Man's got record innit?

Me and my cousin got pulled over on Friday by some sort of guns/gangs taskforce van. I don't want to get into specifics but rest assured they aint never had nuffink me you gets meh? When I got to where I was going after the incident I looked at my incident report and it said "Name check revealed previous for weapons & drugs" that's scary, I didn't even know they were checking. Last time I got stopped they didn't do anything as sophisticated as that, they actually listed Tego's height as "White" and forced Jack to change his nationality to Turkish. The mixed race copper was a laugh though. I pointed out that it was cold, he pointed out that "It's all cold to me. Probably my Nigerian blood" I raised my eyebrow. Yeah dude I get it, you're mixed race. He wanted to change the system from the inside. Good luck.

Yeah I just based three consecutive posts on shots from my camera phone. And what?

Bashment Granny 2...The Saga Continues

Best...poster...ever?

The 80s won't accept it. That bin's gay!

The intolerance in this world make me sick. You remember this happy chappy. Well it appears the council didn't want an openly gay bin so they sent a man around to not only paint over Gay Bin's declaration but to move gay bin to the far right of the bin line. That's the wack side. Everybody knows that. Shit's disrespectful. I was going to march with the G20 crew on the subject but I think they might have twisted the meaning. Eejits. This is about a bin and a bin's freedom to be with other bins.

VIDEO + MP3: Art Brut Live Session on Artrocker.TV

1. SLAP DASH FOR NO CASH

3. MOVED TO L.A

3. MODERN ART

ARTROCKER.TV have got all the details.

UPDATE: Artrocker sent me over the cover of their new issue featuring The Brut [in shops April 2nd].

Tory MEP is internet sensation?

So Daniel Hannan [a Tory MEP] stood up and told Gordon Brown about himself the other day and his speech has become a Youtube sensation. So much so that American TV picked up the footage. But all of this was achieved without any acknowledgment from the BBC or any other British media outlet. It's incredible to think that Gordon Brown can be humiliated like this in public and nobody choose to run it as a story; but I believe it highlights one of the main problems with the democratic process in this country. I don't actually believe there are many real journalists working for the major news outlets. Important things are overlooked in favour of ratings and profile, MPs get away with defrauding the tax payer for decades before it becomes a hot topic and suddenly they're all exposed. Banks and government policy dig us into a crippling recession and they know about it later than anybody. I think the politicised nature of the BBC and the left and right leaning newspapers learned too much from Tony Blair and his government and are actually prepared to dance in front of the problem rather than actually show us what's going on behind the bullshit if it supports their angle. Maybe that's always been the way. I'm not sure, but it stinks of rotting corpses from where I'm standing. Show us the bodies Guardian. Show us the bodies Daily Mail. Fuck you if you think we don't understand. Respect our capacity to process important information. Or are you just that lazy?

LINK: BBC News talks about Daniel Hannan's speech with left and right leaning bloggers. [how "New Labour" did that Labour List guy come off though? Seriously? What a patronising cunt].

VIDEO: Original Flavor Feat. Jay-Z- Can I Get Open

By now you've probably all ready read Combat Jack's fairly brilliant blog about his relationship with Damon Dash. In it he mentions the fact that Jay-Z got a pretty big break on the Original Flavor single 'Can I Get Open'. I've seen the video a few times before but it has to be said, the joint rocks. Jay was still spitting super-fast back then but you could see the new Jay breaking through, he shits on everybody on the track.

WANT

I've made no secret in the past of my want for a proper iced out grill. I would be willing to bypass the diamonds in favour of a light up grill. Paww Waww make it happen.

Devil In The De-De-Devil In The Distance Devil In The Distance

I had a bit of a Devil In The Distance day yesterday. I was in the studio recording a brand new heater fajita when Tego came in having just listened to 'DITD' in the car driving around Clapham and Wandsworth and such places, we reminisced a little bit. Then we finished the recording and played about on Spotify for a few minutes, listening to Flight Of The Conchords songs and 'Never Scared' by Bonecrusher. Then we watched the trailer for 'Where The Wild Things Are' and that Twitter cartoon Akira linked yesterday. Damn that was funny. As we ran out of things to do on t'internet we thought "Let's see if 'DITD' is on Spotify?" and of course it was. Fucking leaching thieving tarting plebs that you are! I hate you! All of you. Stealing from my kids! My kids! They can't eat broadband speeds you bastards! They can't drink those Sony adverts you get every 45 minutes or whatever it is (although...). I kid of course, fucked if I'm making a penny off my album -Watch, I'll have a hit one day and my backsales will go through the roof- so I listened to some songs and reminded myself why I love the album. Not in an ego kind of way, but I was reminded how much I focused on it and how much heart actually went into it. Then this morning I got this email from my "Piff Co-D" (word to The Sun's slang break down a few weeks ago) from my uniform days Olufela...

