Flirta D was always the emcee I looked up to growing up in North West London. His noises, voices and dynamic flow were a match for D Double E from East London. There's this Youtube channel called The Grime Historian that has added quite a few Flirta and SLK tracks. Flirta definitely deserves his dues as one of the best emcees out of North West London. Get down with it!
Below are a few gems from Flirta's vast artillery of reload worthy verses, mainy from Grime Historian.
Sick footage of Flirta D spitting somewhere with Skepta and Jammer. He bodies the track so hard Skepta don't wanna spit! His verse about Sky channels and his rhymes at the end are too ill: 'Can't be me your makin a fool of, no I ain't takin my jewels off... I ain't foolin around 4 years I bin schooling these clowns'. Flirta D = NW Legend.
Odd Future are still finding time to make swagged out music when they're not appearing on MTV and performing with Diddy at SXSW.
The first track above 'Less' by MellowHype (Left Brain & Hodgy Beats) features Casey Veggies one of my favorite rappers right now. Swag.
The second track 'Live' features Mike G and Hodgy rhyming over a Flying Lotus joint. I'm looking forward to hearing more from both of these swagged out Cali emcees.
'Let Me Ride' by Dr Dre from his album The Chronic released in 1992 on Interscope Records. This video is ridiculously ill, it makes me want to move to California, buy a lowrider and cruise around bumping this very song. Classic West Coast, G-Funk material.
I love the fact that in Dre's closet all of his clothes are black, Ice Cube's Stussy t-shirt, the 2:40 long intro and the ill Parliament Funkadelic footage at the end.
As sampled on the Reman track 'Tonights Da Night' produced by Erick Sermon and Reggie Noble which appeared on 'Whut? Thee Album' released in 1992. The track also features a sample of the Mary Jane Girls 'All Night Long'.
The Heath Brothers 'Smilin Billy Suite Part 2'
As sampled again by Erick Sermon and Redman from the 'Muddy Waters' LP on the infamous track 'Soopaman Luva 3'. I'm pretty sure they didn't do very much to the the record, except put it on a turntable! I wish there was a music video for this song. Soopaman Luva is Funk Doc in full Slick Rick story mode. This is also the same sample used by Q-Tip on the classic 'One Love' by Nas from the album Illmatic. Red actually used the same sample 2 years later than Nas in 1996.
The Bawse is back, reclining like Jabba the Hutt smoking copious amounts of reefer. This time Wiz handles the chrous whilst Wale spits an okayish verse in comparison to the overweight Don. The track is from Ross' forthcoming Maybach Music album 'Self Made'.
Footage of Tyler, Leftbrain, & Hodgy goofing about with Om'mas from Sa-Ra in his studio in LA. This video shows Tylers talent on the keys as well as his ADHD. The track they start playing from about 1:00 in is very dope. Whether you're down with Odd Future or not, they are here to stay as Tyler & Earl have signed to XL Records. The crew also plan to release a slew of solo albums this year including Tyler's Goblin and Domo Genesis' Rolling Papers 2 unfortunately Wiz Khalifas new album is called Rolling Papers too, both rappers have similar styles. I'd be interested to see who's album is better. With the input of musicians such as Om'mas Keith and NERD, whom Tyler has been tweeting about spending time with in the studio, these are exciting times for good music.
The past two weeks I've been bumping the first three Bad Boy mixtapes repeatedly. They feature the latest tracks from Bad Boy artists such as Biggie, Craig Mack, Mase and others as well as the hottest rap records at the time from Redman, Methodman, Mobb Deep and Grand Puba to name a few. The tapes are reel to reel classic, banger and gem, from a time when these songs were brand new. Although Diddy's hosting style is questionable, it always has been. These are timeless, time capsules and great mixtapes. Download em below.
The homey Bug put me on to this. Wow. The track 'All the Funk I Need', got me open. From the album 'Art Slave', well worth your hard earned. Fresh space funk, broken beat, nu soul izm. Available on iTunes or Tokyo Dawn.
Naomi Klein critiques capitalism in an extremely articulate and informed way. In this TED lecture she talks about the culture of risk in the financial sector and it's affect on society. One of the most interesting and inspiring talks I've seen in a while.
Alot of rappers have passed through the gates of Bad Boy over the years only to dwindle into obscurity: Craig Mack, Mase, Black Rob, Shyne, Loon and more. Whilst fucking over artists isn't an exclusive pursuit of Bad Boy, Diddy's rap sheet leaves something to be desired.
G. Dep is an ill rapper, he was bought in to Bad Boy by Black Rob, another rapper from Harlem.
Emcees who sign to Bad Boy don't seem to have the best of luck despite the image Diddy might portray.
The film above is part of a dope series called New York Minute directed by Gasface. The series has a hip-hop theme dealing with life in the rotten apple, check it out here.
G. Dep released his album to Child of The Ghetto in 2001 and failed to generate much of a buzz. Despite falling off from Bad Boy, G. Dep is a very ill emcee. The tracks 'Special Delivery' and 'Let's Get It' are straight classics. The track 'Head Over Wheels' which I first heard on a DJ Premier mixtape is an amazing record.
If you haven't seen this video, you need to check it. G. Dep might appear disheveled and even apprehensive to rap, the PCP can't have helped. But after missing the drop a few times, he actually delivers something special. Fast forward to (0:45) if time is of the essence.
If you want to know what's going in the world regarding the way war is reported by mainstream media outlets, then watch this. John Pilger is not ramping. A great documentary. Tell a friend to tell a friend, each one teach one.
