01 Lil Wayne - A Milli 02 Busy Signal - Ackee Tree 03 Mavado - So Special 04 Bugle - Doh Be No aka No Yes Man 05 Warrior Queen & The Heatwave - Things Change 06 Riko Dan & The Heatwave - Mind How You A Talk 07 Mr Benn feat Blak Twang & Blackout JA - Long Time 08 Queen Ifrica - Daddy 09 Tarrus Riley & Sizzla - Who's Gonna Save Us 10 Tifa - Crawny Gal 11 YT & Flex - Stalker 12 Giggs - Talkin' Da Hardest 13 Erup - Click Mi Finger 14 Elephant Man & Lieutenant Stitchie - What A Mighty God 15 Timberlee - Heels 16 Charly Black - Buddy Buddy 17 Paleface & Kyla - Do You Mind (Crazy Cousins Remix) 18 Beenie Man & Wiley - Rolex It Up (The Heatwave Refix) 19 Mavado - On The Rock 20 Grievous Angel & Rubi Dan - Move Down Low (Funky Remix)
And off that, How did I miss this? ( Oh yeah because I'm in my 30s). Like Boima's post of that post Wu Tang thug UK/JA flow.
Sadly Craig David has also used this beat for his new rhyme skills. Its over Craig. Over.
As well as wearing awesome shirts A.J. Holmes is part of the Secousse Soundsystem and you can hear him laying down incredible tropical beats every month with Radioclit. Everytime I hear him play I wanna ask what's this, what's this.
So we are mad hyped that he's mixed up an exclusive sack of tropical tunes for us. Just over half an hour of Coupe decale, Kwaito, Kuduro and a whole heap other crazy Afro-tropical shit.
Londoners Catch him DJing and playing live with his band at Secousse on December 5th along with heavy cumbia fire from Argentina's ZZK Records. Its a night of Ghetto Bassquake Tropical Bass Heaven. Be there.
A.J. Holmes - Lumumba; Berlin Sex City Instrumental version
Magic System - Un gaou à Oran Luky Gomes - (baka) zeze e toto kuduro remix Aboutou Roots - Couper décaler DJ Zoki & Dane - Balkan Sound 2007 Uproot Andy - La Vida Vale La Pena (Petrona Martinez) Tarkan - Simarik (Radio Edit) DJ Zidane - Guantanamo I BOP - Meropa (Pitseng Tse Kgolo) Kaysha - On est ensemble
The HOMIE, Chosan out in New York just released this video. Born in Sierra Leone, raised in London, and currently bombing the Burroughs of NY, this man is a true wandering soul out to absorb the lessons of the ghettos of the world.
Coming with an outside perspective to life on the streets of America, and more than any other video about popping champagne or gettin' money, it makes me feel like I'm in New York, which to me has always been about the immigrant experience. Big Up! Chosan!
El Alto is one of the highest cities in the world perched above Bolivia's capital, La Paz on a massive plateau. Its population, mostly indigenous is one of the fastest growing in Latin American cities. Many of the inhabitants have moved from the country to escape poverty hoping for safer financial stability working in the city below. My fleeting memories when I passed through as a tourist on a bus was damn, this place looks hardcore. And it is.
Most buildings were roughly built, functional Breezeblock structures. Ugly, though not as bad as certain parts of South London. Its bloody cold as well, the altitude so high you are gasping for air most of the time. I got the impression the people are tough as fuck. Everywhere were signs of pretty severe poverty, the population keen to reclaim the countries huge wealth of natural resources, especially natural gas. Most is exported to other countries and the profits are certainly not reinvested in this city. This has resulted in some major unrest in the country, to the point where civil war was narrowly avoided in 2005.
Bolivian Female Wrestling has recently taken off in a big way in El Alto. It is a place of extremes. National Geographic photos here.
Chicha is not only the name of home made Inca beer but also the popular strain of cumbia heard all over this area. Its big in Peru also. A tropical hybrid of Amazonia cumbia and more traditional Andean folk music.
Pretty much every bus or taxi seemed to play it, its the sound of the streets (that and most kinds of metal). The mixtapes have MCs shouting over the tracks in Spanish and Quechuan. Wayne and Wax will tell you a lot more in this great post from a while back. The bootleg DVD market is pretty massive too with videos often shot in Bolivia's surreal natural landscapes. Like thisand this.
Argentina's ZZK records have just released El Remolon's wicked album of dubbed out cumbia. You can buy it here.
This track stands out for me especially.
El Remolon - Bolivia
Catch El Remolon, Villa Diamante and El G live now on their European Tour.
Friday November 21 - Nitsa, Barcelona, Spain Friday November 27 - Zaragoza Latina Festival, Zaragoza Spain Saturday November 29 – The Rumble, Malmo, Sweden Wednesday December 3 - Musicalia, London, England Thursday December 4 – Movimientos, London, England Friday December 5 - Secousse c/Radioclit, London, England Friday December 5 - Time Out Party, London UK Saturday December 6 - Scala, Berlin Germany
What I love about funk is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Always plenty of time for fun tracks as well as the hardcore stuff. A weird but wicked one from Rio's easy on the eye MC Sabrina. She apparently favours 'The large glass' - A Baile funk drinking song!
