beenie and buju trade lines over bass and snare. information is unforthcoming. mid 90s (i presume) available on this too.
Beenie Man & Buju Banton - Principle 320k 8.4mb
There is a wealth of recent one drop, soca and bashment mp3 here btw.
sometimes overcast today. velvet gamelan from 1965.
Angus Maclise, Tony Conrad & John Cale - Trance #2 160k 6mb
42 years later, on the other side of the millenial mirror, who needs a kidney? the logic of distribution as ownership becomes more worrying when the commodity is death.
more copyright:
in the US, under proposed new measures: “Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are “attempting” to infringe copyrights.”
- this is particularly puritanical: thinking about sin is just as bad as sinning. towards digital sublimation.
also
“Anyone using counterfeit products who “recklessly causes or attempts to cause death” can be imprisoned for life. During a conference call, Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it.”
[source]
Copyright law is frequently imperialist - in the sense in which one state’s legal (and by implication rational) processes are understood to be more valid than another’s. IPR - my intellect makes this my property and me right. a jealous tool to guard what one has stolen or bought for a pittance.
“Intellectual piracy is a political term, and as such is inaccurate and deliberately so. The assumption behind it is that the copying and selling of pharmaceuticals, music CDs and films anywhere in the world is intellectual piracy irrespective of whether the works in question had patent or copyright protection under the domestic laws.” from graham dutfield - what is biopiracy?
(bio)Piracy as neo-colonialsim - (non-physical) enclosures erected around sites of biodiversity. the San people and catcoid appetite supressants is a prime example.
“Until the 1970s, biodiversity was considered to be part of the “common heritage of humankind.” Under this regime, biological resources are treated as belonging to the public domain and are not owned by any individual, group, or state. Its consumption is “non-rival” (its use by one person does not compete with its use by another) and nonexcludable (no person can exclude other persons from its use)… On the one hand, the South is generally rich in biodiversity, but it has contributed this asset, voluntarily or involuntarily, without cost in the spirit of the common heritage. Furthermore, biodiversity is closely associated with cultural diversity and traditional knowledge. This traditional knowledge is an integral part of biodiversity and is a resource in its own right. For example, Fabricant and Farnsworth (2001) determined that 80% of plant-based drugs in Western medicine have had an ethnomedical (i.e. non-Western) use identical or related to the current use of the active elements of the plant. On the other hand, the North is rich in technology to utilize biodiversity, for example, to identify potential pharmaceuticals or traits or genes to introduce into improved crop cultivars by hybridization or genetic engineering. In addition, the results of these activities are now increasingly protected by IPR (intellectual properry rights) in developed countries, the goal being to safeguard and encourage investments and generate a revenue stream. Current globalization efforts also aim at extending this IPR system on a global scale.” Gepts 2004.
in both cases the intellectual property resides in the hands of those with access to the tools that build legal enclosures. the ability to distribute media or medicine frequently equates its ownership. who owns the IPR to your facebook profile?
vocal deconstructions re-sync’d magnetically.
Ghedalia Tazartes still makes records. These tracks were built in Paris in the late 70s now re-issued on Diasporas Tazartes. also - tracks from his 1997 LP here.
Ghedalia Tazartes - Un Amour Si Grand Qu’il Nie Son Objet 192k 13.6mb
some non-exhaustive notes on UK hip hop - potential for many more posts on this. the focus here is MCs (and London) but more may will follow later.
Beginnings… & London Posse
when did UK hip hop start? as far as this question means anything at all, one could say it started when UK MCs started rapping with their own accents rather than in new york/mid atlantic verbal limbo. One of the first krus to take this on was London Posse, who spent time in New York rapping in generic accents before realising the NY heads they were trying to impress were actually more into hearing London speak than hearing people try and rap like them. The London Posse MCs Rodney P & Bionic had a huge influence on those who would come later, carving out a vocal style that was rooted in their Jamaican background & London sound system culture. This track was released in 1988 through Justice records, an imprint operated by Tim Westwood - the bishop’s son and faintly ridiculous gatekeeper of hip hop in the UK (but not always UK hip hop) who currently presents UK pimp my ride.
London Posse - Money Mad 192k 8.5mb
…inbetween
London Posse’s LP dropped in 1990. As the decade continued the UK produced the odd 12″ gem (and a lot of oddities - see Marxman - the trotskyite rapper signed to Gilles Peterson’s Talking Loud label and A&M in the states!) but more often than not MCs found themselves as occasional guests on other peoples releases (like Dobie’s remix of Bjork’s ‘I Miss You’ with Rodney P). However a handful of MCs emerged via London’s stages and soundsystems, building up a strong underground reputation. One of the strongest of these is Blak Twang whose 1998 LP ‘19 Long Time’ is a classic. One of the 12s that also appeared on the LP was debt anthem ‘Red Letters’.
