8-trak productions is a small London based team of musicians and producers. We specialise in creating hip-hop, soul, & funk beats and are currently working with some of the best undergraound UK artists, such as Chima, Louise Golbey and Kadija Kamara, making real UK soul and hip hop.
Featuring Chima Anya, Grand Central, Karess, Nutty NRG & Suga Diezel, Louise Golbey and Kadija Kamara and more!
Tracklist:
01 Baby You Know
02 Lifestyle
03 Freaky Type
04 So Be That
05 Fool 4 Luv
06 Real Hustla Music
07 Got That Soul (8trak Remix)
08 The Lights
09 It's Karess
10 G-Life
Flying in straight off the back of the monstrously witty 2009 Wrap Up Mystro delivers Around My Way produced by DJ Swerve [Kiss FM / Street Fighter Riddim], the first look into the mind of Digmund Freud taken from the EP of the same name.
The track is classic Mystro. Pitch perfect prose, laced with humour as sharp as… well hmmm something very very sharp!?! I’ll leave the punch lines to Mystro, as it’s clearly what he does best!
Just in case you didn’t know Mystro didn’t just appear out the blue yesterday, he’s done a few laps, some round the world! Having started rapping at the age of 13, after being inspired by the classic “Golden Era” of MCs, he first made his mark building a reputation as one of the UK hip hop’s brightest vocal talents while hosting and performing at a number of the biggest events of the time, including the iconic Kung Fu. He’s also collaborated with a who’s who of British heavy weights, including Black Twang, Rodney P and Ty. He’s released albums in Australia and currently hosts his own TV show on SPINE.TV.
In case you hadn't noticed, over on the site we're running promotions for Jonzi D Productions' show Markus the Sadist (read review), which is returning to the Bloomsbury Theatre next week - why, you can even buy tickets through us!
Anyway, in the run up to this run of the show, Bashy (as the character of Markus!) and the promoters hit the streets of London to take advantage of people's good nature and highlight the show's satire.
In the show, Ashley 'Bashy' Thomas plays the lead role of Markus, a talented emcee that sells his soul for fame and wealth... and all the stereotypes that go together with hip hop these days - American slang, gloryifying guns, and, as you'll see in the videos, pants saggin'!
Markus the Sadist promo videos:
Somehow they even managed to corner a bemused X-Factor contestant Duane Flames before he caught a tube.
These are some of the most ridiculous (and funniest) show promos I've seen, and they reflect the nature of the show exactly. If you haven't seen it yet, the dates for the limited run are 17-20 May.
Over the last few years Kingslee ‘Akala’ Daley, 26, has emerged from London’s hip hop underground and into the mainstream as one of the leaders of a new British artistic renaissance. Bursting into the underground scene in 2004, he made history by being the first unsigned artist to have a video appear on MTV UK’s ‘TRL’. 2006 saw his first album It’s Not A Rumour drop with trance-sampling smash single Shakespeare being play-listed and championed on BBC’s Radio 1 via the support of influential DJ, Zane Lowe.
The album received critical acclaim and earned Akala the ‘Best Hip Hop Artist’ award at the 2006 MOBO awards, beating Kanye West. Reflecting the disorder and flux of contemporary life, Akala’s second album Freedom Lasso was an energetic visionary essay on modern life, drawing influences from the whole spectrum of music – rap, rock, electro, punk and folk. Summer 2010 see’s Akala return, poised to flip-turn the UK music scene once again with his third effort.
DoubleThink is the incredible new album from Britain’s acclaimed hip hop artist, Akala, released nationwide on 3rd May 2010.
DoubleThink documents harrowing moments of city life: in Yours and My Children, a track reflecting three months Akala spent in Brazil he talks about Favela children being killed by police. But Akala's unquenchable appetite for intricate wordplay and his teacher's instinctive awareness that heavy topics need to be got across lightly mean that, despite the often serious points, the record is an affirmative and often explosively joyful experience.
Recognise some of the biography below? Maybe because you read it on our Live Vibe April page where Chima will be a guest performer at Live Vibe this Saturday 17 April. Read about his guest performance here. >>
25 year old (Dr) Chima Anya has seen a lot. An avid hip-hop fan since birth he has watched how it has evolved and devolved over the years while simultaneously perfecting his own grasp of the art. This experience multiplied by the wealth of life stories witnessed by working as a junior doctor in fields ranging from geriatric to paediatric medicine has culminated in an artist of intrigue.
As a hip-hop MC his credentials are stellar - having already shared stages with hip hop legends KRS 1, Amp Fiddler, Flava Flav and recently opened up for Jay Electronica and Brother Ali. His music has also received support from Mary Anne Hobbes (Radio 1) "A Dope ass MC," Huw Stephen's (Radio 1) "I'm sure we will be playing more of this man" Ras Kwame (1Xtra) "Futuristic hip hop- we are looking for the doctor to come and save hip-hop," DJ 279 (Choice FM) "Hope yet for UK hiphop," Shortee Blitz (Kiss FM), Excalibah, Ace and Vis (1Xtra), The Temporary Residents and many more radio stations worldwide.
