±«Óătv

...so there has been texts, there have been emails, there has been phonecalls....and there has been no reply! Them TF lot (whether current or past members) were never very good at answering their phones!! I can only guess that the HHC blog was 100% official and that they have special HHC only phone numbers for the firma.

It's a shame in this instance as Kyza and Klash really complimented each other both on record and on stage but it happens. Groups grow in different ways artistically which can lead to one or more members leaving. It happened to NWA. It happened to Gang Starr. It happened to Slum Village. It happened to Leaders of the New School. It usually means we, as the consumer, get more music from all of the solo artists.

'The Experience' shows great potential for Kyza as a solo artist (really, it was just some of the production on that which let him down) and having heard the 'Tussle With The Beast' album, Klash as an artist is growing and has got an album that should justify the plaudits he gets. If 'The Foundation' is 'Straight Outta Compton', lets hope we get some 'The Predator' and 'The Chronic' quality releases.

In fact, in honour of Kyza leaving TF, next week on the HipHop M1X Show I'll be doing an hour long mix called 'Going Solo' and need your input. Who are your favourite now defunct hip-hop groups? What solo material is worthy of extra airplay?

According to , Kyza has left UK HipHop group TerraFirma.

Some phonecalls/texts to confirm or deny I reckon today...Will check back with you once I've heard it from the horse's mouth.

In other news, I'm taking my pops to watch Casino Royale today. Will it be good? I'll let you know.

It seems like every deejay in Nairobi has left out for the USA! Apparently thanksgiving in Atlanta is a big thing for African deejays so my quest to check out the HipHop Nairobi radio and TV situation kinda stalled. My man came through though and blessed me with an hour long mix of the cream of Kenyan HipHop that you can hear this Thursday night on the HipHop M1X Show. So, to plan b


Tuesday is Market day in Nairobi so my last day in Kenya was spent at the town centre market. The streets were as full as ever so Sammy parked his pimped out Toyota Carib across the other side of the city centre to the market so we had to walk to the market. I imagine walking in downtown Nairobi to be like walking in downtown New York (I’ve never been to NY so can’t really say): there doesn’t seem to be any right of way for pedestrians when it comes to crossing the road! We passed K’Osewe again on the way so it was all about the Ugali and beef again! I also tried some amazing blackcurrant drink as made by a world famous brand. Why do we only get orange, lemon and fruit punch flavours in the UK? The blackcurrant is by far the best flavour! I’ll be writing a letter


After the food and drink, we got to the market.

I wish I had pictures to show you but after blogging last night, I had a Tusker or two
or five which meant my head was very fuzzy this morning. I therefore left the camera in the hotel room. Portugal has Superbock; England has Carling; the USA has Budweiser; Kenya has Tusker! (as this is a ±«Óătv blog, I am duty bound to let you know that lots of other beers are available – some at reasonable prices!).

The market was nothing like any other market I’ve ever seen. Set up on the side of a hill, the market vendors had set out their wares on sheets they’d laid out on the dry muddy ground and as soon as they saw us, they were all over us! Every kind of carving, painting, piece of jewellery, pipe or drum was for sale along with traditional African clothing and Bob Marley T-Shirts!
“Where are you from my brother?”
“The UK”
“Oh, you like Arsenal?”
Was a typical conversation! Those Gooners get everywhere
 Prices were also instantly inflated to tourist levels but we had Sammy to negotiate for us in Swahili. Without knowing the language, I think his opener was “Aw come on, don’t rip these guys off
they’re not American, they’re English!”

Apart from the drunk guy who called me a ‘stupid American ba**ard’ (I would have been offended at being called an American but I just put it down to that local beer working it’s magic again!) everyone was really friendly. Shrewd when it came down to business (especially one guy who followed us around the entire market with a pipe that MissisJam had briefly considered buying for her dad until he told us he wanted the equivalent of £50 for it) but the market and the people we met definitely is a highlight of the trip.

So that’s the end of my Kenyan adventure. I’m currently in the hotel room having had a nice meal of meat at Carnivore again this evening with MissisJam buzzing around me packing everything ready for our early morning flight back to Heathrow. I wanna thank Sammy for being the best tour guide we could have wished for, Big Kev the Tru Blaq crew, the mystery booking agent in the UK who got me the gig and the people of Kenya who made me feel very welcome. It’s been amazing. Next time I come though, Radio, TV & the clubs are being hit up; Mombassa; the Masai Mara and maybe even Dandora (aka the scariest ghetto I’ve ever seen) will get hit up MistaJam style.

