and various venues and bars up and down the south coast. I decided to move to Brighton in 2008.
Here In Brighton Ive been working freelance, alongside a 9-5 and struggling to stay sober.

To be honest, I think he's being a little modest there, but that is a virtuous attribute to be sure. Basically, my man is a problem on the mic and will fuck up any canvas or piece of paper in his vicinity with the quickness.



Having had experience in all aspects of art and design work, from fliers and posters to LP art & design, logos and T shirts, not only does he hold down a position as what I'd like to call the 'silent partner' in Brighton's own booze fuelled super crew Rum Committee (until he grabs the mic, that is) but Buk has also recently dropped an album with his production partner Sherlock Bones under the guise of 'Running Punch'. Received well by fans and critics alike, Buk made sure his product was one step ahead of the game by presenting it in a limited edition illustrated envelope crammed full of stickers, posters, illustrations and all that other good shit that true geeks for the culture like me appreciate. Go cop that if you haven't already, if theres any left in fact. Motherfucking hot cakes. Links below.

Bukioe (glasses) with TC, Prince Kong and Gizmo. 4 of the 80 members of Rum Com.


To check out Buk's art work and make enquiries about how he can pimp your shit out go and have a peep at www.bukioe.com

For info on his work as an MC, including updates, merch and a whole lot more, go check out www.runningpunch.com. Buy something, support real artists doing real work.

Ever wondered who designed Dr Syntax's new tee? Guess what fam. It was Bukioe. You can go cop one now at Dr Syntax's Bandcamp. The gorgeous young model is available to sport (fresh) garms for you at a reasonable price.


Oh, and a special shout out to Buk's wiz, the ever exuberant, well dressed and impeccably tasted interior designer that she is. What up B!? I see you girl!



*PS - Team Hate can drink more than Rum Committee. The gauntlet has been thrown down..... haha. Thems my peoples right there.