By Tom Bowles

Be prepared for H•A•M, standing for Hard as a Motherf****r, to become the overused hip-hop buzzword of 2011.

Produced by Lex Luger, the Virginian native responsible for Rick Ross’s B.M.F. and Waka Flocka Flame’s Hard in da Paint, the first offering from the highly anticipated Watch The Throne features both rappers deliver menacing 16 bar verses, before a thunderous outro lasting nearly two minutes ensues.

It’s brash, melodramatic and full of bravado. But what else did you really expect?

Listen to H•A•M here.

By Sam Moir

Most people who follow dubstep will have known that Britney was dabbling with the genre but it’s all kicked off today with her new single Hold It Against Me premiering on YouTube

It’s all over Twitter and Facebook with the majority of people not feeling it. Her Blackout album in 2007 touched on half-step elements and having had Rusko do demos for her, there’s still no sign of an official collaboration yet, contrary to speculation.

But with this new single’s drop at two minutes, twenty two seconds, it’s fair to say she’s singing over a dubstep production.

What does it mean for the genre? Has she killed Dubstep?

Personally, the track really isn’t going to have that much of an impact on the pioneering producers’ sound over here so leave it be. Instead of saying she’s killed dubstep, which she obviously has not, just turn it off if you don’t like it.

What do you think?

Immediately I disagreed – while ”I Need Air” has some synth elements that some may associate with Trance music; the song structure, tempo, sub-bass & drum pattern for me, places the record firmly from the Dubstep genre. Not to mention the record is made by 3 of the main producers responsible for the creation and development of the Dubstep genre itself.

While I don’t agree that MM are making Trance music simply because they’ve used a synth line (in the same way that Raekwon’s “Only Built For Cuban Links” wasn’t a soul album simply because The Rza used Soul samples in most of the tracks), this got me thinking – how do we define the genres we’re making, listening to and buying these days?

Electronic music producers such as Redlight, SBTRKT, Doorly Chase and Status & Zinc are creating hybrid electronic sounds that share some characteristics with House, UK Funky, Garage, Breaks, DnB and Dubstep but are more of an amalgamation of those styles than a pure example of one particular genre.

A lot of my younger listeners seem to be classifying anything with a heavy bassline as Dubstep while a large portion of the online Grime scene seem to be classifying anything that Elijah & Skilliam or Logan Sama plays as Grime.

Dubstep producers such as Rusko, Skream, Benga and Doctor P are using old skool Hardcore & Rave elements in their beats.

Traditionally Hip Hop & Grime emcees and RnB singers are spitting over beats that contain arpeggiated synth lines (technical term for that ‘dah dah dah dah dah dah’ sound in tracks like 90% of Taio Cruz’s output) that are far more characteristic of Trance rather than Hip Hop or Grime.

DnB producers are dabbling with Dubstep but some have seemed to have created a Drum & Bass/Dubstep hybrid with half time rolling breaks & sub bass at 140bpm

UK Funky producers are using song structures, synth lines and basslines more akin to minimal Techno than the UK Funky we’ve come to define over the past few years.

While I personally think its a great thing that genre boundaries are constantly being crossed and new sounds are being created all the time, it does pose a minor problem for anyone who needs to categorise what music they make (mainly anyone in the music industry who needs to market or reflect music so DJ’s, radio stations, record labels and artists/producers themselves). As knowledgeable music consumers I know all mistajam.com blog readers are – I have a question: How do you classify the music you’re listening to?

If someone from the Grime scene makes it – does that make it Grime?

If it has rolling breaks & sub bass and is at around 175bpm – does that make it Drum & Bass?

You get the picture… Be interested to hear your thoughts.

Sian Anderson investigates…

Hey!

I’m back, I know you guys missed my regular updates on Jam Jam’s blog but I’ve been away traveling and getting to know the “inner-me” you know, become more “cultural” and stuff. I’m also completely out of the loop with more or less everything musical hence the silence whilst I catch up, but seriously I’m so out the loop that you could tell me Roll Deep went number one for three weeks and I’d actually believe you – As you can

see, I’m still funny

Anyways – the first thing I’ve noticed upon my arrival back into the music industry is that a hell of a lot of artists are stealing instrumentals and adding their vocals to them. No I haven’t spent the last 19 years of my life with earplugs in, yes this has been happening forever but I’m noticing it more so nowadays. And when I mean stealing I literally mean taking instrumentals without the permission of the producer and giving their versions to DJ’s who are unaware and playing them anyway. As a DJ (And by DJ I mean someone who has a show on radio but doesn’t actually mix anything) this has happened to me, resulting in a phone call from producers and management asking me to not support the artist or the said tune. My first reaction is ‘what’s your problem? Your instrumental is getting out there and being promoted”. But apparently it’s not that simple…

Rudekid, the 22-year-old producer from London is predominately known for making some of the hottest grime instrumentals.

