Brand Nubian: One For All and All For One
Social consciousness, the black diaspora and controvertial, charged lyricism blended with pure funk breaks and a creative sampling aesthetic. These were the characteristics of the New York Five Percenters, Brand Nubian and their first album One For All; a document of black music activism and a crate digger’s bible. iCrates untangles the samples and disseminates...
Bigger Than Hip Hop
It is one of those instantly recognizable bass lines. The boom of Dead Prez’ 1999 hit “Hip Hop” still gets parties pumping and heads bobbing in unison all across the Globe today. Add the mantra-like chorus to the mix and you have a timeless hip hop classic which for many provides the only reference point...
King Geedorah – Take Me To Your Leader
Take Me To Your Leader was Daniel Dumille’s first full-length release under his alias “King Geedorah”. The man behind MF Doom based the records eponymous space monster on “King Ghidorah”, the two-tailed, three-headed dragon that terrorizes Earth in the Godzilla films. You should listen to the album for what it is and not expect it...
Magazine / Reviews / REVIEWS / FUNK/SOUL / REVIEWS / HIP HOP / REVIEWS / JAZZ / REVIEWS / POP / The Anniversary Issue
Festive Floorshakers: On the Search for the Finest Christmas Cuts
As far as music is concerned, christmas knows no boundaries. But, scratch beneath the surface and you begin find a festive sub-culture that may just get you through December in one piece. So, cast your skepticism aside, grab yourself an eggnog, and enjoy a tasty serving of the finest, funniest and most obscure christmas cuts...
Nine – Nine Livez
Released on the majestic Profile Records in 1995, Nine Livez is Nine’s debut album and undoubtly my dearest record ever since. I bought it some 16 years ago at Downtown Record shop in Gießen, a small German town close to Frankfurt where I grew up. The album was very rare even back in the day,...
MC Serch Return of the product
Imagine storytelling long before the term storytelling was even born; imagine the first white rapper (along the Beastie boys) who shook his ass and spoke his mouth when Hip Hop was in its prime and mainly the channel of the black Ghetto voice. Welcome to the world of MC Serch, the most respected white...
Digable Planets – The Blowout Comb
Nowadays people are mixing beer with coke and vodka with sugar, but back in the 90's the Digable Planets blended Jazz, Funk and Hip Hop. And they did very well.
Swedish House Mafia feat. Pharrell
Pharrell gets down with the Swedish House Mafia.
Just as the name implies, these guys come from Sweden. Axwell, Steve
and Sebastian are the names of the House Mafia's DJs and producers. In
fact, the group was at one point a four-piece: up until his move to
London, famous House DJ Eric Prydz was also a...
Drake – Find your Love
Having previously featured on several tracks with the likes of Lil Wayne and Eminem, as well as having a fairly successful mixtape, it's now time for Drake to step into the spotlight and set-out to become hip hop's new star.
Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne – Down
Although relatively unknown at the time, British newcomer Jay Sean pleased Lil Wayne so much so, that the hip hop mogul took him under his wing to get 'Down'.
