courtesy of Jon Freer Fat Jon – Talk To Me (Exceptional Records) The portly beatsmith once again displays his knack for making simple yetincredibly emotive tracks in the form of this EP on Exceptional. “Talk To Me”pleads to be listened to, whilst “What’s Left” is a stuttering bass-orientatednumber. “Torn Again” is a pained key-led cut,...

ProHipHop (www.prohiphop.com) launches as the first hip hop business news blog tracking developments across industry sectors. Hip hop business involves a wide range of products and markets that go far beyond urban music and fashions. Clyde Smith gathers hip hop related business news from such industries and subsectors as music, movies, apparel, mobile content, automotive,...

Kankick Traditional Heritage (Smoggy Day) I don’t know why KanKick isn’t on his way to being a super producer of Madlib or J.Dilla –esque proportions. He emerged out of the same Oxnard camp as Madlib, Lootpack etc and some beats on Traditional Heritage reflect this musical commonality – manifested in the dustiest of crate digging,...

Roni Size returns to the drum-’n'-bass spotlight with an album laden with guest talents. Return to V is billed as a return to his soulful roots, but that tagline proves to be a bit misleading. Size does represent for most forms of d ‘n’ b on the album, but it’s definitely geared toward a harder...

THE HISTORY OF THE MAN THEY CALL JNEIROLive and direct out of the Brooklyn borough on down to Philly, JNEIRO JAREL has slowly been digging his way up through the hip-hop underground for 15 years. At the age of 5, JNEIRO JAREL’S family moved out of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn . His mother was...

Going against the grain of this music-oriented blog, the events of yesterday are deeply significant enough to warrant a small break from regularly scheduled blogging. I’ll keep it short – What’s wrong with people? and more specifically, Americans? In a heinous case of short-sighted, small-minded, right-wing ignorance, Americans decided to vote for Bush. Something is...

Fat Jon Lightweight Heavy (Exceptional Records) Lightweight Heavy has been out for a month or two now, but I have just got around to listening to it properly. And it is dope indeed. Fat Jon has been one of my fave producers for a while – across the board I think he is one of...

It may be of no surprise that a band should release a few vinyl singles that filter to key tastemakers to critical acclaim. That they should receive praise from an ever-increasing underground scene, and that the hype surrounding them escalates beyond a core. Indeed, that sales of those singles should quickly reach over 12,000. But...