“I find it a disrespect when an artist vocals my tune without consent. It’s not hard to get it touch with me and ask for permission”. He says. “When I’ve finished making a beat I can imagine who I want on the vocals and utilise the Internet (Twitter/Emails) and get in contact with the artist to make it happen”. But for an artist to get hold of your instrumental you must have played your part in putting it out there. “I have to tell DJ’s not to give certain instrumentals to emcee’s without asking me first. I’ve got a CD out now called Are You Ready so if you buy that then you can vocal the instrumentals. That’s one of the reasons why I put the CD out in the first place. But if it’s unreleased and you vocal it without asking first I find that a disrespect.” Which is fair enough I guess, if you’ve already got a vision of someone vocalling your tune and someone else gets there first it must be very frustrating.

At just 17-years-old S-X from Wolverhampton, is undoubtedly the most talked about producer this 2010 for the legend instrumental that is “Woooo”. Within days of people hearing the beat vocals filled our radios, clubs and YouTubes with versions from half of the grime scene. Some were good… and some were owjsdeihdrferjtoirjt.

The producer (who mainly makes Hip Hop beats) came out of his shell with “Woooo” and sent it out to the artists he already liked but his way of making sure it wasn’t in the hands of people who shouldn’t have it, was pretty old school… “I always travel with the beats to play to artists if they’re exclusive. If they like them then we go from there”. Now that is dedication, and quite sensible if you ask me. Although his travel card must be worn out travelling round England playing music. “When I make a beat I can almost hear a certain artist on the vocal straight away, or I’ll send the same beat to a few artists I have in mind and some will be feeling it, but the others might not, so it just works out like that. Now that he’s hot property every grime-emcee-and-their emceeing-dog must be sieving through their emails looking for beats that he’s previously sent them to get a bit of S-X hype; but FYI – tell him you’re gonna use it first. “If people vocal a beat that I’ve put out for anyone to use then that’s fine, like I’ve got the Wooo E.P out now for anyone to buy and vocal but I do appreciate when they ask me for permission on a beat. If someone had some exclusive beats of mine on their computer and just used it on their mixtape without asking then that’s not cool. I would have sent it to them to see what they thought and it’s not impossible to get hold of me and tell me they’re actually going to use it.”

But it’s not just in the UK where this is an issue. And it’s not only the producers this affects. What about when an artist vocals something another artist has already put out? That’s beef right? (Yes I still use the word “beef” …rate me!) “I heard Backstroke by Teedra Moses and I loved it.” Say’s Mega from the Rap duo SAS.

“I looped the end of the beat and myself and Mayhem did our own version simply because we loved the tune. It was never meant to be a single.” Which I suppose is how it initially starts for a lot of the artists who enjoy experimenting with music. “TVT (the label looking after Teedra at the time) contacted us and wanted to know what we were doing with the tune because they’d heard it getting love on Choice FM and other radio stations, but we never intended to use it as a single so they were cool with it.” It’s not only the label who must be wondering what’s going on. If I were an artist and someone has re-vocalled my tune I’d be letting all hell break loose. “Teedra hit us up on MySpace and said she liked the tune. To her it was all promotion and she was flattered that we liked the tune enough to do that. In America and with Rap/ Hip Hop I don’t think it’s seen as such a bad thing. I mean look at Giggs, he blew up with a freestyle on one of Dre’s beats, it’s all good promotion. When you’re selling it that’s when it becomes and issue. We’ve got a CD out in August and we’ve had to get clearance for a tune on there but it’s cool cause as an artist if you want to do that and make money from it you’ve gotta show props to the people who originally own the tune.”