Before the blog returns to usual service, I’ll leave you with this gem. Silverstar are out here next week. The flyer has them billed as the hottest FEMALE dancehall deejays in the UK. Wonder if the men in Kenya will be disappointed? Gussy - make sure you shave!!

First off, the photos are up! You'd better check them out! Either click any of the photos on these Kenyan blogs to see them all or check the photos on the right hand bottom of this page.

Today was really all about the Nairobi Animal Orphanage. The orphanage itself is located inside the Nairobi national park and is home to some animals brought to the orphanage for a number of reasons. Lions, Hyenas, Parrots, Cheetahs, Warthogs (who have right of way according to signs around the park!), 4 kinds of monkey and very ugly ostriches live here and are kept in very large areas just like their own habitat in the wild fenced off by chicken wire for the safety of the visitors.

Now I'm used to seeing those kind of animals on a regular basis but it usually comes with Sir David Attenborough narrating so seeing them up close and personal was (i'm not afraid to admit it) a bit of an emotional experience. Forget the zoos anywhere else in the world, seeing African animals in Africa is it. Amazing is not strong enough an adjective to describe it. I now understand why people spend thousands going on safari to see them in their natural habitat and if we had the time this trip, I'd be doing that 6 hour drive to Masai Mara to do just that.

The warthogs were trying to eat the birds in the cage next to them! The parrots were whistling at the Lions and the Lions were chilling like 'yeah, we're the kings of the jungle'. The guide we saw said that they were being moody as they don't get fed on mondays - I can understand that. I get moody if I go over 4 hours without food!! Check the flickr account for more photos from the Orphanage.

Was warned by Sammy yesterday that downtown Nairobi on a weekday was busy but I didn't think he meant as busy as it was. The place was organised chaos! The streets were full to bursting, there was music and noise and traffic everywhere and there were ZERO parking spaces! There are 3 main football teams out here: Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea! We even saw Kenyan buses painted up with team colours! Traffic out here is crazy - if you can drive in Nairobi, no other roads across the world will trouble you!

Looked into flights to Mombassa - they're expensive right now!! Working quite hard right now to make sure this isn't my last trip out to Kenya so will have to do that and the Masai Mara next time. Tomorrow, to the market and hopefully to check out more of the hiphop scene... I'll keep you posted!

Day 2 - 19th November

Tru Blaq's Head of Security Sammy has got a new job - the official MistaJam Kenyan tour guide! Our bellies were rumbling so it was all about eating first. We headed from the hotel in Sammy's pimped out car (there needs to be a Pimp My Ride Nairobi the amount of old cars souped up with major rims there are over here!) into downtown Nairobi. When I got here last night it was dark so I didn't get a real feel for the place - not so today. Kenya is a place of juxtapositions - on one side is the country with all the game reserves and safaris but on the other is a bustling city where self appointed parking attendants help people find and keep a free street parking spot and the streets are full of African people. Let me not be so polite, I can honestly say I've never seen so many black people!

We went and ate some traditional East African food at a spot called Ranalo (the Kenyans call it K'Osewe). The food there was amazing - like a proper home cooked traditional african meal. The place itself is a bit like a fast food joint with good food and fast efficient service - if only Caribbean food shops back home were like this place they'd be a lot more popular!

You decide what you want to eat, go wash your hands, pay and then take a seat. A waiter will come over and take a slip from you written when you paid and minutes later, he comes back with your order. I had a kind of spicy beef with ugali - a kind of cornmeal, eaten with my hands like any other good Kenyan and washed down with some bottled water. From there, Sammy took us to the infamous Kenya Jam Session.

Every sunday afternoon, the local nightclub Florida 2000 is transformed into the biggest youth event in the city where many of the big local artists got their first big break. The place was absolutely rammed as in RAMMED! Every corner was full of people - about 1000 people in a place that would have a 500 capacity in the UK. Imagine a really full vibesy club night. Now imagine everyone's under 18. Now imagine it's on a sunday afternoon at 4pm!! Everyone was dancing and once again Ragga was ruling the roost.

DJ Kay-Dee was killing it, going from riddim to riddim, dropping big tune after big tune and the crowd were going crazy. Then Kay-Dee cut the music, said something to the crowd in Swahili, the crowd went mad and he handed the mic over to two local emcees - both rhyming in a mixture of swahili, english and patois but all with a strong Jamaican accent! It was crazy. Sir Prestige and DJ Edu - Kay-Dee says big up!

As soon as the camera has charged, I'll put up pictures and video. Chilling at the hotel right now, but here's the exiting bit - what should I do next? Where should I go? What should I check out? Holla back and let me know what you think...

