Kool G Rap VS Celsius

So I did a remix Kool G Rap VS Celsius.  Basically combining one of my all time favourite rappers Kool G Rap with one of my favourite dance tracks in recent years, ‘Incoming’ by Celsius.  I took Kool G Rap’s a capella from the track ‘Ill Street Blues’ and put it over the top of the ‘Incoming’ track.  The result works rather well in my opinion (but then I would say that).  It really changes the dynamic to the G Rap’s lyrics compared to how they fit on the original ‘Ill Street Blues’ beat.Continue reading

Funky DJ Mix

I put together a funky DJ Mix of some of my favourite music.  When I’m not rapping and making beats I also DJ, hence my bio ‘Rapper, Producer AND DJ’…. Other than the numerous DJ gigs I do, I rarely get to show off my DJ skills so I thought I’d treat you to a DJ Mix I put together featuring a lot of my favourite music. It’s not just in the realm of Rap and Hip Hop that you might know me for. There’s also a fine mix upbeat Funk, Soul, House and Garage.  I like to mix genres when I DJ as there’s such a huge amount of insight you can gain from listening to numerous forms of music even if you’re strictly a rapper.Continue reading

Fire in the Booth Cypher?

As many Rap fans in the UK will be aware there was a recent Fire in the Booth Cypher (the first ever in fact) featured on Charlie Sloth’s BBC Radio 1 Rap Show.

It featured some of the UK’s most popular rappers today and no doubt they went in!    Nonetheless it called into question what a real ‘cypher’ is.  As was expressed in this GRM Daily post which shows an interesting twitter discussion between Swiss of So Solid Crew and Charlie Sloth himself.  In Swiss’ opinion in a ‘real cypher’ rappers don’t know what beat they’re going to be rhyming to.  Many would argue a step further and say that rappers shouldn’t even know what their rhymes are going to be either and should in fact be all off the top.

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What Jazz Taught Me About Hip Hop Part 2

So let’s talk a little more in depth about what Jazz taught me about Hip Hop.  In part 1 I explained how I came to the decision to gain a deeper understanding of Jazz.  Now let’s actually explain what it taught me.  First of all it’s given me a deep understanding of chords and chord progressions which has allowed me the ability to create music without being reliant on sampling other music.  I found that a lot of my favourite samples are that of Jazz and there are certain patterns consistent in Jazz that can be recreated in a Hip Hop format.  One example is that almost all Jazz chord progressions go down in fifths and often in the widely known ii V I chord progression.  What can be confusing about Jazz is that it very regularly changes key every 4 or so chords in a single composition so you may well hear different examples of ii V I progression or other chords going down in fifths often going back to resolve at the original key the piece started off in.
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