"Just a quick note to say “Firstborn” is a CHOON!!

I think u should make it a single.. video and everything. A lot of folks will relate to the lyrics! Me thinks...."

We were going to do 'First Born' as a single instead of 'Superhero' but there was panic about me releasing two consecutive singles with pure crippling honesty back to back. Not from the label, we all wanted 'First Born', we never wanted to play the "Urban" game but outside forces weighed too heavy in the radio race and the decision was taken before we even had a chance to fight. I love 'Superhero' I really do, I love all the remixes too (especially the ones the label forgot to release with my homeboys Akira, Example, Skinnyman and that dude I've never actually met Jammer) but how amazing would 'First Born' with a video as crisp as the one we gave 'Superhero' be? Ho hum. I sometimes think about finding some renegade young bucks with cameras to film some videos for me from 'Devil In The Distance' but the way the industry works these days, an album could never have the kind of life-cycle I wish mine had. I'm just proud of what I did manage to do, and knowing that songs like 'First Born', 'Carry Me', 'Get By (Be Good)', 'Goodbye' and 'Devil In The Distance' really did reach some people. Not as many as I'd have liked but those it reached seemed to like it.

I still don't want to play the "Urban" game. I don't really want to play any game with my music, which makes it hard to compete, but the time I've taken since the album has allowed me to record a lot and discover exactly which direction I'm going to go in with my second record. I don't know if I'm 100% there yet but I know I'm close. So many stupid trends have come and gone in the time I've been putting out music and I'd like to think I haven't jumped on any of them (Grindie jumped on me). So with the current, tight clothes, funky-house, dub-step, dance routine, autotune pop try-hard shit controlling playlists I feel as out of the loop as I ever have done. I think that's a good thing. I know I'm better than those guys on a purely technical level, I just need the success to prove it, and I won't prove anything unless I do it on my own terms. I owe you guys everything so I'm going to keep you fed with mixtapes (I think I'm working on one now, not fully decided yet, it's all original material but I think it might be a tape) and I'm toying with the idea of doing a Saigon style 'Album In A Day' type thing with Jack and throwing it on iTunes but rest assured I'm sitting on at least 20 new songs that you've never heard. This blog post kinda went off on a tangent didn't it? I really just wanted to tell you my album's on Spotify and those of you who haven't bought it (either because you're cheap or because you hate iTunes- I understand) you can now listen to it completely on Spotify. I urge you to do so. You may have as much fun listening as I did.

(That's one of my alternate 'Devil In The Distance' covers by the way. I think it's kinda decent)

Cash or Cheque Squad

Love is Dry.
Example's MTV/Nokia comedy with Doc Brown is funny as fuck. Watch every episode HERE.

Things I Am Doing Part 5

I am...recording with Jack today.

I am...happy with how recording with Jack went yesterday.

I am...delighted with how Liverpool battered Aston Villa on Sunday.

I am...sad Red Riding is finished.

I am...looking forward to The Wire's debut on BBC2 on Monday.

I am...looking forward to trying out this new Resident Evil.

I am...loving this new Saigon album.

I am...feeling the weather at the moment. It got a bit cold yesterday and didn't look good this morning but it's starting to make sense again.

I am...thinking about becoming an MP so I can beat the system both ends and claim against everything I do. I pay my taxes right? I want them back.

I am...not watching that new Chris Moyles show. God damn. His show on Channel 5 a few years ago wasn't even that bad. This shit is terrible.

I am...thinking about going to see Guru at Cargo in a couple of weeks. Do you think he does Gangstarr material? He has to right? A whole evening of Jazzmatazz might make me kill myself.

I am...listening to Akira's new song.

I am...looking at Mike the mono-dread's motorbike on Google Maps.

Trick Daddy has Lupus

Man this is fucked up. J-Dilla had Lupus which caused the liver complications that eventually killed him. Trick Daddy is a phenom that never gets his dues. He's currently promoting his autobiography which should be pretty incredible.

LINK: Rapper Trick Daddy has Lupus

Philadephia Freeway 2??

Free! I'm excited and you've never let me down before but please, please, please don't get this wrong.

If Free gets this out this year with the Jake One album too, he's going to have a good year.

Potential tracklisting...

