Artist Introduction - English Frank

No Frank. I meant Scott Parker is good. Honestly. Please don't bite me.

Artist Introduction – English Frank

English Frank, formerly Frantic Frank is an English rapper; he’s a proud Londoner which explains why he likes to wear Del Boy sheepskin coats and talk about England a lot.

I think a rappers name is important and I like the name ‘English Frank’ it’s very simple and also very ermmm English, don’t be fooled by the jovial simplicity of his name though as Frank is certainly not the mellow jokey type; if you want an example of why then check out his latest F64 on youtube on which he raps about threatening to give the cameraman a beating, a menace in his eyes that suggests he probably would.

Frank’s delivery combines a lot of passionate anger with lyrics spat at an impressive BPM; lyrically he’s far better than your average MC and tackles topics ranging from your standard tales of drug dealing to the problems within inner city communities. There’s something special about Frank, I can’t quite put my finger on it but he possesses something that makes you want to listen to him, it could be the blood-boiling rage he exhibits on the microphone or the brutal and honest insight he offers regarding the drug/knife/gun culture on London Estates. Frank hasn’t got an official album out yet but his mixtape is available for free on www.datpif.com (you’ll have to make an account but it’s free and highly worth it as there’s thousands upon thousands of top-notch mixtapes worth downloading, also check out www.livemixtapes.com ).

I haven’t heard enough of English Frank to completely judge his ability but based on his mixtape ‘The Hardway’ and his SBTV appearance he’s a talented bloke, albeit a talented bloke with a terrible taste for coats.

Flow: 8/10

Lyricism: 7/10

Gangsterness: 10/10

Dickheadness: 2/10

Song Quality: 8/10

-TDS_Biro Boy

Artist introduction - Jay Electronica

That ball wasn't thrown, its levitating due to excess levels of  Win.

Jay Electronica, the Zorro of Rap, not many people have heard of him (hence why I gave him that nickname) which is a shame on a criminal level. If you are one of the unlucky persons check him out now, I guarantee it will be the most constructive thing you do today… seriously you could lose your job and a member of your extended family and still feel like you'd had a cracking 24 hours after listening to a couple of his tracks.

Electronica is a southern rapper; if you're not big on American hip/hop then I should explain that the southern artists get a lot of stick from the other coasts. Jay got first-hand experience with dealing with the stigma attached to being a southern rapper early in his career; and when rapping around New York and Detroit he was booed off stage more than once despite being an incredibly gifted lyricist with a top draw flow. He first burst onto the scene with a beautifully poignant freestyle over the soundtrack of the ‘quirky’ film ‘Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind’

You won’t hear Electronica boasting about how many slags he’s fingered or how white his new cica’s are, he’s very much a socially conscious rapper who thrives on addressing subjects usually untouched by rappers but don’t worry he doesn’t sound preachy at all, just fresh.

I’m not going to pour superlatives on a rapper anymore as they are all egomaniacs anyway (except Chipmunk who suffers from depression – a result of him being a talentless monkey-nut-headed barrel of festering turd.) Just do this - Open up a new tab, go to YouTube and search Jay Electronica click on the Exhibit C suggestion and listen…if you're a fan of hiphop, be it casual or hardcore and haven't heard this you're in for a very special five and a half minutes. In my own, very humble opinions, it's one of the top 10 hip-hop tracks of the decade, I mean that. If you claim to be a hip-hop head and don't like it; then go and put on a drake track and suck your own withered, little un-knowledgeable cock, until you cum to the sound of mediocrity, whilst the rest of us jostle out to audible magic.

"They Call me Jay Electronica/fuck that call me/Jay elec hannakah/Jay elec yamakah/ Jay elec tramadon Mohammed asalamokah while su the loss of ponowa whilst I holler through your moniter."

Songs to Look out for ‘Ghost of Christopher Wallace’ ‘Shiny Suit Theory (ft Jay-Z), ‘Eternal Sunshine’ and ‘Exhibit C’

He hasn’t officially released an album yet but one is imminent now that he’s signed for rocafella records which are owned by Jay-Z. He does have lots of mixtapes however which I’m too Lazy to list them, but they are readily available and largely free so download them yourself.

One of his mixtapes is called what the fuck is a Jay electronica, I suggest you find out.

Flow: 9/10

Lyricism: 9/10

Gangsterness: 3/10

Dickheadness: 2/10

Song Quality: 9/10

-TDS_BiroBoy

Dub-Step: The death of the Underground.

Skream, Benga, Nero, DJ Fresh, Magnetic Man, Kaspa and Britney Spears. What do these serial music makers have in common? No its not a DJ train run on ol' Britney its Dubstep.

To those who don't know, "Dubstep" is a genre of dance music which combines elements of Drum and Base, Grime, Electro and Jamaican Dub yet comes out sounding wholly different and entirely original. It started in the clubs and record shops of south london during the early 00's. Specifically Big Apple records, from which 3 major movers on the scene originated, Messrs Skream, Plastician & Hatcha. It was the undergrounds worst kept secret for years, filling seedy clubs and supporting D&B nights across the country but never quite crossing over to the mainstream. Its slow beats and heavy "wobble" base seemingly too different to be incorporated into the candy sweet popcharts. However something broke, something scooped up the Dubstep children and placed them firmly in the hands of the arms of the Radio 1 elite.  Elements and whole tracks of it can now be found in your favorite David Guetta re-hash and yes even Ms Spears has pilfered from the underground jewels.

DJ Fresh : Louder was number 1 for 2 weeks and now the DJ duo Nero are topping the charts with the Emo/base heavy track "Promises". But why? Why did such a different and precious form of underground experimentalism end up here? Well there isn't one distinct reason but perhaps its very individuality cursed it into the limelight, oh and Twitter.

Here is how: Cool kids like to talk about how and why they're so cool, even though you probably haven't heard who or what they're listening too, the kid with the insanely tight trousers will tell you anyway. Now with Twitter they can tell the world. So, that little band you listened to with Amanda in some Croydon dive, is now that little band that Amanda listened to, loved and then posted as her new favourite, bestest most coolest band of the week on Facebook and which now has 30 likes LOLZ!.

Suddenly there is no underground, anything that is below the street is packaged plastered and listed as "New, Fresh and Exciting." NME and other magazines feature huge spreads listing the next "new" thing. What chance is there for the development of music when its plucked before it even knows what it is, itself? What hope is there when Christina Aguilera is warbling over a Plastician produced track?

Yes, there are many brilliant reasons to support and embrace the new social networks and their spreading of music to un-touched ears. Introducing kids to sounds not heard on Heart FM is brilliant, but we must also make a point of grieving for the death of the underground. Dubstep has shown us the last nails are being slammed into the coffin as we speak.

Chovey