This, his debut album, "NEW DAY" reflects the change that is needed to effect some balance in the uk hiphop scene. Entirely produced by ASTROSNARE, the two hooked up having ascended to the top of the hiphop scene in Oxford making it a natural alliance. The first double AA side single saw CHIMA enlisting some fellow UK hiphop Luminaries SOWETO KINCH and JEHST in joining his campaign to bring some element of swagger, style and substance back in the scene.
CHIMA recently supported JAY ELECTRONICA when he hit the UK a performance that was only outshone by the man himself! CHIMA will also be supporting BROTHER ALI on his one off date @ London’s CARGO on the 17th March.
It's a gorgeous sunny day in the city so grab an ice cream, head down to Carnaby Street and check out the Eastpak store where they're celebrating the ladies!
You can get you Eastpak attacked by graffiti artists, catch all-girl dance crews including B.Supreme Allstars and Retaliation Girls throwing down on the lino every hour.
Watch the official video is at the bottom of this blog
With the free-flowing rhyme’n’bass opener Sick Tonight, old school dancefloor hip-hop of The Beatand the euphoric Italo-disco of Get Better, le sac Vs Pip have delivered a second album of beat led polemics; instantly danceable, yet increasingly vital, The Logic Of Chance is a great leap forward for alternative conscious pop.
With a microscope on violent crime stats (Great Britain), a declaration on the individuals role in a Democracy (Stake A Claim) and the perils of late night rail travel (Last Train Home), there is little slight of hand or ironic shape pulling here; Scroobius Pip delivers direct and true on the state of the nation, while dan le sac delivers his most advanced and eclectic soundtrack yet.
Despite growing up in the same Essex village Stanford Le Hope, the pair’s paths had barely crossed before they shared a Christmas season working at the Lakeside branch of HMV. After a brief creative courtship – sharing Myspace links and remixes – their very first collaboration struck gold. Hot off the CDR burner, their first song Thou Shalt Always Kill was sent to XFM’s John Kennedy in demo form and within 24 hours Kennedy had played the track on his show. Pip swiftly set up a myspace page with their solitary track… “Suddenly it went crazy - everyone was emailing the track to other people, so the only thing to do was borrow £200 and make a video.” That video has now chalked up 2.5million views on youtube and the single’s hastily arranged release on Lex cracked the Top 40.
Shunning the inevitable major label overtures, Messrs le sac and Pip opted to sign to Rob da Bank’s Sunday Best label, ensuring that their critically acclaimed debut album became one of the leading independent releases of 2008. Released in May ’08, Angles arrived just 12 months after the first fruits of their partnership had hit the airwaves. The duo’s welcome but unexpected rise, saw them working on tracks for their debut in the back of Pip’s Toyota Space Wagon, in between the growing list of festival, TV and radio engagements. That this ad-hoc germination should produce such a cohesive and thought provoking work, is testament to dan le sac’s production work and the enduring appeal of Pip’s word play.
Angles entered the Top 30 and in the subsequent 18 months, the duo has toured Europe and the US to an expanding live following. Visually and musically dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip defy any prefab industry model, their towering structures of Casio enthused electro-hip-pop often cutting against the conventions of radio programming. And yet they have become airwave and chart regulars, producing the salient singles Beat That My Heart Skipped, Look For The Woman and the Radiohead sampling A Letter From God To Man.
The good people at Basement Sessions have dropped their 20th podcast this week, which coincides with the festive season.
I met these guys at the Brick City Boutique earlier this year, and TooMuchFlavour has featured on some of their podcasts recently.
Our contribution to this episode is an interview conducted by Emma Figuero of HumanBeatbox.com with Reeps One, the UK Beatbox Champion 2009 (read report) talking about what he's been doing since winning the title of champion - he's a deep guy, but I wanted to put the interview where lots of people would be able to listen to it and appreciate it, hence Basement Sessions
On top of that there's a selection of Christmas-related songs and plenty of UK hip hop too.
You can listen to the podcast on the link below.
They've got loads of great shows coming up in 2010 including interviews with Speech Debelle, Sonny Jim, Mystro, DJ Cro and many more so stay tuned! You can click the link to subscribe to listen on the Basement Sessions PodOMatic site here.
