HEY! GUESS WHAT?!?!

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE, I'VE GOT AN EP DROPPING NEXT MONTH! THE SURGERY EP WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM iTUNES, AMAZON AND BANDCAMP ON MONDAY JULY 18! SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE RELEASE BY DOWNLOADING AND USING THE FLYER AS YOUR AVATAR ON ALL YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES! THANK YOU ALL :D http://www.megaupload.com/?d=61H8BS65

The “OG” Niki show; an encapsulation of ‘Broken Britain’?

I writ dis on da twennyuf of april, innit.

Having first got wind last week of the furore surrounding “OG” Niki, the new young female rapper from Birmingham on everyone’s lips, it’s only today after 3 times of asking that I’ve actually brought myself to watch and listen in full to the cypher that’s simultaneously polarised opinions and got the majority of the underground talking.

The thing is it’s almost hard to know where to begin with my response, both to the cypher and to the responses it’s received. The UK has in recent years been very fortunate to have some of the finest female ‘urban’ artists the world music scene has to offer; acts like Estelle, Ms Dynamite, Stush, and most recently Lioness and No Lay, have all achieved recognition and varying levels of success; in achieving these things, none of the above have proudly paraded their promiscuity for the world to see in the same way that “OG” Niki has done. One could look at that as evidence that the current hype surrounding this girl won’t last, but the many descriptions of her as being a “legend” and “the UK’s answer to Lil’ Kim” (like that last one’s something to be proud of anyway) make me worry that a lot of impressionable young girls will see “OG” Niki as having set some sort of precedent in the UK which they must follow, not least when they see underground opinion leaders such as DJ Semtex and Wiley openly lending support to her and, in fact, publicly criticizing the many folk speaking out against the content in her cypher.

The cypher itself is nothing much to write home about, content aside; the flow is average at best and lost in places at worst, but what stood out for me overwhelmingly was the unabashed pride with which a girl younger than my little sister told the tale of (I hope I’m not, but expect I’m wrong on this) all her sexual escapades. Now look, there’s nothing wrong with sex, and there’s nothing wrong with making tracks about sex, I’ve done it myself in my time. Promiscuity amongst youths is wrong however, and I find “OG” Niki’s pride in her lack of sexual self-control to be disgusting. Worse still is the proclamation: “I don’t give a f***, my mum knows, why you telling’ her?” Sorry? Your mum’s aware of this behaviour? I give up.

But that’s just it; I can’t give up, and neither should the many contemporaries I know making fantastic music with relevant messages. In fact to conclude, I should stress that I find myself in something of a Catch-22; as much as I don’t want to help the hype surrounding “OG” Niki to rumble on, I can’t sit back and watch this madness unfold without doing my best to belittle it.

Morning

All! Hope you're all good and thaaat. I'm writing this from my living room as I prepare to draw up a schedule for the coming weeks and months. Because I've rejoined the unemployed massive!*doesn't punch the air in celebration* The only real positives to be derived from this are:

- I can give you all much more music between now and next spring, aand

- Truth Hurts will be out sooner than soon, being as I've got fuck all else to do but promote it and then bring it out!

Had an encouraging chat with Sean D of UGM yesterday regarding the mastering; by the sounds of things all's going well with that, and I'll be visiting tomorrow to hear the progress for myself. You can expect an official release date once the mastering's complete, and I'm led to believe that that's no more than a week or so away. Is it worth the wait? Unquestionably yes. Have I said that before? Yes, quite a few times. Do I care that I'm repeating myself? Fuck no.

There was a lot of grime going on last week, and illness prevented me from updating you all with my movements.Last Monday we had the MOG Mayhem set which fully lived up to its moniker, featuring Nico Lindsay, myself, Rockz, Avalanche, Krason and Darkos on mike, and DJ Scope providing the live mix. Shouts to V, Mz AG (haha), Hij, Joell, and Jack Daniels in the place, and TJ of ADHD TV providing the visual recording, which you should look out for in the coming days. Wednesday saw me down at Ard TV with a bag of MCs and Fewie on the 1s and 2s. Total hype ting lyricallll. Big shout to everyone involved in that one and all, that was a lot, though I fear it may have contributed to my feeling so fucked up for the past week or so. Never mind though. Grime over everything.