I’m beginning to slightly get it now. And I’m guessing by now it comes down to your status and how good people think you are. If you’re a good artist and you vocal and instrumental and do something amazing with it, then I don’t think the producer should be annoyed. They should just embrace it. But when the artist is pants and shows no recognition that you made the beat it must be exasperating. (Yes I still use big words!) One of the not-as-successful-as-we-initially-hoped-for-stories was Gracious K’s Funky Anthem “Migraine Skank”.

The instrumental came from an old US house tune called Don’t Panic by DJ Gregory and was vocalled last year by artist Gracious K. The clubs loved it, the DJ’s loved it and the people loved it. But with everything in this music industry, nothing is that simple. I don’t personally think that Gracious believed it would have such a big impact, but when it did, he had to change the instrumental to release the tune when labels showed interest. To use the version originally by DJ Gregory the process of getting it cleared would surely have taken too long. Personally I didn’t prefer the version with the new instrumental, it had lost it’s edge in my opinion and I’m sure it did to a lot of others resulting in the tune not charting (52 in the top 100) as opposed to the top twenty it should have received simply because of the hype it received and the fact that it was a bloody good tune. So the end result saw an artist being creative (as they should) and being held back because of it.

For some people though, it’s not seen as a problem. I for one have never heard London based producer Davinche complaining of a leaked tune, and I figure there must be a reason why his instrumentals are not snapped up by Ben, Jerry and Tom. It’s evidently not because artists don’t want them. Tunes I personally loop on my iPod (Tinie Tempah – Tears, Kano – Brown Eyes and Cleo Sol – Hero) have proved that Davinche is the producer that every artist needs to have on speed-dial… So why no leakage?

“If someone has vocalled my instrumental then it would be because I’ve released that instrumental,” say’s 25-year-old Davinche, who’s been producing for over seven years. “It’s happened to me before without my permission but I didn’t have a problem with it. It’s short sighted too. The only time it would be a problem is if the tune was s***” He laughs. “I don’t buy into this whole “disrespect” thing – it’s just an artist trying to make a better name for themselves. It’s not personal. If worse came to worst, maybe I’d get them into the studio and mix it down properly and make it better. At the end of the day we all want hits!” Then what I personally don’t get is, doesn’t it lose him money when this does happen? “It’s all about handling your business. It’s not really going to lose me money cause I’d just make sure I get my publishing after. I’m all about positivity and promotion.”

After listening to the views of a couple of artists and producers I’m going to have to side with Davinche. If you don’t put your instrumental out there, the artists won’t be able to vocal them. And if you don’t like the end result then you have to hold a tighter reign on who you give your beats too in the first place or embrace it and get them into studio when it does happen. Some of my favourite freestyles * cough – Giggs – Talking The Ardest * have been because of artists getting creative with an instrumental and that’s what music is all about. Creativity. When you do have a red-hot instrumental. Keep it to yourself and do a Rudekid, use your contacts to get the tune to the said artist to vocal and then put it out there on a CD for everyone else.

So I guess that’s it guys… “Positivity and promotion” – Davinche 2010…  To me that say’s it all.

Toodles

Sian x

As a DJ, the top 10 chart is not somewhere I generally look for set inspiration. In fact, anything remotely commercial or featuring the slightest hint of top 10 hype, I try to avoid like the plague. However, during the last year I think anyone with even a passing interest in music, will have noticed a dramatic change.

In previous years where girl bands, boy bands, reality TV stars, preened and pampered pop princesses and Disney channel tween sensations have dominated the commercial market; we are now seeing underground artists MCs and crews such as Tinie Tempah, Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk and Roll Deep actually enter the charts with number 1s.

If the UK urban music scene wasn’t surprised enough that Tinie (who in commercial terms was relatively unknown) went straight to number 1 with ‘Pass Out’, imagine the industry’s reaction when Roll Deep, charted not long after with yet another number 1!

To put this in perspective, Roll Deep – an underground grime crew consisting of DJs, producers and MCs founded in 2002 by Wiley – is and always has been well respected and regarded by the industry and underground music heads alike. Having struggled and often narrowly missed reaching the UK top 10, to the wider, international and commercial audience, they were also altogether unknown. But with their new single ‘Good Times’ not only reaching number 1 in the UK’s Official chart but also number 1 in UK dance charts and number 7 in the European chart; what changed? The artists, the market or the music?