I did want to post the full Jay-Z and Nas Black Republicans track on here but decided not to as I've been a little preoccupied over the last 30 odd hours or so. Finished the friday night show at midnite (really enjoyed it. If you missed it, then listen again here); ran over to Bar Rumba in London's West End to rock my monthly residency spot at The Get Down. From there it was over to Heathrow, on a plane and 9 hours later I'M IN KENYA BABY!!

I'm over here for the same reason that Blakey was last week - to deejay at a Project Fame eviction party. Project Fame is the East African version of Fame Academy and each week, another wannabe artist is evicted and a party is thrown in their honour at the Carnivore in Nairobi. Built on a game reserve, by day it's a restaurant serving the finest in East African game meats (mainly without any side dishes!) but by night, it's a nightclub - I'm told the biggest nightclub in Nairobi. It's my first time in Africa so MissisJam came with me and I'm out here until Wednesday!

I plan to get in as much as possible to check out the scene out here (Edu would be proud!!) and will give you a daily update on here.

Read the rest of this entry

So Jay-Z has surprised us all and replied to Jim Jones and Dame Dummy Dash in record form.

Over Jim Jones' We Fly High, Jay-Z sets the record straight and sends some shots of his own back at the Dipset Capo and former business partner.

If you want to hear it, check out my show last nite on 1Xtra here - I play it the first time within the first 10 minutes of the show.

Once you've heard it, come back and comment - what do you think? Personally, I think that Jimmy and Damey got their bottoms handed to them on a plate, but I'm sure there's gonna be some Dipset riders out there who'll disagree with me...

From Kingdom Come, track 14 to be exact, I give to you Jay-Z featuring Chris Martin from Coldplay and 'Beach Chair'
Click to listen but please come back here and comment... Please...

From XXL:
“Yeah, it’s the last song on the album. It’s called ‘Beach Chair.’ And it’s like one of my favorite songs. He [Chris] just sent these chords, I mean these shits is so crazy. I’m a have Dre do the drums over. But the subject matter of the song is almost I guess it’s almost talking to your unborn kid. One of the lines is like, ‘I got demons in past/So I got daughters on the way/If the prophecies correct/Then the child shall have to pay/For the sins of the father/So I barter my tomorrows/Against my yesterdays/And hopefully she’ll be ok/And when I’m no longer here/To shade her face from the gray/I give her my share of Carol’s Daughter/And a new beach chair.’ All the joints end with something like that.”

What do we think? Is Jigga and Coldplay the best rock rap collabo since erm...Jigga and Linkin Park or are we waiting for the accapellas to be released so someone can rock it over a different beat?

Wanna win a copy of both of Game's albums (The Doctor's Advocate AND The Documentary) an exclusive Game T-Shirt, limited edition Game bandanna and a couple of copies of the It's Okay single?

All you have to do is click here to listen again to the Game Interview on last week's HipHop M1X Show and email me the answer to this question:

Who were the two artists from Black Wall Street that accompanied the Game during the interview?

Simple tings! Winner will be announced next week.

Safe

Just incase you haven't heard it or heard about it, The Game has delivered what potentially could be the remix of the decade the week before the Doctor's Advocate drops (November 13th in the UK people).
24 emcees...
12 minutes...
1 Beat...
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the It's Okay (One Blood) Remix featuring The Game, Jim Jones, Snoop Dogg, Nas, T.I., Fat Joe, Lil' Wayne, Nore, Jadakiss, Styles P, Fabolous, Juelz Santana, Rick Ross, Twista, Kurupt, Daz, WC, E-40, Bun B, Chamillionaire, Slim Thug, Young Dro, Clipse and Ja Rule:

Diddy may have invented this kind of remix, but looks like Game done smashed the mould!! 23 guest emcees? It's practically a who's who of commercial US HipHop!

Who do you think bodies the track? Who has the hottest verse?

UPDATE #1: Make sure you check the HipHop M1X Show tonight to hear the interview with The Game that I did - hear him break down the story behind the Doctors Advocate, who's who in Black Wall Street and which classic HipHop track he wanted to hear...

We've also got a competition to win both of Game's albums, the single, t-shirts and bandannas. Tune in tonight from 2-6am GMT on 1Xtra. I may even have a blog competition...

I just got this email. Now either this is some good news that we've been waiting for or someone's doing some very clever PR...

The UK’s first member of G-UNIT

Rumor has it that the international rap super star 50 Cent is in talks with a UK management company to close a deal, which could propel the UK Underground Grime Scene into international orbit.

