I had the dope horn once…but let’s talk about this cheekily titled EP instead, which is all set to give the nu funk scene the Pot Noodle horn. Basically, Lebrosk gives King Bee’s old school hip-hop single Back By Dope Demand a damn good seeing to while TotalCult gets busy on a track I should definitely know but can only remember having been sampled by Ugly Duckling. And then they get kinky on each other’s shit. Makes you proud to be British doesn’t it?
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Monthly Archives: April 2011
TOTALCULT vs. LEBROSK: Dope Horn EP – 2011
RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Moo Juice EP – 2011
Stand aside fusion bores and chin-stroking poseurs, Renegades Of Jazz is back with a new single! Moo Juice is yet more gold-top goodness from David Hanke whose ability to combine jazz samples and heavyweight breakbeats without sounding all wanky/ noodly is near supernatural. Lighter on it’s feet than the music of ‘Daisy Age’ hip-hop but with just as substantial a bottom end
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DEAD PREZ: Live @ The Garage – London – 25 May, 2011
Hey – what’s bigger than Dead Prez’s track Hip-hop? As far as Dead Prez are concerned, not much, since they’re still largely known for their one big hit from eleven years ago. And being mildly racist to white people. Could it be because rappers M-1 and Stic.man sound like a motorway and a book by the creator of the Gruffalo respectively? Perhaps their anti-record label stance held them back? Never mind.
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THE BEEKEEPERS: ‘Apiculture’ – Album preview + Audio – 2011
Bristol beat luminaries Boca 45 and Parker a.k.a. The Beekeepers finally make good their promise to deliver a full length album, Apiculture, in the wake of this year’s moody Ascending Change EP and their debut party-banger effort the Bee Funk EP from 2009.
As you might expect Apiculture is packed to the gills with offerings of both kinds i.e. moodiness and party-bangers.
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BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 – Album review + Audio – 2011
It’s a couple of years late but the Beasties are finally back. Is there anyone else who’s been in the hip-hop game as long as they have who still garners this much hype on the eve of a release? To date they haven’t released a single duff hip-hop album and their last hip-hop release (2005’s To The 5 Boroughs) was a superb effort. On the other hand
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BIG M PRODUCTIONS: Big M Bootie Vol. 10 – 2011
Big Mick goes big in every way on the latest bootleg bomb from his very own label here, giving Jimi, Lulu, Bob Seger and Shirley Ellis the breakbeat workover they always wanted but were too shy to ask for. Hendrix is ushered towards the Balearic big club arena (a la recent offerings from rival stable Manmade Recordings) by the beat on Watchtower (no, really), Lulu and Bob feel like bangers to give things a lift mid-set while Soultime has ‘go out in a blaze of glory’ written all over it.
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QWEL & MAKER feat. Scud One: Megaphone (Herma Puma remix) – 2011
Typically more relaxed than a stoner’s duvet-day, production duo Herma Puma bring their mellow-hop aesthetic to Qwel & Maker’s Scud One-featuring Megaphone track and, in doing so, transform the Chi-town underground sound to some sort of ATCQ-inflected Chill-town underground sound. Double dopeness then, since the original itself is a fat slice of bass-heavy heat.
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GRAND SLAM: Lifetimers For The Funk – 2011
I’ll be the first to admit that if someone told me they’d heard a new single from a German band who’d been around since 1985, I’d be a bit worried. It’s not an issue of nationality, or even longevity, you understand – more the fear of a German band formed in the middle of the devil’s decade sounding like The Scorpions. Or worse, Munchener Freiheit. Not to worry though, Grand Slam play funk.
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JOE DRISCOLL: Mixtape Champs (MR BENN ‘Nod To The Creator’ mix) – 2011 – Free download 26 April
Rating: 
Personally, I would have paid cold cash money for this on a slice of wax since Mr Benn has once again delayed his own solo LP to apply his boom-skankin Midas touch to folksy-roots-hopper Joe Driscoll’s original. However, in the words of Mr Benn himself, “Just got the word from Joe D, this is gonna be released on 26th April and even better, it’s gonna be given away absolutely free.” Free yes, but alas, digital-only, wax heroes!
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RAY LUGO & THE BOOGALOO DESTROYERS: Swingy Boogaloo + Mi Watusi Album update – 2011
Ray Lugo reboots El Gran Combo’s bugalu classic (the imaginatively-titled) El Gran Combo’s Boogaloo with his own lyrics, simultaneously channelling his inner Tito Puente and bringing to mind all those NuYorican compilations from Soul Jazz Records. It’s the sort of thing that, wherever you are, has the power to evoke too-hot summers in the latin-quarter, where vandalised fire hydrants shower Jose Public like there’s no manana
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