Home Sweet Home

While Bono is trying to save the world, and Wiley is trying to take on the world, all Kano is worried about is that you get home safely. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, I'm referring to the news that Kano has shown support for Cabwise, the campaign which encourages Londoners to text to receive the numbers of licensed minicabs in the area they are texting from. Kano said: "Before you go out you should plan how you're getting home and when you're out look out for your mates."

Real talk.



Here's the Jammer karaoke video I was talking about. I love the way he doesn't really know the words.

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I was going to do another awards ceremony this year following the success of last year's Showerface Awards, and give out ASBOs as prizes to all the winners, but instead I'm just going to leave you with my top 10 mixtapes of the year.

Top 10 Mixtapes of the Year:
Jammer - Are You Dumb Vol. 1
Wiley - Tunnel Vision Vol. 2
JME - Poomplex: Edition 2
Ghetto - 2000 & Life
Devlin - Tales from the Crypt
Roadside Gs - Gangsta Grime
Slix - Down Vol. 1
Faction G - The Fact Remains
Ruff Sqwad - Guns & Roses Vol. 2
Neckle Camp - Straight Necklin'

***BONUS***

Worst Mixtape of the Year:
MC Narstie - What's The Story Brixton Glory

Chocolate Bar of the Year:



Soft Drink of the Year:



Best Grime Look of the Year:



Worst Grime Look of the Year:



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One more thing before I go. Is this the most boring man alive?

...And nan, thanks for the cardigan

Christmas Eve is so weird. Scores of gormless, hungover people (me included) frantically trying to buy some last minute tat. Right now I'm sat at home in the early hours of Christmas morning listening to I Wayne, having just finished wrapping all of the expensive tat I bought earlier today.



My friend Jamie-James Medina went to Jammer's house on Christmas Eve and while he was there, got a preview of all the presents Jam's bought this year. It seems as though he's gone crazy with the buying - he's seriously put me to shame. I hear that Jammer doesn't have a Christmas tree at home, instead his family all gather round the karaoke machine in the kitchen and have a sing-song. I've got some footage of Jam and his dad doing a rendition of Bob Marley's "Jammin'", which I wil upload on the Vice site in the next few days along with my end of year review.



Here's an old snap of Jammer and his dad, Brother Jerry, which I found in a pile of classic pictures taken by Jamie-James. I've scanned in a couple and uploaded them to my new photo blog, which now lives in the sidebar over there. I'll be uploading most of the pictures I take there from now on so my blog will be less cluttered and will load faster.



And finally here is Faction G's Christmas message to everyone. Stay safe kids and I hope all your dreams come true.

Me and these other MCs don't size up

So I was with my friend Jamie-James, Faction G and Snipe Dot Gee (look out for this guy) in that studio above the club Purple and Fuda Guy and Tinchy Stryder turned up to do some tracks for Fuda's mixtape Headgone.



I got them to do a quick freestyle over a new DVA beat and found out a little bit about what they are working on. Tinchy told me he's got an album coming out next year on the small independent label Takeover Entertainment. The first single will be "Breakaway" which he has already made a video for. It's just like a normal grime video with him and his friends standing around, but with a bit at the start with his girl telling him to break away. That's what he said.



Faction G gave me a bunch of copies of his new mixtape. I'm considering giving a few away on here but I know how unappreciative people were last time I gave away some CDs.



While at the studio, I also got the chance to hear a preview of an incredible song from Wiley's new album featuring Badness and Riko. Badness is definitely someone to look out for next year. I've got a special from him on my mixtape (which is suffering a bit from the curse of grime but will be finished very soon once Trim gets me the track he's doing).

Click here for something seasonal by Wiley.

Bad him up, bad him up, bad him up once

As promised, here is the web exclusive of the Roadside Gs "Come 2 Da Roadside" video made by HAC Entertainment. If you are looking to do a music video that doesn't look shit, contact me and I'll put you in touch with them. I've had no luck so far with getting the "Judgement Day" tracks. I heard "Judgement Day 3" today (in which Wiley talks some shit about Scorcher) while I was with Faction G getting a freestyle recorded for my mixtape. Check back here tomorrow for a full studio report with video freestyles from Stryder and Fuda Guy (who showed up by chance) and a seasonal message from Faction.

I've also had no luck getting the stills of Kano in the Def Jam computer game. The little spastic who incessantly harassed me for days regarding a Kano interview has now stopped calling and I am yet to receive the pictures he was supposed to send. Maybe I shouldn't make promises, but instead surprise you, so then every day (or few days, when I decide to post) would be like Christmas.



I got the Roadside Gs web exclusive, a few days back BET got the worldwide exclusive of the new 8Ball and MJG video for their song "Relax and Take Notes". There is a very slight difference in status there but I'm working to change that.

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Go over to Dot-Alt for a great Logan Sama interview, where he manages to outdo his masterful use of the word "dichotomy" on the Rinsessions DVD with this wordy gem:

"It's like an amorphous, constantly changing thing that naturally evolves - it's like a protoplasmic creature that changes shape."

Move Bitch

I went to see Ludacris last week. I wasn't going to blog about it because they wouldn't let anyone take pictures in the venue, but then I got hold of some pictures from the people who put on the event, so that is the very long and drawn out reason why I am writing this right now. Ludacris was great live, btw. It was interesting to see the difference between him and Chamillionaire. Chamillionaire is a lot more lyrical which is hard to get across when playing a live show. Like the Chamillionaire gig, Sway was once again in support. Sway is awful live. His lyrics are too busy to have an effect on a big crowd and he stutters his way through them. But he's released an album and got some recognition, so until Skepta or Wiley or JME put their albums out next year, he'll continue to be booked.



