Verb T & Illinformed – Feeling Strange ft King Kashmere
One of the illest tracks off recent drop Stranded In Foggy Times, Verb T links up with fellow HF veteran King Kashmere for feeling strange.
One of the illest tracks off recent drop Stranded In Foggy Times, Verb T links up with fellow HF veteran King Kashmere for feeling strange.
One of the most prolific/consistent veterans in the UK hip hop game Verb T reuniting with one of the most prolific/consistent producers Illinformed on latest High Focus drop ‘First Step’. Visual wizardry by Honey JD. Dope.
The last 14 months have been weird. No pubs, no festivals, no shows. Thankfully, some things have stayed the same. British weather is still shit, Piers Morgan is still a blethering bellend, and BVA is still one of the sharpest emcees in the UK today.
For the uninitiated, the Beav established his impeccable credentials through his time in 3 Amigos, Brothers Of The Stone and Four Owls. But despite over a decade in the game, Lex Neville is only his second solo LP. Thankfully for BVA (and hip hop heads everywhere), it’s quality over quantity.
That’s not to say the album is low on tunes. The sixteen tracks zip by so quick you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s just a ten-track album. Lyrically, there’s more of what made Be Very Aware slap so hard; the righteous anger, puerile petulance and endlessly quotable slogans.
‘Bring It Back’ is BVA at his best, painting vivid visuals with a liquid-smooth flow. Like his fellow RLD labelmates, he excels in mixing late the effortless vibe of ‘90s East Coast classics with a quintessentially British no-fucks-given attitude.Likewise, ‘Role Model’ twists a nifty little bassline around a Greek lyre that works as surprisingly well as Ouzo and energy drink (trust me, try it).
BVA is joined by the cream of UK hip hop, with guest spots from Datkid, Smellington Piff and, of course, Leaf Dog. Jack Jetson and King Kashmere join BVA to usher in the apocalypse in ‘End of Days’, while fellow Owl Verb T graces the instant classic ‘Rolling’. That oh so sweet mix of chopped up soul, obscure jazz and classic ’90s boom bap is still present. But the beats (courtesy of Leaf and brother IllInformed) throw up a few surprises too. The G-funk inspired ‘Groundhog Day’, wouldn’t sound out of place on a GTA soundtrack. Jazz T also drops in to provide some sublime cuts on several tracks, most notably ‘Carving Tablets’.
But this is BVA’s moment. OK, so there’s not exactly anything new in Lex Neville. But the Beav is very much living by the “if it ain’t broke” mantra.
After a year and a half of bewildering change, it’s nice to know some things are exactly as good as you remember them.
Lex Neville drops 28th May 2021 on RLD Records.
Phoenix Da Icefire & The Strange Neighbour ‘Expendables’ Lifted from Cinematic out now and available HERE.
Featuring: Manage, eMCee Killa, Tesla’s Ghost, Da Flyy Hooligan, Genesis Elijah, Big Cakes, Logic, Fliptrix, Verb T, Mic Assassin, Big Toast, Jack Diggs, Kyza & Cappo.
Starring: Alfie Green from Global Movement Agency LTD & DaddyMakesDoh Directed by Dfacer.
The tried and tested High Focus team-up, Verb T and Illinformed, are back it. Completely unsurprisingly ‘Rotten Luck’ is some high grade, mellow fire. No details yet on whether this could mean a follow up to 2015’s excellent The Man With The Foggy Eyes LP. Fingers and toes crossed that we get more from the duo soon.
Let’s be honest, the world has taken a nosedive. We’ve swapped spring days outside for watching the first sunlight in six months spill onto empty streets. We’ve gone from absolute abundance to hoarding toilet paper. More importantly, we’ve gone from Friday night pub sessions to Friday night TV.
So when you hear The Four Owls are dropping a new album, it’s almost a shock. You remember there’s still worlds beyond our own horizon. There are still people doing things. More importantly, there are still people pushing out world-class hip hop. It might be the end of the world but most of us don’t even know what day of the week it is. Nocturnal Instinct is confirmation that there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
With skills honed from almost ten years spitting bars together (and over a decade repping strong solo careers), The Owls have found that golden ground – garnering critical acclaim without burning the bridges that got them there. It’s not an understatement to say they’re probably the sharpest group in hip hop today.
Their status in the scene is backed up by the calibre of artist clamouring for a collab. Gang Starr legend DJ Premier returns to lay down some solid scratching on ‘100%’ while scene veteran Kool G Rap drops some obscenely smart bars on the aptly named ‘Pioneer’. Most fitting of all is Masta Killa’s guest spot on ‘Deadly Movements’. It makes sense; Wu-Tang planted so many of the seeds that would grow into The Owls hunting ground; from the simultaneous solo & group process to the classic soul samples now a bedrock of the Owls sound.
Opener ‘Sound the Alarm’ has some of the tightest bars of any UK release in the past decade. Whether it’s BVA’s talon grip on the bars, Verb’s hypnotic flow, Leaf’s razor-sharp staccato delivery or Fliptrix’s wise lyrical turns, the whole thing fits together like feathers on a wing. That’s not just down to delivery – it’s also thanks to the immaculate beats crafted by Leaf.
OK, so Nocturnal Instinct won’t make everything alright. It won’t save the NHS or keep your nan from being lonely (unless she’s bang into UK hip hop). But it feels like a moment of calm in the absolute shitstorm that is 2020. The world might have descended into a really dull version of 28 Days Later, but, Nocturnal Instinct proves some things will never change. Now wash your hands.