ENJOY THAT SPIN FUCKOS?

1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4 1-4

SOUR GRAPES MUCH MATE?

It starts here! Truth Hurts starts here!

Yeah, I've been holding off blogging for a bit, just to make sure I got over the finishing line with this Truth Hurts project. Now, not only is everything recorded, the first promotional video's here and ready for your listening and viewing pleasure! Get that one in right this fucking second!





Now you all see why I've been gassing up the place with regard to Truth Hurts. It's a strong, strong debut mix CD, I promise you. Look out for that when it lands, and check back HERE for FIRST NEWS of the OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE, which I'll have for you all in the next few days.

Watch how I ease through the promotional gears. Jump on and get involved, you'll not regret it.

NAH I'M SORRY SAKDFJGNBWUERBF

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

It's almost here!!!!!

You know when something's so close that it's faintly brushing your nose?

That innit.

Were it not for the mysterious phlegmy illness my friend's contracted, Truth Hurts would be a wrap. As it is we're now one skit away from completion! Please don't let me hear anyone say "Fuck the skit, just bring it out now mate"; you can't rush excellence yeah. Thanks.

Now, Truth Hurts might not actually be wrapped, but all the tunes are now completed so that was more than enough excuse to do a gassed-up freestyle to show the levs. If you've not already heard it you need to stop reading this and click that link NOW. If you're somebody who's already heard the riddim, again, STOP reading and LISTEN AGAIN. GET IT IN, GET IT IN, GET IT IN etc.

P.S. I can see the talk about the "new wave" of grime doing the rounds; all's I'll say is, you ignore me at your peril. Hold tight everyone who knew wha gwan years ago though. 'Cos it is that.

Hypnotize E.P. launch party

Yeah, you'll catch me down at the Old Blue Last tomorrow getting drunk off my tits. Whether that's before or after I touch mike I don't know, BUT I'm led to believe this time Danny D will join us to make it almost a full Alien Muzik team attendance. All we need now is for Nutcase to finish his time behind the door and it's a lot dot co dot uk for grime. Still though it should be a big night, it's more a thing of who ISN'T rolling as opposed to who is. And I'm hardly gonna miss a night like this when it's bang in the manor like this one is. Here's hoping everyone on the flyer shows up eh? :)


***EDIT*** THERE'S NO EXCUSE FOR NOT TURNING UP, ENTRY'S FREE ALL NIGHT. UNLESS YOU'RE HAVING SEX ALL NIGHT WITH SOME HOTTIE. THAT'S AN EXCUSE I CAN ACCEPT

Nearing completion

I'll give you one guess as to where I was yesterday afternoon.

................incorrect, I'm actually going ice skating the next time Arsenal play Tottenham, but I wasn't at Lea Valley yesterday.

No no, I was back behind a condenser mic going in over a remove-your-facial Kaychi production, ably assisted by my Alien affiliates Marger and Rival. End product? What do you think? Look out for that one on Truth Hurts, it's massive, I've been battering the rough copy I took out of the studio. In fact it's playing in my ears as I type this. Whee. I'm now two collab tracks and an additional verse away from finishing Truth Hurts; I know it's been taking ages, and that's because as I mentioned yesterday, it's slyly turned into a mixtape. And anyway it's well worth the wait so *thumbs up* bear with us yeah. Sweet.

Have to give a big shout out to everyone sending me positive feedback on my GrimeForum freestyle, it's always appreciated and spurs me on to do more work so saaaaaaafe. If you've not got your ear round that one yet, allow me to point you downwards towards my last blog entry, which includes the audio *points downwards* enjoy!

One last thing. Not been the best of weeks for Joe Cole has it. Firstly he gets deservedly dismissed on Sunday, then it starts getting peak for him off the field as well.

Wouldn't have happened if you'd insisted on joining Arsenal mate.

*crying*

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL WHY DO I MISS THESE THINGS???

Finishing touches

Wait, before I start anything, HOLD TIGHT TOTTENHAM YOU FUCKING SHIT WANKWOPS, YOU'RE GOING OUT NEXT WEEK!

