This week the UK’s Matt Ford, aka DJ Format, will release his first album in nearly seven years. Statement of Intent, the long awaited follow up to 2005′s If You Can’t Join ‘em, Beat ‘em is set to feature DJ Format’s incredibly strong boom-bap production while also giving great independent rappers a great platform to be heard. For those unfortunate enough to have missed the first two albums in the mid-naughties, here are DJ Format’s Essentials.
The distinctively recognisable member of former LA based rap group Jurassic 5, Chali 2na has just released a teaser for his previously unannounced project “Against The Current”. The video doesn’t give away much in information or dates except that “5 Genre-Bending EPs” are coming soon. From what little music is featured, it sounds promising – more on this when we hear more.
Can’t say I’m a massive fan of post-J5, Chali 2na because it has that underground trying to sound like mainstream sound going on. However, political rap always has a place on L6 aslong as it’s done reasonabily tastefully.
I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Dilated Peoples. About a year ago I went through a faze when they were all I listened to. I was obsessed, that was until I unpacked the lyrics and struggled to find much. After that it was just excellent production that read like a who’s who list of top-notch underground hip-hop producers from the early 00s. While I’m a sucker for an excellently found sample, it can only sustain for so long. So, with no surprise, it was with hesitation when I headed into Rakaa Iriscience’s solo debut, Crown of Thorns.
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At the end of last year Spin Magazine compiled a fairly comprehensive video of video game samples in hip-hop. It started to make a few of us at Lesson Six think how many were actually about video games rather than just sounding like them. The result, a list of our top six tracks about video [...]
Lesson is about progressive & cliché-free hip-hop with intelligent lyrics. Striving for something more than the mainstream perception of hip-hop. This means no misogyny, no glorification of drug-use, no violence and no played out flaunting of personal wealth.