The Faction G mixtape (which contains one of my favourite songs of the year "3 Options") is out now. Go buy two copies.



Tempa T was on Logan Sama's show last night doing a live PA of his vocal of "Battle Riddim". One of the best moments on radio this year.

Download the whole show here.

Wanna go places, stick with me

I've just heard from Trim that he's officially out of Roll Deep.



I know the "Brushman" video has been on Channel U for a while but it wasn't available to watch online until this week. My friend Luca who directed this also did the new Roadside Gs video, which I will put up here in the next few days.

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You can read DJ Target's online diary here.

Mind-blowing.

You know what, London, imagine this...

Sorry to keep harking on about the Wiley and God's Gift beef. I think it's one of the most interesting things to happen in grime all year, but maybe that's just me. I've just been given Wiley's dub for God's Gift. Richard doesn't even spit, he just talks for four minutes. As far as I know, only DJ Scratcha has played this on the radio. Logan didn't even have it when I spoke to him earlier.

MP3: Wiley dub for God's Gift



Also, I don't know if anyone has heard that Wiley has made four full tunes entitled "Judgement Day" where he just talks about everyone in the scene. Logan won't play them on Kiss FM. I'll try to get them for you.

Don't Step on My Js

Hold tight everyone saying that God's Gift rushing Wiley yesterday was staged. Read here to find out what happened.

Wiley texted my friend yesterday explaining what happened and said: "trouble jus follows me i like it tho it keeps me movin imagine i get kicks out of danger and trouble its sick bruv."

Obviously the blows to the head were affecting his grammar a little at this point.



Tempa T has invented a new dance and wants to make a video to show it to people. Look out for that.

Here is an excerpt from a conversation with Tempz today:

Question: What do you want for Christmas this year, Tempz?
Tempa T: A lot.

Real talk.



Talking of Christmas, I recently phoned around to find out exactly what everyone wants this year. Skitz Beatz wants an Akai MPC 4000 or a G5 laptop, Skepta wants turntables, Manga wants "low cut Air Force Ones that change colour to what you're wearing and never get dirty", Riko wants Pro Evolution Soccer 6 for the PSP and Danny Weed wants Joseph Simmons' daughter's phone number (he actually told me he was after Russell Simmons' daughter's number but she's like 6, so I had to assume he got confused). I needed the info for an article I was doing but when I asked DJ Scholar he got a bit carried away and gave me his full address to send him the list of stuff he wanted, like I was actually going to do that.



Finally, I got sent this link today of Logan Sama showing his sketchy musical roots in his new video. Thanks to Dave White for the heads up.

God's Gift wears blue and I wear red

I was just listening to Wiley on Rinse FM calling out God's Gift, D Double E, The Movement and loads of others when suddenly Gift ran up on the station with Mucky Wolfpack and grabbed the mic off Wiley. All I could hear was Wiley shouting, "Come outside" and then Gift went on the mic and said, "Don't call out my name," before it all went quiet. They're currently swinging handbags somewhere near the Rinse studio as I type. Listen to what happened here. Download the whole show here. Full report later, maybe.

We in the club like: aaaaay aaaaay aaaaay aaaaay

Thanks to everyone who came to DO IT! last night. I brought pierre beers with me for the DJ booth so I'm feeling pretty ill right now. If you didn't come and are wondering what happened, well, you missed out on lots of music like this:



But obviously nothing as good as that - that would be impossible.



I don't know if this is widespread knowledge but Kano is in the new Def Jam Vendetta game. Some guy called me and told me the other day while trying to get me to do an interview with Kano, and also heavily implied that Def Jam were going to sign him. Nothing confirmed though. There's a rumour that Sov's in it too. If she is I can't wait to make her punch Ja Rule's whole face off.



Also, I don't know if this is widespread knowledge, but I've been told that everyone's favourite pint-sized female MC bats on the other side of the fence, if ya know what I mean. My friend used to live with the MC's girlfriend. And no (as I'm sure you're all wondering) she isn't fit. In fact, I hear she is pretty Ruff Sqwad.

Friday December 8

Waste Man

"On 30 September 2006, Antony Gormley's Waste Man was burned to the ground in front of an audience of thousands in the seaside town of Margate. Constructed entirely of the detritus of modern consumer society - planks of wood, tables, chairs, keyboards, paintings, dartboards, a front door, toilet seats - the 25m high man took over four weeks to construct..."

Now there's an idea... The burning of a wasteman. It could make for an interesting yearly event - burning the biggest wasteman in your area. Channel U could film it and make a TV show out of it.



This is a review I found in a recent copy of NME. It speaks for itself really, but I have to say this is one of the most clueless pieces of music journalism I have ever come across. I mean, referencing grindie, crunk and new rave when talking about a collaboration between a grime artist and a dancehall artist - wtf?



Chamillionaire at The Forum last night was so disappointing. I turned up just after 9 PM and he was already on stage, performing to about 200 people (in a venue that holds 2,000). This guy had a number one single in the US and got to number two over here, yet he couldn't get more than a couple of badly-dressed teenagers to come out to see him play. There was no atmosphere, the sound was awful, and the crowd was seriously weird. Check the video of the little jumping kid above to see the kind of people who turned up to see one of the biggest rappers out of Houston this year. (DO NOT LISTEN TO THE SOUND - IT'S FUCKED). I didn't see any support acts and left when the show ended at 10 PM to head home and reconsider my plans to bring over largely unknown rappers from the Dirty South for DO IT! next year.

Vice wanted Chamillionaire to play their birthday party, and he asked for a ridiculous 20k, but I doubt he took much more than a tenth of that on the door last night. I've got no idea how he's going to do any better on the next leg of his tour in Dublin tonight.