A representative from within the G-Unit camp is believed to be involved in talks this week regarding the underground Grime star Sniper E. It is claimed that he has court the eye of the hip hop bad boy after a Sniper E mix tape managed to make its way on to Fiddy’s Jet following his recent visit to the UK.

The source tells us that 50 was blown away by the fast tempo rapping and liked Sniper E’s style and is reported to have said;

“English accents are normally whack when it comes to rap, but this boy has got a different type of feel, he’s actually got good line’s and hook’s! Plus this n***a advertises more them me, saying ‘snipere.co.uk’ every 10 seconds - this n***a’s got hustle!”

The mix tape 50 is referring to is most likely Sniper E’s latest release ‘Target Practice’ which is 19 tracks deep and is the 8th mix tape to be released by the artists. The source tells us that Fiddy has been looking for a UK rapper since meeting So Solid’s Asher D who stared in Get Rich or Die Trying and is very excited about being involved in UK Grime Music.

If true, this represents a phenomenal chance for the Underground Grime Scene to gain global exposure and could make Sniper E the UK’s first international Grime star
I’ll keep you posted.

N.B Greenback Management (Sniper E’s management) refused to discuss or release any information concerning a possible deal between the MC and G Unit Records.
_________________________________

What do we think? Real or fake?

For those outside of the dancehall community, there's a dance and record that has taken the scene by storm and if you listen to 1Xtra, no doubt you'll know what I'm talking about when I say "Dutty Wine"

Only ladies can do the dance (or at least should be..!) but it seems that you need to make sure that you take care when bussin out a dutty wine or two at your local dance:

Tanisha Henry was attending a 'school uniform' party at Beacon Hill, Thompson Pen, about four o' clock Sunday morning when, while doing the popular dance, she collapsed and was rushed to the nearby Spanish Town Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

When The Gleaner checked with the institution, a representative said persons have for some time been warned of the dangers associated with the dance, but that no one seems to have taken heed.

In March, The Star reported warnings from doctors that the 'Dutty Wine' was a dangerous dance that could cause serious neck injury and lifelong pain.

Residents in shock

The dance, done mainly by women, involves the rapid rotation of the neck and posterior simultaneously.

"If you throw the body in extreme positions, as in the case of the 'Dutty Wine', you could have muscle trauma, damage to your ligaments and shifting in bones," Dr. Jephthath Ford, general practitioner, told The Star.

In the Beacon Hill area, where yesterday's incident occurred, several persons said they were shocked by what had happened.

"It is a warning to young people that dem mus stop du de Dutty Wine," said one woman who called the incident a curse on the land.

"Is like a demon sen' from de pit a hell dat is taking the lives of the youth even before dem have time to repent."

Yesterday Tanisha's mother, Linda Henry, said she was still in shock.

"I was at home about 4 o'clock when I feel like something is wrong with Tanisha as I did not see her when she came from work last night," she said. "About half an hour after, I got the news that she was dancing Dutty Wine and collapse."

Ms. Henry said that, on going to the hospital, her worst fear was realised when the doctor told her that her daughter was dead as a result of the dance. She added that it was a very sad moment and that Tanisha, who works at a pharmacy, was her last child. She said she did not know how the family would cope with her death.

The Spanish Town police are conducting a routine investigation into the matter"

Tek care nuh people... Instead of the Dutty Wine, how about the Agadoo?

This past weekend was a weekend of contrasts for me.

Straight from the HipHop M1X Show on Friday morning, we hit the road and drove across the country to Southport for the 39th Southport Weekender.

If you’ve never been to the Southport Weekender before, imagine an English Holiday camp being completely transformed into the home for all genres of black soulful music for an entire weekend. 5,000 ravers travelled from across the WORLD to be there to check out some of the biggest deejays and acts in the scene; and I was there to broadcast the Friday night show from there.

Being a Southport virgin myself, we decided that travelling around the camp & chalets before the camp to get a feel for what Southport’s really like would be a good idea. I saw and spoke to the broadest spectrum of people I think I’ve ever encountered at a single event: from the 51 year old hedonist woman in pink wig, pink fluffy socks and with a tub of stimulation gel in her hand trying to find someone to help her use it to the 18 year old Southport virgin brought to the weekender by her best friend’s mum. From the 35 year old muscle man from Brum who’s been to every weekender with all his crew ‘to catch gyal’ to the 23 year old wannabe deejay who’s been to the last 2 weekenders to network – they were all there.