Roll Deep once said in an interview that they were strictly a Grime collective and here we have a number 1 non-grime, dance track?! Shunning all music snobbishness, the track itself has a lot of value within the genre, but will it be possible for a now technically mainstream crew like Roll Deep to go back to their old skool material and reach number 1 with a true Grime or underground track? It would be interesting to know whether original Roll Deep fans bought into their recent single.

Recently over a Nandos, I got talking to one of the Godfathers of the Grime scene, Jammer, who commented:

“The odd thing is that young kids nowadays class Dizzee, Chipmunk, and Tinchy in the same category because they see them all simultaneously in the charts, but what these younger commercial audiences don’t realise is that MCs like Chipmunk grew up listening to Dizzee, and that the music they are making now is totally different to the music they made that catapulted them into the industry.”

So in that case with organically developed artists like Dizzee celebrating another #1 today with ‘Dirtee Disco’ (who as he owns his own independent label it is safe to say he isn’t controlled preened and pampered by a faceless A&R machine) is it essential to appreciate and understand where they have come from and where they are now to enjoy their contemporary material? Jammer didn’t think so:

“I think the Dizzee , Tinchy and Chipmunk fans are NEW fans, they are the sort that listen to dance music. Trust that the majority of them buying their new chart topping stuff are not the original [Grime] fans.”

So, in essence, these new waves of commercial fans aren’t necessarily interested in the history or past material of these previous underground artists. Their interest lies rather in the contemporary cross-genre collaborative tracks and singles. Basically they are jumping on the hype, right? Jammer agreed:

“Yes, I think there is a lot of media buzz around UK urban music right now. The press are saying we are finally getting ‘our time’, but the reality is, we have been around for time, it’s just the music has developed and changed and now certain MCs are in the top 10.”

UK artists, specifically urban artists, obviously realised in recent years that in order to even qualify for the top 10, it was essential to change and adapt the structure and sound of their music and together with collaborations with Dance producers and commercial/popular vocalists, this would prove a successful recipe for chart success. Regardless of what music nerds think about the artistic integrity (or lack of) within the act of music adaptation, this is after all ‘ the music business’, and in order to make a business work, in the end you have got to look at what the clients want.

As a DJ and a music lover it is very easy to look down on the top 10 charts, and disregard it as commercial or pop rubbish. However, looking back at music trends in the top 10 charts in the past 10 years, there has been noticeable progress in terms of the presence of UK and international urban music.

10 years ago in 2000, the chart was dominated by Rock, Pop and Dance tracks. In fact, around the 15th May, 2000, the number 1 was Madison Avenue’s ‘Don’t Call Me Baby’ and Britney Spears held her position at number 2, whilst other dance artists like Armand Van Helden and rock bands such as Iron Maiden charted pretty close. Fast forward four years, and there were two UK urban artists chart in very respectable positions: Wiley at Number 2 and Estelle at Number 6. Instead of just Dance, Pop or Rock, we also see artists like will.i.am, Usher, Flo Rida and Chris Brown begin to dominate with R&B and HipHop.

In July 2007, the industry saw something pretty spectacular, our own Dizzee Rascal entered the charts with Dance Wiv Me’ and go straight to number 1. Since this major mile stone in 2008 we have seen the UK top 10 literally saturated with UK urban artists such as: Roll Deep, Aggro Santos, Tinchy Stryder, Plan B, Taio Cruz, Chipmunk and Professor Green and whether these Urban artists are making music true to their roots or not, you cannot ignore the fact that once an artist is in the top 10 they pretty much have a heightened level of industry power and musical authority.

Recently for an MTV interview I got talking to Ironik (who let’s face it, isn’t exactly critically acclaimed!) but after all his mainstream success he has now recently teamed up with artists such as Skepta and is currently making some brand new, more underground music. This new material with edgy production and interesting lyrical content sounds a whole lot more organic. So, is Ironik able now to use his fame and chart success to push his music of choice? As Jammer put it:

“Successful urban artists like Dizzee Rascal generally start off with the music they want to make, then they start making music that a lot of people want to hear, then once they have that power they can go back to making their music. They go full circle.”

The future for UK Urban music in the top 10 is down to the consumer. Urban music can only continue to chart if it is continued to be downloaded or bought legally. If it isn’t, then it won’t. After all, the top 10 is based purely on sales.