Nocturnal Instinct drops April 17th on High Focus Records.
YESSS! Marking the second collaboration between The Four Owls and the legendary DJ Premier, ‘100%’ is all the fire you would expect from the link up. Anticipation is high for the incoming Nocturnal Instinct LP, dropping April 17th.
In an era where various apocalypses have been steadily coming to the boil for a while and world powers have been successfully employing an ignore-them-and-hope-they-go-away strategy, some gully underdog virus has just sneaked up repping Wuhan Scran and put global governments and economies in a chokehold. We’re all just starting to realise a little too late that this might actually be serious and people far and wide are understandably shook. UKHH.com has no solutions for this fuckry, but someone with no medical knowledge whatsoever once said that music heals all. So here’s 10 selections to weather the shitstorm to…
Kyza – The Cure
While a potentially deadly virus that’s storming unwantedly into personal spaces worldwide like an ugly guy at an orgy and crashing the global economy in the process is fully grim… We’re trying to find positives. Example: Sat at home instead of going corona-networking in Brixton this evening, I wandered aimlessly though Spotify and found an entire Tron inspired LP by UK heavyweight Kyza that for some reason I never knew existed. Fittingly the final tune is titled ‘The Cure’. Cue more digging for unheard gems and rewatching the Tron films during the inevitable nationwide lockdown.
Fliptrix – Survival
“Panic Panic, Time to hit the shop and loot it!”….
This one is dedicated to the dude spotted in Bath wearing full camo hazmat gear carrying 27 rolls of super soft bog tissue. Also honourable shout outs to…
1. All the people who, I shit you not, actually panic bought all the crates of Corona in Dagenham Lidl yesterday.
2. Anyone who has stockpiled a gallon of hand sanitiser while intending to stay at home where they have running water and soap.
3. Anyone who goes for a cheeky riot/loot once we hit week 2 of martial law.
Also very underrated Fliptrix banger.
Genesis Elijah – Roni Rap aka The Coronavirus Rap
Finger on the pulse as ever, Genesis Elijah hits the nail firmly on the head and then sanitises the hammer. General Levy seems to have grabbed the accolade of first fully corona themed anthem with the rough version of ‘Corona Crisis Dub’ appearing in January (DnB fans check the Selecta JMan Refix which has surfaced a few days back). As far as we know though, our Gen gets the credit for first COVID-19 focused hip hop bars.
Any tune by Dr Syntax.
The guy’s a doctor. Duh. So logically it follows that if you listen to his full discography while quarantined or tripping out with a heavy fever, there’s probably something in there resembling useful medical advice. Plus, as the well-spoken gent of the UK hip hop scene, his bedside manner is impeccable.
Dr Zygote…
Also a doctor. Realise I’m stretching this at this point. For any who don’t know, Zy is the physician behind a long list of bangers with production credits for names from Cult of The Damned to Harleighblu and most famously as a long time King Kashmere collaborator and one half of Strange U. He has no cure for your lurgy.
Virus Syndicate ft Document One – Cold World
Feel like this one needs little to zero explanation. The whole world is currently succumbing to the red hulk of all colds. Pathogen experts Virus Syndicate saw this shit coming way back in 2013. Admittedly this tune gets pretty dubstep for a supposedly hip hop themed list, but the genre straddling crew always had hip hop as a core element to the style, which means we kind of think of them as one of our own.
MysDiggi – Mystrogen
The title track off the thoroughly ill 2012 album from MysDiggi. Since there is perplexingly no Wikipedia article on this miracle drug, team UKHH can offer no information of its exact chemical make-up. We do know that it cures blindness, depression, hair loss and heroin addiction, tames wild animals and gives Stellas their groove back. So fairly confident it makes corona virus it’s bitch. Not available at standard retailers but shout Mys for some of his stockpile.
Vinyl Dialect – Lock this down
Want to feel triumphant about preparations when the inevitable day comes when we’re all told to lock ourselves in our houses and ride out the bat-flu storm? Ignore your powerless reality, put on this old school diamond and bop around cataloguing your tinned food with the air of someone who’s doing it because you want to.
Verb T & Pitch 92 – Cold Case Feat. TrueMendous
This one seems appropriate on a few levels. Aside from the obvious fact that this list is mostly composed of tracks with names that can be loosely linked to the viral issue at hand… It also features a beat by Pitch 92 that sounds appropriately tense for the current culture of fear and a video with Verb T and TrueMendous demonstrating how to make people not want to stand next to you on the tube.
Herma Puma – Space to Breathe ft Rider Shafique
Stuck with daily public transport during the pandemic? Fuck a facemask. Get a boombox instead and loudly play the hook from Herma Puma’s ‘Space to Breathe’. For extra space-clearing whammy; convincingly fake a cough and sweat profusely.
DISCLAIMER: If you think you have contracted corona virus, please do not rely on rappers. Call 111 from the isolated safety of your home and they will give you better advice.
The Four Owls swooping in with another banger featuring RLD Records’ Smellington Piff killing a feature spot. The highly anticipated Nocturnal Instinct is incoming soon!!
The Four Owls mark their return with their first crew release since 2015, the Leaf Dog produced ‘Honour Codes’. Sick animated video courtesy of Gary Motion.