Checking out the 3 main arenas after the show, it seemed that everyone was having a really good time. Jazz dancers battling the northern soul dancers in the Connoisseurs’ Corner; the beautiful people ‘aving it to funky and soulful house in the B-Bar and the HipHop & R&B lovers getting down in the Funkbase. Every kind of person, every colour, many ages – no trouble. I’ll say that again: NO TROUBLE.

I wished I could stay for the whole weekend but I was off to Liverpool to represent at the first Anthony Walker Foundation Music Fest. For those who don’t know who Anthony Walker was, he was a young black man from Liverpool in England who by all accounts was a good kid.

Into his music and basketball, his life was cut short by a senseless racist attack which put the nation into shock that such a thing could happen in today’s society. You may have seen Young Kof’s tribute video on Channel U or heard the song on 1Xtra. Since that tragic day, his friends and family (instrumentally his sister Dominique) have worked hard to make sure something positive comes out of the tragedy by setting up a foundation in his name to instigate and set up free programs for youth in Liverpool around sport and music. The music fest was set up by the AWF and Liverpool’s Urbeatz to not only showcase local talent alongside more established talent such as Akala, Skinnyman, the Aftershock Camp and Sadie Ama but also to raise some much needed cash for this worthy cause.

Halfway into the night, things were bubbling. Some of the local talent had represented, Bruza and Tinie Tempa had smashed it, Sadie Ama was halfway through her first song when the unthinkable happened at a charity night in the name of someone murdered in a violent and despicable attack.

A fight broke out.
The music was cut off.
The lights were turned on.
The night was pulled.

Why can’t people control themselves – especially at a night like the AWF Music fest? The night was supposed to be about peace and unity and raising money for a worthy cause started in the name of someone who’s life had been taken away by a disgusting and unprovoked attack but some people instead decided to blatantly disrespect the memory of Anthony Walker, Anthony’s family and what the AWF and Urbeatz were trying to achieve.

Dominique’s heart was broken. Yaw from Urbeatz incandescent with anger that some people, those same people that the AWF was set up to help would be so disrespectful. All the artists who’d either travelled from down the road or from over 200 miles away were disgusted. Big shout out to the AWF and Urbeatz – I hope that the action of a few disrespectful people doesn’t mean that future Music Fest’s can take place.

As a deejay and promoter of Black music forms (or Urban music forms if you prefer), I’m forever being told by people outside the scene that my kind of music attracts violence and crime. I always defend it by saying that people have misunderstood – that it isn’t as bad as the media will have you believe. That it’s the small minority of people who ruin it for others, that the majority of people into my scene are people who’s last idea of a good night out is one that ends up in either casualty or the cells. The uncomfortable truth is that as long as events where nothing kicks off like the Southport Weekender or the UK Takeover are the minorities, those people outside the scene will always have a point.

Where has the respect gone?

Click the cover for the XXL interview...

Anyone else noticed that most, if not all HipHop blogs have been turned into the Jay-Z show? It's amazing how much impact this man has on HipHop media & popular culture.

Props to and for the interview link and cover photo respectively.

That's right, you voted Sway the artist you wanted to win the BET award for Best UK HipHop and imho (in my humble opinion for those non web-geeks) he deserves the award.

Real talk time...

Without doubt, there has been no other artist in British music (never mind just British HipHop) who has promoted and marketed and sold his INDEPENDENT material to the level that Sway has done. Every magazine, every website, even every newspaper had something about Sway at one point - hell, I even saw him on the ±«Óătv's Culture Show! Say what you want about his lyrical ability, his songs or the fact that he didn't get a top 10 hit; the man has paid dues, been consistent, been smart and done more by himself and for himself in the past 18 months than most (notice I said most, not all...before you all jump on me) British HipHop artists have done in the past 18 years. In fact you can count the others on 2 hands...

That's not to say that Blak Twang, Dizzee Rascal and Kano didn't deserve to win the award (notice I didn't mention Plan B?) just that 2006 has been Sway's year.

Sway and I haven't always seen eye to eye, in fact, we haven't spoken at all since the and truth be told - we didn't talk on the regs before that but - real talk - Sway, well done. Make sure you fly the flag for the UK in Atlanta and tell them Americans we're coming!

Check the info about the awards here - and if you want to win VIP treatment to see the prestigious event in Atlanta, USA, make sure you're listening to Semtex's Friday Night Mixtape, 7-10pm and my Friday night show coming live from the Southport Weekender from 10pm-12am this Friday 3rd November.

New Jay-Z album...New Game album...New Snoop album...1 Month to the new Nas album...1 month to Christmas...shizzle, better get shopping!

If only what was happening in November happened earlier in the year. Why do you think everyone's waited until the last minute to release music? Who's gonna get pushed back?