As the UK Hip Hop scene is finally emerging from the underground into the commercial scene, I was recently asked by a mate as part of his dissertation research the question, “What Is Hip Hop To You?”

I paused for a few seconds as I actually couldn’t pin point a quick definition of what Hip Hop culture means to me.
I casted my mind back to when I was in my first year at University; being an arrogant London kid studying Music Production in Portsmouth, I generally I thought I knew everything because I could produce a beat using Logic.

Any study unit that was set, I would always revert back to some form of Hip Hop history to guide me through. So much so, that I failed the Popular Music Culture unit because I wrote a whole essay about the conflict between Tupac and Biggie. Even though my essay title was ‘Discuss the influences on 90’s America in reference to Hip Hop.’ it didn’t score well with my tutors. I thought it was a hot piece nonetheless.

That was how I acted for a long time, very immature to the history of Hip Hop as i was manipulated by how the mass media interprets Hip Hop culture to what it is we see on channels like MTV and on the Internet today.

But is that how Hip Hop is really? Is there more to Hip Hop than debating historic conflicts, dress codes and bank balances?

I then thought about my favourite artists in Hip Hop; how Eminem made a large impact on my life by guiding me through times when I couldn’t really talk to anyone. Not in a ‘Stan’ way, but maybe like some of you; there were times when nothing anyone said or advised you on would or could make any difference. Yet listening to Hip Hop was a clear and simple solution.

For me that is what Hip Hop is. It is not a simple musical genre, sub genre of Pop Music or an article in the press debating whether Hip Hop is to blame for youth violence.

Hip Hop in my opinion has it’s place in the soul of anyone that has witnessed its evolution over the years. The musical genre has influenced every area of modern day culture and each one of it’s advocates, fans and followers all will have their own unique view on what Hip Hop means to them.

Hip Hop is our lives past, present and future; it is the journey we take as we grow as individuals, as ambassadors of music and in the image we present of ourselves to our peers. It assists in the vision we each have to achieve by inspiring us with its emotional and inventive artform and it joins us together in a universal understanding.

So when i go back to the original question i was asked, “What Is Hip Hop To You?”

My answer without sounding too cliche is… “You know what, I am Hip Hop.”

Image: Google Images

Now we’ve got an answer, not a full answer, but the ‘youth’ of Merseyside have spoken, in the form of “Shooting Star Poets”, they’ve made a track entitled “Campaign Time” which is centred around thinking about crime prevention, putting down the guns and knives and mourning for those who have lost someone to violence, in the form of six emcee’s and a singer. Now lets be fair, the tracks not that great in terms of ever trying to chart and have a hit record and they could have gotten someone way more famous then Trim but I doubt they’re trying to chart and at least they’re doing something to try and stop people from stabbing each other in the back – literally.

After doing a little research on the Shooting Star Poets it turns out they’ve been together since 2003 as a crew and have all separately been involved in crime in one way or another, if that’s not background and incentive enough to get up and take action then I don’t know what is. The campaign they are working on is supported by SAMM (Support After Murder and Manslaughter) and their aim is to tackle the subject of knife and gun crime using music as a platform. SAMM is a registered company who deal with the aftermath of the families affected by these issues and and they provide research into the affect crime has on society. I’ve never really seen how a tune about crime prevention could help the crime rate in the UK go down, music’s supposed to be a vybzers but I really hope that if everyone takes it a little bit more seriously and actually listens this could be a step in the right direction. I mean UPROAR and Rolling G’s made a tune about Swine Flu and had half the nation wearing swine flu masks so why can’t Shooting Star Poets make a tune about putting down knives and make half the nation put down their weapons?

I rest my case. Anyway – I dunno, let me know your thoughts and if you want more information contact their website. The tracks out in April and you can catch the Shooting Star Poets performing live at ILUVLIVE in Proud Camden on the 29th March.

Toodles.

Sian xxx

I’m trying not to give a damn about Lil Kim the 2nd but it’s pretty damn hard when that’s all I’m hearing about on Twitter/Facebook/The Radio and now on the We Are Young Money album I purchased in order to drool over Lil Wayne and Drakes voices! (When I say ‘purchased’ what I really mean was downloaded from MPE via Umusic PR – thanks Shane O Neil) – Anyway, it seems as though everyone’s got some “It’s Barbie Bitch” fever and apparently it’s due to this Minaj chick.