Basement Sessions 20 Playlist:
1. Mystro - Mess I Ever Had
2. 810 - The Oath (Prod. by Midus)
3. Roeg Du Casq - Like Us f. Kosyne
4. Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin
5. Homeless Genius - Plug One f. Eddie Skratch
6. Team Facelift - No Love
7. Lotek - Ctrl+Alt+Delete
8. Ryan Leslie - Diamond Girl (SirOJ Remix)
===Reeps One Interview by Emma Figeuro for Basement Sessions courtesy of Humanbeatbox.com & Toomuchflavour.co.uk **
9. TY - Oh You Want More
10. Alphabetix - Children
11. Kenn Starr - Coming Of Age '09
12. Homecut - I Don't Even Know f. Soweto Kinch & Corrine Bailey Rae
13. Twizzy - Blessings
14. Kidz In The Hall - We At It Again
15. Souls Of Mischief - Tour Stories
16. Speech Debelle - Searching
17. Run DMC - Christmas In The Hollis
Beats
1. Zircon - Brazil
2. Pushing Buttons - Relax
3. Twelve Original Players - For Maya (during Reeps One Interview)
4. Zircon - Italian (during Reeps One Interview)
5. ZIrcon - Diva (during Reeps One Interview)
6. Twelve Original Players - The Hiatus
7. Twelve Original Players - Forcefield
Edited on 29/11/09 - latest story development is at the bottom.
Speech Debelle was booed off stage by Take That fans at a charity gig on Wednesday night for their new SingStar kareoke game.
I thought I'd do a little Googling to get behind the story.
Debelle chose to rap her way through the 1993 hit single Pray, leading to boos from some of the 500-strong crowd.
A bit more research brought up NME's version of the story, who at least aren't scared to use swear words in their reports:
This year's Barclaycard Mercury Prize winner was jeered off stage during the London launch of the group's new 'SingStar' game.
"I'm a rapper. I don't do Take Shit," Debelle said to the crowd after they began booing.
Uh oh.
In both reports, both say that James Corden (of Gavin and Stacey) told her that anyone can rap.
From NME:
Her reaction then prompted the host, actor and comedian James Corden, to respond by saying, "That was shit, anyone can rap", before the Gavin And Stacey star launched into his own rap.
Today, or yesterday, depending on the gap between filming and uploading the video, Speech Debelle responded on a video blog:
In her response, Speech retold her side of the story:
"Something happened. I'm not really used to saying that, but I am a little bit to blame," the video starts.
"I think Gary Barlow is one of the greatest songwriters of all time," said Speech. "Now let me give you the story."
Speech admitted she had a few bottles of wine before the event, which she blames for her response to Corden, leading to being booed. Instead of saying "I don't take/do your shit stuff!" to Corden's comments, the words came out as "I don't do take shit stuff!"
The slip of the tongue occurred after she rapped the song rather than singing it.
"I'm not a singer, I'm a rapper, I'm having fun with it," she said. "Liqueur, anger, mixed together makes the wrong things come out. Be careful when you drink alcohol."
Speech continued to recall she had met Corden before in a dressing room before a show and gave him advice before facing an audience at Brixton Academy and expects an apology from him.
The video of the fiasco has appeared on YouTube.
Update: 29/11/09 - Let's forget about it!:
There's a possible happy ending to this blog I've changed several times. Today Speech offered a further apology after seeing the video (above) of the incident and filmed a second apology:
Halfway things got distracted when Pete Doherty walked past and Speech et al and Pete ended up jamming to Hit The Road Jack before kicking a freestyle.
Halfway through the freestyle Speech said: "I'm not allowed sing."
What do you think? We now know Speech slipped up, but was Corden really cool making the audience take sides? Maybe you're a bitter Take That fan? What about the latest Speech Debelle video of the Pete Doherty jam? Feel free to comment below.
How does winning a pair of tickets to see Kyza at Rhythm Factory sound?
It sounds pretty good to me! With DJ MK (Roots Manuva's DJ) and MTV's own Sarah Love, plus more (click the flyer above to view it full screen) it's going to be a good night for UK hip hop.
Check out Kyza's freestyle on Tim Westwood's show:
So what do you have to do to win these tickets?
Drop an email to info@toomuchflavour.co.uk with "Kyza" in the subject line, and drop your contact number, and Twitter username if you're on Twitter so we can notify the winner - no contact number, no entry! You have until Friday midnight.
Double you chances of winning with Twitter!
Use the same tracking link - http://j.mp/2mfwinkyza - and we'll track whoever retweets it and double your entry in to the competition. So get retweeting and double your chances of winning! You must include your Twitter username in your entry email or we can't see who is who!
Notice:Only the winner will be notified if they have won a pair (x2) guestlist places, which you can claim on the door. Unsuccessful entrants will be contacted later in the week asking if they would like to be part of our mailing list (and thus be entered for other prize draws), otherwise your details will be removed from our database. For obvious reasons, UK entrants only!
It's a gorgeous sunny day in the city so grab an ice cream, head down to Carnaby Street and check out the Eastpak store where they're celebrating the ladies! 
