Anyone with a level of nostalgia for early ‘90’s video games should check out the latest track from trans-Atlantic beat-smith Mark Ronson. ‘Circuit Breaker’ is a sonic reimagining of an epic 8 bit role playing game. The result sounds something like Daft Punk’s ‘Aerodynamic’ set to a break beat and scratch laden backing.
In all honestly, the track is fairly unremarkable: but it’s the cutesy video that sees Mark Ronson battle through a Zelda style world that really makes it. Look out for DJ battle sequence at the end – it’s pretty amusing!
Mark Ronson’s album ‘Record Collection’ is out September 27th and features contributions from Q-Tip, Ghostface Killah, Boy George and D’Angelo.
In an industry where mega-stars such as Radiohead and Prince give their music away for free, you may stop to wonder how less famous artists make a living from selling records. It’s clearly not something that worries UK rapper Wiley. After a fiery spat with his manager Wiley made the unprecedented decision to leak his entire unreleased back catalogue through his Twitter feed – a move that probably jolted his label into a sense of disbelief.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Wiley’s long endured a tumultuous relationship with the music industry. He’s been signed, and subsequently dropped, by Atlantic, Big Dadda and XL. However with a number one under his belt with his grime collective Roll Deep and a new album with Island Records on the way things were looking up for Wiley. The possibility of that new album actually appearing is now anyone’s guess: the only thing that’s clear is that there are 203 previously unreleased Wiley tracks now floating through cyber space.
For more info you should check out this great article in the Guardian which goes someway to explaining the artist’s apparent moment of madness.
Check out ‘Up A Level’ above, one of the highlights of the leaked material so far.
Hip hop has come a long way in its thirty or so year history. Originally dismissed as a gimmick, rap later emerged as the most visceral sound of a generation and has now settled as the world’s most widespread musical style – not to mention the biggest selling. Although there has always been light and shade between rap’s more pop influenced and hardcore elements, it would seem that the genre’s recent filtrations with commercial dance music have seen rap take a more pop lead focus than ever before. If you look at any of the world’s charts you’re likely to find plenty of rap; but rocking breakbeats are likely to be replaced by funkless four to the flour beats and intelligent rhymes abandoned in favour of monosyllabic chants. Fans of underground hip hop could be forgiven for thinking their favourite music was somehow taken away and ceremonially neutered without their knowledge.
Thankfully, while the more commercial side of hip hop continues it’s all conquering success, there are more underground acts making un-clichéd and interesting music – a great example of which is P-Money’s ‘Slang’. A London based MC, P-Money emerged from the same scene that gave the world Dizzee Rascal and Dubstep. His track is uniquely British, not just because of the record’s extensive use of speaker busting Drum & Bass basslines, but because it is simply about London ‘Slang’. Terms of endearment such as fam (family), cuz (cousin) and bredrin (brethren/good friend) make up the chorus. As an authentic statement of urban culture, the record far surpasses the majority of what American rappers can come up with. With fellow London rapper Tinie Tempah set to break the States in collaboration with Snoop Dogg, now could be the time when the British sell rap music back to the Americans.
Clark’s shoes haven’t enjoyed the most respectable street reputation in many parts of the world. For many years the company – started in quaint old England back in 1825 by a pair of Quaker brothers – used the term “sensible” to describe and promote their footwear. However, Clark’s are experiencing an unexpected up surge in credibility thanks to some heavy name checking from one of the stars of the Jamaican dancehall scene, Vybz Kartel. Kartel’s latest track, ‘Clarks’, is an ode to the British shoe company’s ‘Originals’ range – something which Vybz maintains is an inherent part of Jamaican culture on a par with curried goat and saltfish. Sales of the shoe have gone through the roof in both Jamaica and many parts of the USA and Britain; plus Vybz has already recorded two sequels to the record; ‘Clarks II’ and ‘Clarks III’.
Of course Vybz Kartel is not the first urban artist to big up his footwear. With this in mind we’ve compiled some of the most famous hip hop shoes via the medium of YouTube video clips.
It’s a good week for Eminem. Not only did he make a triumphant return to the live stage at T in the Park but he also scores a number one in the Shazam New Release Chart USA with ‘Love The Way You Lie’.
Travie McCoy – former frontman of Gym Class Heroes and ex of Katy Perry - continues his assent in the UK as ‘Billionaire’ takes the top spot for a second week running.
If you’ve ever ventured on to a club dance floor in the past 10 years it’s likely you would have come across tunes from Defected. The label is undoubtedly one of the most ubiqtuous house music brands on the planet and has some of the most memorable and loved dance music on its books. The label’s association with stunning clubs like Pacha Ibiza gives the label a certain glamorous image – the antithesis of which is probably London’s grungy rock-centric Camden. Yet this is the place Defected are choosing to showcase their new fully live show…
As part of the much acclaimed iTunes festival, Defected are putting together some of the biggest voices in disco and house and backing them up with a ridiculously tight live band. Heading proceedings will be the legendary Candi Staton, she of ‘You Got The Love’ and ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ fame. Also performing will be NYC vocal powerhouse Barbra Tucker and Bob Sinclar cohort Steve Edwards.
To celebrate this special performance we are giving away 20 pairs of tickets for the event on Friday 23rd July.
All you have to do to stand a chance of winning is email competition@shazamteam.com with your answer to the following question:
Which act recently covered Candi Staton’s ‘You Got The Love’
In the past few years scoring a Lil Wayne cameo appearance on your record has been a sure fire way of scoring a huge urban hit in the States. In 2009 alone the diminutive rapper appeared on around 79 notable singles: 20 of which made the Billboard charts. True to form Lil Wayne is currently guest staring on two of the hottest rap tracks around – namely Drake’s ‘Miss Me’ and Eminem’s ‘No Love’ – not bad for a man currently incarcerated in a New York jail.
Eminem’s ‘No Love’ is probably the more surprising of the two records. Following on from the success of the pair’s last hook up, ‘Drop The World’, ‘No Love’ continues a trend of sampling shoddy ‘90’s dance by basing the entire chorus around a sample from European one-hit wonder Haddaway. This use of a frankly ridiculous dance song is especially surprising considering Eminem used one of his biggest hits (‘Without Me’) to declare “Nobody listens to Techno!” Perhaps Em should have given that a try instead of filling his iPod with cheddar infused Dutch house?
Anyway, despite the slightly annoying chorus ‘No Love’ is still a solid rap track. Eminem and Lil Wayne are two of the most accomplished rhyme-smiths of their generation and their verses do not disappoint. The highlight is probably Eminem’s line, ‘Man get these whack suckers off stage, where the f**k is KanYe when you need him?!’ A strong indication that Eminem’s still not lost his touch for ripping on his contemporaries. Although the beats may not bang as hard as they did when he was working with Dr. Dre, Eminem’s lyrical dexterity remains as potent as ever. A fact that’s proved by the huge sales his latest album is now garnering.