So I YouTube her (as you do) and the first lyric I heard from her tune “Biggest Freak”, is… is… I can’t even type it, it’s too disgusting. Along with a picture of her.. wearing… more-or-less nothing and erm *ahem* sucking on a lollipop. Now can I just put it out there – I used to love those lollipops when I went to the funfair with my mates aged 16. After seeing that picture I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to look at a lollipop again in the same way. *No connotations intended*.

[**UPDATE - The photo Sian uploaded to Photobucket above is the famous Nicki Minaj does Lil' Kim on the front cover of the hardcore album legs akimbo squat so you can see her hoo hah while licking a lollipop shot you can see here - the fact that it violates Photobucket's terms of use under "unsuitable content" speaks volumes]

This is the point where I ask myself. “Is this what we’re promoting in life?” I know this is hypocritical, considering my iTunes consists of various tunes entitled “Suck Your Mum”, “I Slapped Your Girl” and “Champs and Weed”, but at least it’s UK music and at least it’s not an absolute disgrace to females all over the world. I’ve got a little cousin, who is aged 15, if she ever, and I mean ever comes home wearing a pink leotard reciting lyrics from Minajs tune “Sticks In My Bum”, then I swear on my beautiful mac laptop’s life she will be calling the NSPCC after I get my hands on her.

In the wonderful words of Bashy during an unreleased interview I had with him last week “We should all just listen to Bob Marley”. Maybe then we’d find actual love, instead of Ann Summers coupons (I mean vouchers right? See what this chick is doing to me?) then we can all hold hands under the apple tree (No Adam & Eve) and sing pretty songs about shooting the sheriff instead.

Anyway – can a Minaj fan just clear up the whole “Minaj hype” for me please and maybe give me a reason (other than to drool at her polystyrene breasts) to watch her music videos and endorse her sound.

Thanks

P.s. Remember a recent MistaJam blogpost I did where I asked you all wether female emcee Lady Leshurr is the new Nikki Minaj? I take the question back… the answer is NO. Not unless she’s looking to get her tits out, and if she is.. uhr… llow it.

Toodles

Sian xxx

My problem with the PC was “when I’m 20 the worlds not going to be running on a PC”, and now look. I’m running on iMovie. Pricks. I promised myself that if the next two weeks of my life weren’t spent constructively I’d go back to college. That was three years ago, and I haven’t looked back… Until now.

I’ve been thinking recently, about school, education and my journey in life.

Old friends have been updating their Facebook status’ recently about how exciting university life is and I’ve found myself wondering if it would make more sense to drop out of working life and go back to college or uni.

It’s kind of life a life path isn’t it? You go primary school, secondary school, college, uni, then you wait five years, get a highly paid job, have kids go back to work and eventually you die and get eaten by maggots, but it must be easier than being 19 and a freelancer of all things media.

I love the music and media industry, the buzz and energy is what makes it so entertaining. But the thought of being 20 years old, with no set job, is pretty scary.

I get shit loads of freelance work, enough to keep me in Ugg boots, Pauls Boutique coats and frequent nights out, but I’ve suddenly thought what happens when there’s  no freelance work left that I enjoy? I mean I’ve never had a job interview in my life yet I’ve had about 200 media related freelance jobs. Sidebar: This proves it’s definitely a lot of who you know integrated with what you know.

I’d really like to be a Psychologist. I was so good with cognitive psychology, eye witness testaments psychological theories and all of the rest of it. Believe me when I say Alan Baddeley’s proposal on ‘components of a working memory’ gave me sleepless nights for weeks on end! But now I’m wondering whether it’s even worth another five years minimum of my life to go back to education and qualify to do it and whether I’m even the type of person who can do an everyday 9-5 without the glitz, glam, goss and greatness of music-bizz.

I need inspiration people… hit me! I wanna know the ups and downs of uni, what 9-5 ish is like and whether the education being taught now is even going to help me later in life if I did decide to go back to it.

If I do go back though, I’m definitely getting rid of the secondary school hairstyle!

Toodles.

Sian x

We’ve seen him grow, from a below average video with a shakey camera, to uploading a million videos a day and annoying more or less everyone by having Twitter breakdowns on how many people are asking him to do unpaid videos. The joke is: he never used to charge, but lets be realistic; aged 18 and in popular demand from emcee’s all over London was bound to put a dent in his pocket. I’ll have you know that London Underground Oyster cards are not cheap and the winter is nobodies friend!