*clears throat* So I was in the studio yesterday knocking out some bits for Truth Hurts which, having started off as an E.P., is kind of turning into a mixtape. Which is okay because all the tunes are stupid in the face/thought provoking/all that shit, so you're getting more value for your shekels when you cop that anyway.

Anyway! I'm back in today! This time with all the frontline Alien MCs (that's Marger, Deathstar and Rival for those of you who've only just yanked your heads out of the sand) and it'll be a familiar tale. Once this one's in there'll be two tunes remaining and then the promotional trail will go into full swing, which I'm bloody excited about I must say. I'm pretty sure if you love GRIME you're going to rate Truth Hurts VERY HIGHLY INDEED. That's how much I'm putting into it. Gonna be well worth the wait.

What's that? You want evidence? Weeelllll, I did a couple of separate non-E.P. bits yesterday, incluuuding this little freestyle for Grimeforum. I'm led to believe that there'll be a compilation release including my one, but if you want to hear it just press 'play' down there mate!


Kwam - Tear Down Freestyle [Produced by Sketch'E] by Sketch'E


That's how we do it. TRUTHHURTSCOMINGREALSOON!

Restart of the Cold War?

If this is anything to go by, it would seem that were the case. At least, that's what the old boy's club at MI5 seems to think. In the current climate I'd advise everybody to watch their thighs vigilantly, and refrain from entering into conversation with anybody who looks like these two. We don't want any accidents.

Moving on! The next few days are all about GRIME WORK! I'm in the studio today, tomorrow and possibly even Thursday and Friday, and while that'll mean I'll have to wait till Saturday to get rid of this fucking badger on my top lip, what it DOES mean is that I'll be able to send ALL the tunes for TRUTH HURTS away for mastering, and we'll be off and away on that one. I'm also in the process of organising a photo shoot for the purpose of promoting the release, so be sure to keep your eyes open for some shots of yours truly by a skip trying to look deep and meaningful. Or something.

And hang tight RIVAL as well, he had been bickering online last week but clearly something switched on in his brain, because he went away. Recorded a freestyle. Sent it to Logan. Who then played it. And almost made me smash my laptop to smithereens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you missed it (you suck if you missed it! You suck!) run over here and get that in immediately, the tune is 100% grimeurghdisgustingbutters. No shitchat.

Aight boom *claps hands together* that's your lot for now, I've got an appointment with a cuppa in the office. Heazy!

Woopsiebollocks

Oooooops mate. Something of a rick there eh?

......biddavafuckup all things considered.

Clearly thought he was still on set and in character. Hey, it happens to the best of us.

Somebody slap me!

LOL jk, if you slap me you'd better be my height and build mate.

But listen, Avalanch is back after his mixtape "No Invititation" with a free promotional offering called "Somebody Slap Me", which is pretty much a straight collab with Relentless, who provided all the beats for the release (you'll hear one or two of his bits on Truth Hurts as well, he's something of a not-that-secret weapon). Download that here, it's a decent release still.

Anyway *puts on market stall apron* what's 'appnin? Good weekend yeah? Mine was pretty good still, especially yesterday afternoon, although I'm currently trawling the net trying to find Manuel Alfuckingmunia's address so I can roll to his gaff and do my best to make him want to leave the Arsenal, the fucker. He just loves getting beaten at his near post doesn't he? Any David Eggnog and you let him score and think he's good, you shitta! ¬¬

But then Reina's rick was bloody classic wdgjeruigheurwghwierugh cheers pal, everyone's a winner! Your £5K stake on the score draw went in, and we didn't lose; saaaaaaaaaaafe! :D

*re-adjusts gassed hat* That's the sort of test that'll make us champions come next May, mark my words, this, THIS, is Arsenal's year again. All the signs are there *what signs mate* *don't question man ¬¬* that this is the year where we'll come again as a force to be reckoned with in English and, for that matter, world football. Watch.

inothernewstottenhamareshit

YOU SUCK

Is this how devoid of compassion some humans have become? I'm flabbergasted.

This hospital needs to sort itself out. Pronto-ish too. Idiots.

Hold on, you've got a queen and you can't even treat her properly? I know this great place guys, it's called Archway, got a lovely bridge there, nice and high, if you could all just attach an anvil to your arms and throw yourselves off the bridge we'd all be made up YOU WASTEBOXES.