1. Pay Attention
2. Finally Free
3. Gotz 2 Be Tha Bomb
4. Hands Up
5. Think About It
6. Crack Rap
7. Murda Muzic
8. Around The World
9. Streets Won’t Miss ‘em
10. It’s a Good Day
11. Keep Yo Hands Up
12. Philly Freezer

Arsenal 2-1 Hull: Photos

Robin van Persie had a bit of a 'mare, as he has done for most of his career. Unfortunately he scored the equaliser so people will forget how infuriating he was.The teams lined up before the game with smiles and hand shakes. It really didn't end like that. Kick-off.Arsenal's hilariously awful/pointless mascott spent most of the game on the other side of the stadium. Prick.Gunersaurus [yep] gets it in.The best dancer in the Premier League Emmanuel Eboue warming up. Arsenal fans love Eboue it has to be said.Arsenal defending a free kick. Hull scored shortly after this cross.I was going to do a robot to guarantee Setanta coverage but we were on the wrong side.Ben was as exciting as a young man can be.
We've just gone 0-1 down. Ben can't believe it.Half time and we're still down. Ben's getting mad.Man of the Match Andrey Arshavin takes a corner. His corners were a bit crappy it has to be said.

I have a few more that I need to dig out. Converting them is a motherfucker though. I tried to use a new setting. It was a bad idea frankly.

VIDEO: Asher Roth- Lark On My Kart

I'm looking forward to this album I don't care. Jack can hate all he wants. I swear this album is gonna be good.

Where The Wild Things Are

Looks fucking awesoome. Emailed to me by Jack 2 minutes ago with this message.

I've been waiting for this film my whole life!

This shit goes hard

I was worried about this but there was really no reason. The album is tough.

Hip-Hop Connection folding?

Damn this would be sad. I need to find the scans of my HHC features.Akira needs to put his up too. He made history in HHC.

Sad news began to spread across the internet yesterday afternoon about the apparent closing of legendary hip-hop magazine Hip-Hop Connection. First launching way back in 1988, HHC was the first hip-hop monthly magazine, beating The Source by 6 months. 232 issues later, according to RapRadar.com -a site run by leading hip-hop journalist Elliot "YN" Wilson, HHC has decided to fold. A genuinely sad day for publishing and music.

You can buy what may turn out to be the last issue of the mag from HHCMagazine.com

LINK: Artrocker.TV

World of Warmonger

This is unbelievable. I mean, I don't believe this, it's March 19th right? Not April 1st. The government paid £20,000 to set up a special Second Life world that MPs can meet in. It's costing £12,000 a year to maintain and I really don't know what's going on in the world if this is really what's going on. This government, they really do defy belief.

LINK: BBC.co.uk

In The Loop

Armando Ianucci written film version of 'The Thick Of It' [kinda]. Starring James Gandolfini. This looks amazing IMDB page.

VIDEO: Agallah: NY Ryder Music

No reason. I just fucking love this song.

Gym Status: Pixel

I just found a really unflattering picture of Pixel from 2006. A reason for a blog? No that would be fucked up. No. I thought it would be interested to show you a comparison between Pixel at Mass in Brixton in 2006 and Pixel last week at The Dogstar in Brixton 2009. Isn't that amazing? He might be the best gym goer ever. He should do adverts for PowerSauce Bar. Simpsons joke. You may have read Akira talking about Pix's new found sexiness and he'd last seen P last summer maybe. I'm going to try and make him film a work-out tape and put it on Youtube. I'm thinking about making a sex-tape with somebody famous. I said thinking about...

I'm famous enough.

The Preacher

Akira suggested I buy this at the Example shoot last week. I put it on order on Friday and huzzah it arrived in the mail this morning. I read the first few pages on the tube to work and god damn this shit is crazy! I've already ordered Part 2. Have I already spent £113.68 of Paypal money on Graphic Novels this month? I'll never tell!

Arsenal Vs Hull tonight

Can you believe it will be my first trip to The Emirates? I'll take photos.

FEAR

I bought this on a whim because a) the cover's nice and b) Ghost Rider and Scarecrow could run and c) I want to read Captain America without having to buy Captain America you know? Does he suck? I always assumed he sucked. FEAR goes hard though. Captain America isn't great in it, neither is Ghost Rider as it goes, but Scarecrow's on some shit. Is he the same in Marvel and DC? What's the deal there? Is there a good Captain America series I can buy? Let me know.

Things I Am Doing Part 4

I am...still doing these 'Things I Am Doing' Features. Oh yes.

I am...still buzzing about Liverpool kicking the shit out of Manchester United at their house. I'm not big into football but that was the best Match Of The Day of all time.

I am...kinda sad about not being able to record with Akira and Example today.

I am...feeling Akira's story on why the session had to be postponed. Genius.

