Unbelievable! 5 whole years have past since the documentary “Pioneers – UK hiphop” was released! Whilst this birthday may have passed most of us by, thankfully director Chris Leech has had something up his sleeve for this milestone. This comes in the form of “Soapbox – The Pioneers Freestyles” which is essentially raw, unedited footage not used in the original documentary. However, this is more than just a load of unwanted footage rushed together for an anniversary.
The world has changed a fair bit in 5 years, none more so than the format the buying public look to buy. “Soapbox” comes on a DVD, as opposed to the prehistoric, don’t-play-me-more-than-five-times, format of VHS that Pioneers was available on. The improvements in sound and picture quality is noticeable, which allows you to watch over and over again without you shiting yourself that the brown tape is going to snap! The footage itself is far rawer than before, with the director saying it’s “nice to be able to put out something a bit more like my original version”. This shows, because you really feel like you’re in the room as it’s being filmed, with non of the energy being lost at all. Some of the scenes overlap with what was on the original, which may make you think you’re getting less value for money but it is nice to see where some of the freestyles progressed beyond what you’d heard already.
What makes this release even more interesting for me is being able to view the progression of hiphop in this country in the last few years. That’s not to say the footage is outdated and worthless, however it’s interesting to see who was “at-the-top” back then compared to now. I mean the Bury Cru & Phi Life Chyperhaven’t released much since and Gunshot have hung up their gloves, whilst people like Sway and Kano have risen to heights not reached by too many before them. Yet some acts, like Roots Manuva and Blak Twang, have progressed far beyond what they were up to back then. This is something not lost on Chris Leech who recons “Looking back now it was a great period with a lot of amazing new acts emerging, I guess you could call it kind of the rebirth of UK hip hop.”
The overall sound of UK product nowadays is markedly different to that from 5 years ago, with the style progressing away from freestyle/battle rhymes. This makes “Soapbox” and nice little snap shot of those raw & aggressive late 90’s UK acts, in a format that will last. I’d liked to have seen a bit more use of the DVDs capabilities such as scene selection, but with Chris Leech using this project to hopefully fund an extended “Pioneers” maybe we’ll see it used then.
you really feel like you’re in the room as it’s being filmed, with non of the energy being lost at all
Related Links:
Soapbox The Pioneers Freestyles 
Unbelievable! 5 whole years have past since the documentary “Pioneers – UK hiphop” was released! Whilst this birthday may have passed most of us by, thankfully director Chris Leech has had something up his sleeve for this milestone. This comes in the form of “Soapbox – The Pioneers Freestyles” which is essentially raw, unedited footage not used in the original documentary. However, this is more than just a load of unwanted footage rushed together for an anniversary. 
The world has changed a fair bit in 5 years, none more so than the format the buying public look to buy. “Soapbox” comes on a DVD, as opposed to the prehistoric, don’t-play-me-more-than-five-times, format of VHS that Pioneers was available on. The improvements in sound and picture quality is noticeable, which allows you to watch over and over again without you shiting yourself that the brown tape is going to snap! The footage itself is far rawer than before, with the director saying it’s “nice to be able to put out something a bit more like my original version”. This shows, because you really feel like you’re in the room as it’s being filmed, with non of the energy being lost at all. Some of the scenes overlap with what was on the original, which may make you think you’re getting less value for money but it is nice to see where some of the freestyles progressed beyond what you’d heard already. 
What makes this release even more interesting for me is being able to view the progression of hiphop in this country in the last few years. That’s not to say the footage is outdated and worthless, however it’s interesting to see who was “at-the-top” back then compared to now. I mean the Bury Cru & Phi Life Chyperhaven’t released much since and Gunshot have hung up their gloves, whilst people like Sway and Kano have risen to heights not reached by too many before them. Yet some acts, like Roots Manuva and Blak Twang, have progressed far beyond what they were up to back then. This is something not lost on Chris Leech who recons “Looking back now it was a great period with a lot of amazing new acts emerging, I guess you could call it kind of the rebirth of UK hip hop.” 