.............they suck man

There really is! I'm just too cool for shcool

*provides evidence* *folds arms* Told you.

Check this story out as well, ha ha *inb4thefamiliaryankjokesresurface*

Silly sausages!

Boo boop, boo boop (F**k Urban FM :D)

Boopboopboopboopboop etc. What's 'appnin? Sweet?

Pretty sad tale this. My thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends.

Moving on, I experienced something of a long evening yesterday ¬¬ furthermore, I'll tell you the story of yesterday's "Urban Tales".

I get to Barbican station. There's no Hammersmith & City line service between Edgware Road and Hammersmith. Okay. I take the train to Bank instead of Liverpool Street, then endure lengthy walk from Northern line platform to Central line platform.

.....okay.

I sit on a packed, sweltering Central line train for 23 minutes. Walk somewhat shakily out of Shepherd's Bush station. And promptly notice to my consternation that the bus I need to get's pulling away from the station stop. Okay! So I start tearing up the road to the next stop, screeching to a halt at said stop seconds before the bus pulls into it (get in) only problem is I'm now hot and bothered AND THEN AT SHEPHERD'S BUSH MARKET ABOUT A BAJILLION PEOPLE GET ON THE BUS DAIFJGHEFIH so now I'm standing there in this bloody bus with the sweat pouring off and people treading on my toes and elbowing my ribs.

......................................................................ok

The bus takes around a month to make what should be a 15-minute journey before it finally spits me out at my destination. Okay, I'm thinking. That was a shit journey, I'm thinking. But don't watch that I'm thinking. At least I'll be able to give this set a good merk, I'M THINKING

...............(-_(-_-)_-) *my mates and I pulling incredulous faces*

After a shit journey in the rain, all I want is to be able to come in and MC without worrying about the mike lead fucking up or whether the CDJs are going to play silly buggers. Well you can take out the "or" in that last sentence and replace it with "and" because the gremlins were out in full fucking force last night. And that cunt manager of the station even had the cheek to come and interrupt our set to collect his fiver subs. What, do you think I'm going to run away mate? Yeah? So I must look like one of these snotty-nosed little kid MCs I keep seeing online right? One of those guys who would do anything to avoid paying £5 subs because I don't have a salary? Fucking wrong you ugly bastard. Sort your fucking studio out you shitta, making me drag my skin across London for that. Load of shit. Fucker. Try bring his dog in the room on some intimidation tip, fuck your fucking dog and fuck fucking Urban FM with a broken Supermalt bottle.

Awful news

I've pretty much been in shock since yesterday evening. Can't believe it.

R.I.P. Smokey.

I've not seen him for around 2 years but nevertheless. I shouldn't be receiving news of his loss. Not like that. It's a genuine tragedy for everyone who knew him, however faintly, and my thoughts and best wishes are with all of his close friends and family at this difficult time.

From what I knew of Smokey, I can say that he was a genuinely good person. Rest in peace.

Back on the other side

What's 'appnin?! Been a wee while since I've updated here, you can blame Messrs Courvoisier, E+J, Malibu, Disaronno, Stella Artois, Kronenbourg and Tiger for that.

All now my liver's refusing to talk to me =( keep trying to bell him up but he's airing out all my calls, the little f**ker.

Aaanyway what's new in my world? Well Pulse did another of his arty-farty guitar remixes, and I reckon this may be his best one yet:





And check my pal Nico on the blog feature here. Big face all over the ting. Big up. I feel as if I'm going to have to get in contact once my E.P. promotion trail starts.....

.....which could be as early as next week, my plan at present is to be in the studio on Wednesday wrapping up the last couple of collab tunes, and I should be good to go. Which is good. I'm looking forward to putting it out there, and believe me when I say you should be looking forward to it. If you don't believe me ask Nico, he'll tell you what the levs are saying.

So that's that for now, I'm going to spend the next few hours kicking around doing a biddabidda this and a biddabidda that, have you got something to get on with this week? Get that in!

Let's go get those doubting b*****s together eh?! *Braveheart face*

Is that how you're going on son?

This guy has gone from being a joker in the church I used to go to, to being a bloody great footballing prospect. Brilliant effort, well proud of him. He'd better select Ghana though ¬¬