I am...almost ready to announce my first gig of 2009.

I am...buying this.

I am...recording with Jack tomorrow.

I am...going to watch Horne & Cordon today. I've heard it's the worst thing on television. Sounds like fun.

I am...looking forward to the last part of Red Riding.

I am...proud of the boy Amir. He made dude's face hurt.

I am...not sure about this Tyson Fury fella. If he turns out to be as good as his career has started he might be Champion some day. A white British heavyweight champion? What the rarse?

I am...not sure whether or not I had a boring week.

I am...now convinced I had a boring week.

Insomniaxe [Marvin The Martian & Jack Nimble]- Listen To My Demo EP [2002 Recordings]

I wanted to get this up on Monday but my week kinda got away from me. I'm in the process of setting up my first show of 2009 though [yey. Something fun]. While trawling through my old hard drive I came across a couple of tracks we recorded a few months after the original demos [summer 2003, check the pop culture references] at Gizzard Studios with Ed [same guy we made 'I Hate My Job' with]. They're corrupted at the start and end so I found the least fucked up recording and made it a BONUS! Although it thinks it's track 2, you can arrange that in your iTunes or Windows Media player or whatever. Contrary to what I said HERE I'm actually pretty pleased with these demos. You can see what I was trying to do and I think you can hear enough of me now in there. Remember these recordings are from 2002. That's a long fucking time ago. Blazing Squad were killing the charts as were So Solid. Long, long time. I hope you enjoy though.

Insomniaxe [Marvin The Martian & Jack Nimble]- Listen To My Demo EP [2002 Recordings] (Sendspace ZIP)

1. The Rain
2. Cinemusic
3. F.U.K
4. BONUS: Hear'say

Do you ever...

...wake up, turn on the TV and wonder whether these truly are the ends of days? A bit dramatic perhaps, but between Pakistan, Alabama, Northern Ireland, Stuttgart and the government being outted as straight up liars on the knife/gun crime issue Oh-word? The world really does seem a pretty fucked up place right now. I mean, it always is, but that's a lot of bodies right there.

The King stay the King...

BBC2 have FINALLY picked up The Wire. Not sure what "All 60 episodes across the show's five seasons will be shown stripped across the week." means but I could generally give a fuck less, man's got all the DVDs innit? All you plebs who haven't seen it need to keep your eyes on the rarseclaart listings though. Word to me. Iiindeeeed. Sheeeeiiiiit. Second episode of Red Riding tonight. Woo!

LINK: BBC.co.uk

Example Video Shoot Photos

MORE HERE

Next time Gadget...next time!

Did you ever wonder what Dr Claw actually looked like? Don't fuck around yes you did. Well it turns out in 1992 a Claw toy was made. I wish it was still 1992 and the toy companies turned everything into an action figure range. I should hit eBay and find some childhood relics.

Anyway, for those who want the illusion spoiled, you can see Dr Claw HERE. How did that voice come out of that face? Stupid Toy company.

Putty Putty

Yesterday was good times. There are photos flying around, I'll hook you up when I can.

The greatest rapper alive died March 9th

If Canibus is remembered for anything [IF] it will be that line. Happy B-I-G day people. I might watch 'Notorious' tonight. I've had it on DVD for a minute. Tego, Pix, Ben and Luke saw it in the cinema. Apparently it's not the worst film ever. The most we could have hoped for.

Things I Am Doing Part 3

I am...about to hook up with Jack and Pixel to do some writing.

I am...looking forward to hearing what Mr Lacey did with that fire shit Jack sent him [without playing me god damn it!] last week.

I am...almost ready to go on my new leak.

I am...actually playing a part in the new Example video tomorrow rather than just having a cameo. I'll bring a camera and do a video blog from the set. Multi-multi-media.

I am...in love with my new phone. Fuck a iPhone, fuck a G-Phone, fuck a Blackberry, Nokia Express Music 5800 motherfuckers!

I am...waiting for RapRadar.com to launch so maybe Hip-Hop blogs can move on. Respect to YN but god damn.

I am...not watching Charlie Sloth's show on WorldStar. I get it, I respect it, but I can't watch it. I quite like Charlie Sloth too, he's got a good amount of spit to him.

I am...playing Saints Row 2 to death. It's weird with next-gen games with internal soundtracks, you start off listening to the shit you would normally listen to but it doesn't take long for you to make those 80s bangers your soundtrack.

I am...and have been struggling like a motherfucker with my wisdom teeth for a week. Fuck this shit.

I am...dreading the fall-out of this Real IRA attack. Shit gave me a feeling I haven't felt in a long time when I saw it on the news.

