hip hop
CD: The Hot 8 Brass Band - The Life & Times Of...Tuesday, 06 November 2012
It's sad, isn't it, that we still live in a world where the more something sounds like a great party, the less “serious” it is considered? Think about how much deep meaning is attached by how many to, say, the portentous mitherings of Thom Yorke,... Read more... |
Jonzi D, Lyrikal Fearta Redux, Lilian Baylis StudioSunday, 21 October 2012
Jonzi D has been integral in defining British hip hop since it first filtered over from the States in the early 1980s – and has further managed to keep his finger firmly on the pulse. His two-week residency in Sadler’s Wells Theatre’s studio sees... Read more... |
CD: Franz Nicolay - Do The StruggleWednesday, 01 August 2012
Describing the music of Franz Nicolay is a formidable task: it’s almost as easy to imagine the work of some of the bands he has loaned his considerable talents to in the past - most notably during his five years as a member of The Hold Steady - and... Read more... |
The Arts Desk Radio Show 6Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Welcome to another show, in which Joe guides us around some of the weirder, smokier corners of the broad church of hip hop, and discussion returns to how far genre can stretch and where originality can reside in a multi-channel, everything-available... Read more... |
CD: Lorn - Ask the DustMonday, 11 June 2012
Though he first came to public attention via the Los Angeles-based Brainfeeder psychedelic electronic hip hop collective led by Flying Lotus, 25-year-old producer Lorn comes from “the middle of nowhere in Illinois”, and it's easy to see in his music... Read more... |
Interview: 10 Questions for Neneh CherryWednesday, 06 June 2012
Neneh Cherry has never been conventional. The singer and rapper's latest album is a collaboration with The Thing, a Swedish free jazz trio who have previously tackled songs by PJ Harvey and The White Stripes. If anything, the presence of Cherry has... Read more... |
Jay-Z & Kanye West Watch The Throne, O2 ArenaSunday, 20 May 2012
One image remains stuck from Watch the Throne's second of five sold-out nights in London; it’s a song-long vision of Kanye West and Jay-Z – aka J Hova or just Hov – sat side by side for Hov’s “Hard Knock Life”. Hov’s words fell out of his mouth... Read more... |
Globe to Globe: Othello, Shakespeare's GlobeMonday, 07 May 2012
The masterstroke of this take on Othello was to draw its focus away from race. It might seem odd to say that of a production in the rhyming vernacular of hip hop in which the Moor was African-American and the rest of the cast were not – but it was... Read more... |
Rizzle Kicks, The Dome, BrightonTuesday, 01 May 2012
So, Rizzle Kicks, teenybop pop-hop, right? So what we’re going to get is a bunch of over-excited tweens fobbed off with pre-recorded backing tracks, a bit of choreographed dancing and maybe some balloons? Certainly the support acts, Josh Osho and... Read more... |
iPads and smartphones go live with hip-hop dancingMonday, 30 April 2012
A new publicly funded UK web channel for performing arts opens tomorrow morning, preparing for a major launch this weekend streaming top international streetdancers to the web audience and publishing John Peel's notes on his record collection. The... Read more... |
Afrikan Boy Hard Times video unveiledTuesday, 27 March 2012After some time as a cult favourite thanks to diverse DJ play, the reworking of reggae classic "Hard Times" by Afrikan Boy with grime producer Darq E Freaker and country/soul singer Jeb Loy Nichols has a video.Afrikan Boy, South London rapper and... Read more... |
Singles & Downloads: March 2012Monday, 12 March 2012
After a nine-month absence, during which Joe Muggs explored the world's largest natural bassbin in the Amazonian rain forest and Thomas H Green waited to receive his passport back from the Bolivian government, Singles & Downloads returns to... Read more... |