Blak Twang - Red Letters 320k 10.5mb
From time to time you’d also find UK MCs versioning big US tracks via the UK branch of Rawkus…. like this version of ‘Simon Says’ - the extra production is from Skitz (see below).
Pharoahe Monch - Simon Says (Skitz remix feat Rodney P & Roots Manuva) 160k 4.3mb
Big Dada
For some time UK Hip Hop had no particular centre, or channel of distribution. Releases more often than not came through one off 12s or big label deals that failed to bear commercial fruit (see Lewis Parker’s deal with Massive Attack’s Virgin-subprint Melankolic). In 1997 Coldcut’s Ninja Tune label sprouted Big Dada to concentrate on hip hop releases. In the past few years Big Dada have released records by Diplo, TTC and cLOUDDEAD, but their early releases were very UK-centric. Two krus who held a strong presence were New Flesh and Gamma. Their members hailed from a number of places (i.e. not just London) with half of Gamma coming from Birmingham and New Flesh’s Part2 and Toastie Taylor from York. The two krus also shared a member in the excellent Juice Aleem. The first of these three tracks is from Gamma’s Permanament LP and features Infinite Livez, performance artist and all round joker hailing from Bethnal Green. The second is from the ‘Extra Yard’ compilation which featured Roots Manuva, Wildflower, New Flesh, Gamma, Ty and just about anyone else with a connection to the label. The third is ‘Skiver’s Guide’, produced by Blak Twang and featuring Roots Manuva, Blak Twang, Seanie T & Gamma. Big Dada continue to be a successful hub for UK releases (they’re about to release the new Wiley LP) not least because they tapped into Ninja Tune’s domestic student/guardian-reader market (hazily-remembered sample press release: “like bounty killer crossed with William Burroughs”.)
Gamma f/Infinite Livez - Don’t Send a Bwoy 320k 6.5mb
New Flesh - Lie Low 320k 8mb
Roots Manuva, Blak Twang & Gamma - Skiver’s Guide 320k 10.6mb
Skitz
Speak to a lot of heads and they will tell you that Skitz’s ‘Countryman‘ LP is the very best UK hip hop release. The LP dropped in 2001 and featured bass heavy production alongside vocals from… Rodney P (who currently co-presents this 1xtra show with Skitz), Riddla, Wildflower, Phi-Life Cipher, Taskforce, Skinnyman, Dynamite MC and more. Much of the record had been previously issued on scarce 12s including this track which first appeared in 1998. It features 4 beats and 4 MCs: Roots Manuva, Si-Phillie & L.I.F.E. (from phi-life cipher), skeleton (who name checks Neighbours) and Mr Vegas from the Scratch Perverts on cuts.
Skitz f/ Roots Manuva, Phi-Life Cipher & Skeleton - Figerprints of the Gods 160k 6.8mb
Crossing Genres
It’s quite blatant from most of these tracks that reggae holds a very strong influence in UK hip hop. However, not least because of the comparitively small audience that UK hip hop commands, MCs would often find themselves appearing on other (break)beats. So you’d be just as likely to see Riddla MCing at a Drum and Bass rave as you would on a hip hop stage or Fallacy rapping over Garage.
Dynamite rose to fame as the MC in Roni Size’s Reprazent outfit, where unlike double-time Drum and Bass MCs like Shabba and Skibadee, he’d usually rap in half time. In 2004 he dropped his underrated LP ‘World of Dynamite’ where he rapped over Hip Hop, Drum and Bass, Garage and Bashment. This bashy one features Elephant Man - snap your neck.
Dynamite MC & Elephant Man - Bubble 320k 11.4mb
Recency, Low Life & Endings
To conclude, some tracks that didn’t fit into any of my flimsy sub-categories:
Lyrically one of the tightest UK tracks I know, Jehst, Taskforce & Braintax via Low Life records - another key label.
Jehst
Taskforce, Braintax & Jehst - Cosmic Gypsies 128k 5.3mb
Low Life are also distributing the new Klashnekoff mixtape (produced by Joe Buddha). Klashnekoff is UK Hip Hop’s leading avatar of benevolent patriarchy, one of the country’s best MCs and a member of the Terra Firma kru (see this previous post). Showboating here: “blud yr whole flex is Timotei”.
Klashnekoff - Can’t You See 256k 6.4mb
Labels aside, underground self-releases continue to pop-up like this great 2005 track from SE London’s IRS. Rapping Sarko’s dream. Watch suspect packages for buyability.
IRS - Work 320k 9.4mb
—–
PS/ while I’m geeking out - forgive me for sending out a request or two - does anyone have (or have means to get) Charleston riddim (the UK riddim, not the Willy Bounce riddim) especially the Lady Stush cut called ‘badman’. Also if anyone has Chukki Star’s ’sweet meditations’ please leave a comment - these are longtime wishlist things. thanks!
more occasional bass. for the bank holiday Sany Pitbull brings a jittery calf shaker. available via man.
Sany Pitbull - Tribos 160k 2.6mb