Mr. Signal is rocking the proverbial bells here at Ghetto Bassquake. Hit after hit seems to arrive on a weekly basis making my ears bleed with general bashment joy.
Sampling Sergio Mendes' Brazilian carnival drum laden anthem Magalenha he can't go wrong with this lick of tribal ragga excellence.
A while back I wrote about tropical guilty pleasures. Those tracks that go just a little bit too far into that Eurocheese/family party/holiday songs and are only really fit for your ninth rum and coke stagger dance. That stuff thats pretty dire but holds its own endearing charm and humour that the latest Skream dubplate is never gonna have. Like this one :
You could drop this to a drunk dancefloor in the middle of tropical-reggae-reggaeton set and it would probably work. Its got that dancefloor filling coolie dance bassline but the vocals are treading a veeerrry fine line for me. Its not going to scare the girls off like a kuduro jam might but its got a pretty high lame factor.
Here are some others.
Daddy Yankee - Gasolina. An undeniable anthem for reggaeton but since its release, those four years have not been kind.
Andy Val Gourmet- Chacarron Macarron. Still a banger and still getting some play by London DJs other than me. I like!
Enur ft. Natasha- Calabria - It had that commercial cross over as you could mix it into house or whatever but is way overplayed. Lily Allen's probably covered it.
Samim - Heater. Kind of works as its essentially a minimal track but I think its still sounds pretty fresh though I stopped playing it.
What other Popical anthems have I missed? I already hate that word.
Cocaine Blunts pointed out that Diddy is going to release an Electro Rap album. While annoyed by certain music that gets labled Electro these days, for some reason I'm real excited about certain locales/genres exploring this trend. I see the U.K. has been going through their Electro-Grime phase, it seems like French Africansare on board. Panama and Jamaica are definitely heading that way as well. Right now the possibility of a full on Bambaata/Detroit Electro aesthetic revival on U.S. Hip Hop Radio (and/or underground) has got me geeked.
I moved to the Bay Area amidst the height of the hyphy summer, before Mac Dre died, and as I crossed the Bay Bridge for the first time on my way in to SF, I was welcomed by the song "Hyphy" by The Federation played on the local Rap radio station. Mainstream radio was full of tracksout of Atlanta and the Bay that referenced early Electro Rap, uptempo beats, and party vibes. Maybe it was the magic of living in a new place, but I remember some off the hook parties.
The other day I was on the bus and I hear come out of a cell phone an uptempo beat and a verse that breaks in, "this is that automatic, I stay fresh like I'm wrapped in plastic. The girl sitting next to me jumps up dancing and screams, "this slap!" And I was sent into a mid-day MUNI Hyphy flashback.
Common's U.M.C. (Universal Mind Control)
Now check this craziness out! (By the Dallas Austin Experience):
Akwaaba Music is finally releasing their 1st album and the launch party is this Friday Night at a place called Salt in Los Angeles. Go to Akwaabamusic.com to purchase this first release (also available on itunes.) The label is splitting its net revenue 50-50 with all of its licensees, many of the artists are rockin' in their home countries but haven't got as much exposure abroad.
Also there will be an Obama victory themed The Highlife party at the Tunnel Top tonight (11/6) in San Francisco with guests Khady Black from Sierra Leone and DJ Sogui So Good.
Oh my Days... Its already the best time of the month again. Come party with us at Notting Hill Arts club this Friday. Radioclit, Mo-Laudi, A J Holmes, myself and more...
The Fugees' version of No Woman No Cry was a revelation in my adolescent life. It was the first time that I made the connection that music inherited from parents/family x music heard from friends/street= my music. Wyclef doesn't get enough credit in paving the way for global hip hoppers the world over.
I've resurrected the Fugees version in my dj sets thanks to two other global versions of No Woman No Cry from this past year. Comando Tiburon-No Voy a llorar (Panama) (Direct references to the Fugees here)
Besides his multiple solo efforts, I've seen him collaborate with artists in some unexpected places. This track from Senegal appeared around the time Wyclef recorded with Youssou N' Dour on How Come. Bideew Bou Bess feat. Wyclef Jean-Ndékété Yo
Friends of mine hated on Wyclef's latest solo effort, but Carnaval 1 still bumps for me today, and if you don't have Wylcef's album, Welcome To Haiti Creole 101, this needs to be your next acquire. Here is a track from the album that mashes Compa, Zouk, Dancehall, Hip Hop, Afropop and Afro Cuban sounds.
When it comes to worldwide bass music there are a few dons in this world. Producing, globe trotting, Djing, blogging, remixing, working with the local yout to help achieve their mic and bass hammering visions. Maga Bo is one of those people. Based in Rio, he ties together a wealth of influences from Grime to Baile funk heard in his immense collection of mixes which we like a lot. Till now he's been pitching up in places like Zanzibar, Senegal and Morocco throwing down his grinding bass skills with local MCs. In exchange for their mic skills he runs workshops e.g. teaching young African hiphoppers how to rock pirated audio software. His guerilla soundclash recordings have resulted in a banging debut album on Soot records.
Archipelagoes explores ruffneck hiphop/ragga/taarab hybridizations. Working the sound of the street, the road, the sand. Its out this Autumn. Here's a track.
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