Kano – Jack Bauer – 7 Day Edition

Big Kano, aka that guy who was on every grime feature in the early 2000′s, is back on his grizzly. Actually, he never really went away, but following some years in the wilderness (see: the autotune and synth heavy Brit Weezy rip-off Rock N Roller), he’s getting back to some of the good stuff that put him on the radar in the first place.

So what’s that mean?

Well, it’s got some pretty angry parts for one. And while angry music doesn’t always (rarely?) equal good music, grime has always seemed to aspire to sound angry. Plus, the beats. Oh, the beats. Not to over generalize, but early grime was basically built around beats that walked the fine line between face-scrunchingly good and awkwardly-rhythmedly terrible. It wasn’t graceful music, and it wasn’t trying to be. The first actual song on this mix starts with an olde timey showtune that flips harder than showtunes are supposed to flip.

Modern grime still carries a similar vibe with it, even as other UK-born sounds have evolved around it, notably the dubstep movement, the glitchy sounds of Hudson Mohawke and the Lucky Me crew, and even groups from a closely-related family tree like Foreign Beggars.

Grime’s still being grime, and this Kano mixtape, the Jack Bauer 7 Day Mix, shows that. Maybe it’s too simple to separate grime away from the rest of the UK sound at this point (a la the perennial, tired, and frankly overstated arguments of hip hop vs rap vs hip pop vs Kanye), but until someone gives this guy a road map, we’ll just keep appreciating it for what it is.

Downlaod: Kano – Jack Bauer – The 7 Day Edition

Shouts to the Felicia over at First Up for the heads up.

Wiley vs. U.K. ’90s Dance Music

This might sound funny, but for the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to post a banging Wiley track but have been unable to do so for reasons of quality control. Frankly, most of the stuff that’s popped up on the internets from Wiley of late has bordered on wactose. And we here at LxNxM are wactose intolerant. Hence, despite my strong love for Wiley’s earlier grime work, he’s been absent from this site for awhile. But his newest track harkens back to the ’90s as he spits over a refixed version of White Town’s “Your Woman.”

I’m glad that Wiley recruited singer Emelie Sandi to record this song and video. Today, I learned that White Town is actually the studio name of an Indian man from the U.K. named Jyoti Prakash Mishra. Consider your Trivial Pursuit studying thoroughly completed.

GRIME!!!!

man, it’s been a little quiet around these parts for the past few days. that happens from time to time. this post is all about bringing some NOISE!!!@!@1! specifically in the form of some dirty grime. the sound itself is hella clean, but if you’re calling a genre what is typically neutralized by scrubbing bubbles, adjectives like dirty and filthy are appropriate. the dudes on the left are elijah and skilliam, two east london DJs who are blowing up the blogs. the dudes have a radio show on rinse FM and a blog/label project called butterz. most of the blog love comes from their 01012010 mix, which you can stream below and download here. y’all should also check out/download this mix that dj akkachar did for elijah and skilliam’s rinse FM show.

From Lagos Town to London Town

Certain hip world music fans should recognize Afrikan Boy from his contribution to M.I.A.’s 2007 album, Kala, where he spits a grimed out hot 16 Nigerian-style on the track “Hussel.” He’s a 20-year-old grime rapper based in London at the moment trying to finish up his studies, but he’s very to quick to let you know about the city of his birth on the track below. He just posted this video online yesterday, but initially, there was no embed link. I emailed Afrikan Boy directly telling him to change that so that he could get some LxNxM love and he obliged. Ha. People respect our fresh. Deal with it.

One day I went to Lidl

Back in my London days, the cheapest grocery store by far was Lidl, a German chain that expanded into the UK (those Germans…). We would take two busses from Lambeth out past Elephant and Castle to Old Kent Road, lug a bag full of bags (they cost extra), and spend a whole afternoon in the process.

But the savings. Oh, the savings. Lidl was a godsend, everything was cheap. In London, where even driving costs money (which I say as a full supporter), Lidl was your beacon of affordability.

Apparently, Afrikan Boy is also a fan. He’s the dude who broke out with a guest appearance on “Hussel” off MIA’s Kala release, and he’s still grinding. Items for you to appreciate: Firstly, an endearingly (if somewhat eyebrow-raising) home/fan-made video for his grime-loving joint “One day I went to Lidl”, which inspired this damn post. Pretty much just an excuse to talk about the olden days…

Secondly, and far more important, a remix of Afrikan Boy’s beast of a song “Lagos Town”, the accompanying video of which should be hitting tubes shortly. The remix is by the dude Konrad from Vancouver/NYC team Old Money Massive. These dudes are hype, and you’ll definitely be hearing more about them.

Afrikan Boy – Lagos Town (Konrad Old Money Remix)