At one point I stopped watching SB’s video’s completely. (No it wasn’t because GrimeDaily arrived). I stopped watching, because there was such an overload of videos to keep up on that it made me throw up a little bit in my mouth; a ten second clip of someone bigging up their crew.. like really SB?!

Anyway – he listened to the wise people around him, and by “wise” I obviously mean me, who couldn’t resist sticking my petite little nose in to send him an email about quality over quantity and blah blah blah. He more or less instantly shut me up the week later replying with his website print screens and a write up of what he had planned for the future of SBTV. I was impressed… very impressed.

With over 12,000 subscribers and videos in popular demand; SB provided us with a website we could all visit to find the awesomeness that is ‘grime’ in one place and even provided articles. He grabbed our lovely DJ Yasmin on board to present the interviews and bagged Trevor Nelson and Kano interviews for the not-so-grime people.

And this is where the F64 comes in… (Fresh 64 bars for you sorry souls who don’t know) The first to take the bait was artist Little Dee who claimed “Trust I’m the bare back king; you should see the type of girls I bareback in; nah I’m just f**king about, I put the jimmy on f*** and I’m out” – pleasant, but nobody said grime was polite! Everyone loved Little Dee’s F64 and decided to get a piece of SB’s 64…*pause*.

Me listing every artist who’s done one would be ridicuuuuloussss. So I’ll tell you what; picture the whole London Grime & Rap scene.. The only significant people to have NOT done one (in my humble opinion) yet include… Tinie Tempah, Blacks, Griminal, Sway, Bigz, Devlin, Fem Fel, Giggs, Wiley, Skepta, Kano, Durrty Goodz, Dot Rotton, Ghetts, Bashy, J2K, Trim Jendor, Smurfie Syco, Dizzie Rascal and forgive-me-if-there’s-anyone-I’ve-forgotten-but-it’s-1am-so-shatttt-tuppppp.

My favourite ones are below. To be fair; Chipmunks F64 is by far the best I’ve heard, but we’re keeping him out of this cause as he said himself “he’s in a league of his own”.

Tinchy Stryder

“A five day pass would never get you through to me”. Phahaha man said he’s not even on T-Mobile pahahhaahah.

“You’re suck in the underground you’re still training. Central Line; me; I travel by plane”.

“I heard them man are still sending, the message never got here you must be pending”.

Double S (Marvell)

“And if the industry was a desktop I’d be your icon you’ll be in the background”.

“I’m like what’s man telling me? From 15 if it weren’t like over a bill why you belling me?”

“You fuck with young girls you ain’t even got pee doh…pedo.” olekhvrhjktrjerkt

AND… MY FAVOURITE ONE… IS.. (BELIEVE IT OR NOT)

Master Shortie

“And right now, my life is not in order… and as for the girl of my dreams I cannot afford her”.

“They wanna kill me with my jeans; in a bar, but I don’t think it’s funny; so I don’t laugh”.
(His facial expression when he says it is wopsdfjjljkrfjwheaidhjk)

“No degree’s so I’m trying to find my right angle feeling like a slave the way I see all of my chains dangle”.

“When the snow falls it makes me grind harder, you got lyrics written but your flows missing like my father”.

“I wake up in the morning same grind… different shit; Its like I never flushed because I see the same shit”.

Reason why I love this is because it shows character, development, I love the delivery and the lyrics, I love that everyone said he couldn’t do it and then he came with more punch lines than most. I just love it… Basically.. yeah.

Look out for the S64 with singers (coming soon)… which is literally 64 vocals, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that SB is going to do a DJ64.. SB… Please.. Don’t.

It’s a trending topic on the UK Twitter and it’s very entertaining every sunday to log onto www.sbtv.co.uk and see a new one up there. Big shout out’s to the living legend that is Smokey Barz…www.twitter.com/sbtvonline

And if someone could comment and let me know what a “grapevine” is, that would be fantastic. I said it above but I actually don’t know what it means.

Other F64′s to watch would be Lowkeys’s (it was amazing!).. GFSH (amazing) Manga (hilarious) S.A.S (flipping geeennnniussss) JME (Pure lyrical awesomeness) and Lioness and No Lay repping hardddd *pause* for the females!

Toodles
Sian
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