For those of you who read us here at OSH you may know that we have a thing for MC Ricky D, [Slick Rick for the hip hop challenged]. The Original London Rapper Slick Rick broke into American Hip Hop during its heyday in 1988 with The Great Adventures of Slick Rick his Platinum debut cd. His lyrical stories and smooth British accent differential Slick from the rest of the early 90’s sound and his second cd The Ruler’s Back cemented his place as one of the founders not just of Bling, but of Hip Hop.
I bring this up because today, one of my boys DanaFu emailed me a video that spurred a quest to all corners of the web and youtube to bring you some of the latest Hip Hop to cross the pond. So now its time to get you up on what’s been happening in land of Slick since.
The video that started it all was from the Blackout Crew, now I haven’t heard of this group before this morning and from the looks of it this group consists of 6 members, fusing high pace House music with UK hip hop and the sound is something they call Happy Hardcore, but check it out for yourself the songs pretty catchy and you’ll definately be bouncin your head.
So after checking my email I was immediately reminded of a hip hop duo from Essex, Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip, or as they are known on stage Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip. It seems that the Scroobius Pip is the rapper while Dan le Sac drops the beats. I had the honor of seeing these two rip one of Coachella’s smaller tents this year and next month they will be doing a club tour on this side of the Pond. There is one show in San Diego and you know I’ll be there. If they come through your area your should definitely pay the $20 and check the show. This next video for Though Shall Always Kill is probably their best known song, but this new one Angles had a really tight stage show and the song was haunting on the same level of Eminem’s epic Stan.
even if you don’t like them as rappers these guys are cool and know their history
Well if electronic backed hip hop isn’t your thing, check out the DipSet Eurogang’s inaugural members S.A.S. Rah turned me onto these guys but I’m pretty sure it was youtube and Juelz Santana that put him onto them. Not much is known on this side of the Atlantic about S.A.S. except they want to take over both American and English hip hop and The Diplomats are tryin to make that happen. who knows maybe they’ll break but until they do they’re just – So London
No Talk of UK Hip Hop would be complete without talking about the biggest name since Slick Rick. Dizzee Rascal has been doin his thing commercially since 2003 and no other English rapper has made more of an impact over here since. Ripping clubs in the UK and throughout Europe, in 2004 Dizzee took on the heart of US hip hop and had his first American show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Now releasing music off his own label Dirtee Stank, Dizzee is helping UK hip hop get a legit foundation.
plus Dizzee made my theme song.
and he works with hot British chicks like Lily Allen
and who wouldn’t want UGK to help him break in over here.
Peace
NWK
Addendum: Finally I can’t believe I forgot The Streets, or Mike Skinner [however when he tours there are usually 4-5 members], another English rapper. I was turned on to The Streets about 3 to 4 years ago back in Boston by my boys Mark and Kevin [at this time Kev also turned me onto Gm Class Heroes alittle band from Geneva, NY]. The Streets have put out 4 cds and been playing live shows since 2001,
according to wikipedia and Skinner’s Myspace the fifth album, with the working title, Computer and Blues will be the last Streets album. But since this project is also about 2 years away you have tons of time to get up on some old stuff. Its a bit more British than most of the others but …