I am...looking forward to the second part of Red Riding. Yeeeeeee!

I am...glad Peter Mandelson got hit with green custard but I find the act of throwing custard on somebody you don't disagree with and walking away like your shit doesn't stink kinda loose. I will forever respect John Prescott for the way he dealt with that dude who threw the egg at him.

I am...looking forward to hearing/ seeing This Art Brut live session.

I am...out!

VIDEO: Art Brut-Alcoholics Unanimous

Bang bang.

MC Conditioner

Marvin and Jack hate on this song so much. They hate on the album 'The W' too. I swear they haven't heard it since it came out because it's actually a pretty solid record. I really don't like 'Iron Flag', 'Forever' or '8 Diagramms' which I actually listened to for the first time at work the other day. So boring. 'MC Conditioner' is a good song, people don't talk about it much.

VIDEO: Calvin Harris- I Am Not Alone

Calvin Harris is back. He's producing on Example's new album. This is his new single. It goes pretty hard.

Listen to my demo!

I'm in the process of chasing my very first professional recordings to give you. We did them in 2002 at The Dairy Studios Brixton. They've got some of the highest production values of anything I've ever done weirdly. Not that we don't put a lot into our recordings but we really went to town with the mixing. They were recorded under me and Jack's old group name I.N.S.O or Insomniaxe. I know where I can find them, they're on a very old hard drive that I looked at just today. We actually filmed the whole session, we were so excited, there were various members of So Solid recording in the next studio. I can't wait to listen to them again. I remember the last time I heard them I was a little bit embarrassed but I was a bit up my own at the time so I probably couldn't see the woods for the trees as it were.

So yeah. I will be posting my demo EP on Devil In The Distance next week. Excited? You should be!

Tracklisting...
1. Cinemusic
2. F.U.K
3. The Rain

AKSHON!

LIKE HER FIRST SON!

Just thought I'd kick your Friday off with a bit of thug-conscious-crunk music. Killer Mike first album shit.

Durrty Goodz- They Don't Know

BOURGUEST WHAT IT IS?

Capone N Noreaga

Where I'm from [South London in the 90s], Capone and Noreaga represent something so very serious. Half of us listened to Mobb Deep, CNN, Nas and Biggie, the other half listened to Master-P, Silkk The Shocker, Soulja Slim and the rest of those New Orleans guys. If, like me, you were a QB baby; CNN was about as good as it got. I'm always disappointed by Nas albums and as a group Mobb have failed to recapture what they had at their peak. Solo I don't think Prodigy's missed a beat, the same can't be said of Havoc but whatever. Nore became a different animal on his own. Generally I love solo Nore [no reggaeton...PIX!], but he hasn't been 'War Report' Nore since Capone went missing. I want this new CNN album to be good so bad now that they're back together and they're rapping well. I'm not the biggest 'Rotate' fan but I catch myself singing it every now and then [generally Ron Brownz can jump through a coffee table though right? Maybe he should make a song about how I told him to jump through a coffee table]. My faith is momentarily back in full effect though with the today's leak 'Grand Royal' produced by DJ Premier. I've listened to it about 10 times this afternoon. I am excited all over again.

Download: 'Grand Royal' via Sharebee.
Nahright on the help out

Wheels in motion

Okay so we've arranged to give away a song this month. Yey right? We haven't decided which one though. Meeting about it in the week. I might have to write a song about playing cricket in Pakistan and give that away. Pretty much all of my new shit is dark as fuck it wouldn't sound out of place.

You know I technically have a new video? We didn't like it very much when we finished it in December. Too similar to 'That One Time'. I should watch it again, see if I like it now.

Things I Am Doing Part 2

I am...aware that I need to drop something this month. One song at least. I've got a few things lined up.

I am...reading a lot of Batman.

I am...sure Akira The Don is right about The Watchmen although I'm yet to read it so I couldn't say 100%. I was going to get it this week but it's looking more like Button Man or Civil War now.

I am...still recovering from a very enjoyable Saturday night.

I am...still not convinced that the government has a leg to stand on when it comes to that Fred fella's pension.

I am...awestruck by how good Being Human was. The end of the last episode could have done a little more but I'm excited by the prospect of a second series.

I am...looking forward to Red Riding. That shit looks great.

I am...of the opinion that Arkham Asylum > The Killing Joke.

I am...clearly running out of things.

I am...going to come back to this again next week. It's quite fun actually.

Best graffiti ever?

I'm almost certainly going to set up a Podcast or something called 'Gay Bin' and use this bin as the logo.

PLUS: How nice does that sky look? It was a nice day in the hood this morning. The shade was cold but the sun was hot. Shit was good.