MAKO & THE HAWK: Ain’t No Other Big Boss Man – Free download

MAKO & THE HAWK: Ain’t No Other Big Boss Man – Free download
In which Mako & The Hawk apply the same principles to a funk/ rnb a mash-up that the Nice Up crew and J Star already apply to reggae and hip-hop…DOWNLOAD TRACK/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DANIEL MERRIWEATHER: Red – 2009 – Single review/ Video

DANIEL MERRIWEATHER: Red – 2009 – Single review
RATING: 1/5
“You took something perfect and painted it red,” sings Merriweather on this, where ‘painting something red’ is presumably to ruin it beyond redemption. Ironic really, since this song is yet another pastiche of 70s Stevie Wonder and Elton John, that yet again makes you want to avoid all songs that sound similar. And when I say ‘similar’ I mean both the originals (which is a shame) and the entire back catalogues of balladeering boy bands everywhere which also draw from and subsequently pollute the same wellspring with the rotting sheep of their careers. ‘Nu-soul’ my arse. If anyone…READ THE REST/ WATCH VID AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

VANS: Spring 2009 collection

VANS: SPRING 2009
It’s fair to say that Vans have been around the block a few times – usually courtesy of someone on a little wooden deck with four wheels. This notwithstanding they’re still dropping some fresh ideas on the clothing front and the Spring ’09 collection is mostly about eighties retro with…SEE PICS/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

CARHARTT: Spring collection 2009

CARHARTT: SPRING 2009 collection
This new collection sees Carhartt throw caution to the winds and feature both some brightly coloured clothing and designs that aren’t simply…SEE PICS/ READ REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

ADIDAS Skateboarding: Summer 2009

ADIDAS SKATEBOARDING: Summer 2009
I just can’t keep up sometimes – are some of these drops more limited than others? How do Adidas decide? Some of my usual sources didn’t even receive the last one and it only seems like five seconds since that spring stuff was out anyway. This time around there’s a Campus Vulc, a…SEE PICS/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE HANGMEN: Let’s Boogie Now b/w SOUL JUGGLERS: Naghihintay – 2009 – 7” revie

THE HANGMEN: Let’s Boogie Now b/w SOUL JUGGLERS: Naghihintay – 2009 – 7” review
RATING: 4/5
Two slices of funk from the Phillipines of all places. The so-so A side sounds like the soundtrack to a seventies cop show but you’ll really be wanting this for the ridiculous Hangmen B side Let’s Boogie Now. This sounds like the result of a live jam where the band tried to replay Sly Stone’s Thank You Falettin Me Be Mice Elf from memory whilst singing the (English) lyrics to another song (from memory) without the slightest comprehension of…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

P.O.S: Never Better – 2009 – Album review

P.O.S: Never Better – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Savion Glover – Goodbye – Been Afraid – Low Light Low Life
SOUNDBITE: “The Oval Office and the lobby probably listen to Fugazi singing/ This one’s ours let’s take another…and then they dance away clean like Savion Glover”
RATING: 3/5
According to that organ of truth Wikipedia, P.O.S’ music ‘cannot easily be labelled’ though he has allegedly described his music as, ‘rap to skateboard to.’ I was only two tracks in before I started thinking of it as ‘music to skate away from’. There’s a label. And here’s another one – ‘experimental hip-hop.’ As in ‘emo’ lyrics and the kind of beats which aren’t going to move a crowd – unless it’s one that’s into slam-dancing. In fact, there was actually so much against me liking this that it’s testament to P.O.S. that this has got as many stars at it has. The cd cover didn’t help. The fact that it uses more plastic than three toy factories is bad enough - what’s worse is the raison d’etre. Yeah - it’s all so that the ‘consumer..[can]…configure their own personalised cover art.’ Surely it’s all about the music though? You’d hope so wouldn’t you? But the wankery doesn’t end there. No. ‘Configuring’ your cover is so fucking complicated that label Rhymesayers had to release a demonstration of how to, ‘approach the packaging.’ Christ on a pony. Anyway – back to the music.>…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SOBER & DRIBBLA: The Butcher’s Ball – 2009 – Album review

SOBER & DRIBBLA: The Butcher’s Ball – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Swallow – Banger – Heart Here With Me
SOUNDBITE: “Cancer for Christmas/ No one listens/ Machine gets hungry/ Let’s feed them the Christians”
RATING: 4/5
It’s dark o’clock again. Yup, Bristol duo Sober & Dribbla are back with their very own ‘love album’ and you get a sense that with a name like The Butcher’s Ball it’s going to be more about meat-hooks than mooning looks. Their second full-length drop in as many years, this time around there’s a bit more dub in their step and a bit more step in the dub of their mutant hip-hop sound. Not that they’ve actually gone completely dubstep you understand – this is still hip-hop – even if it’s soul is blacker than a lightless club full of hooded yout’ getting down to sub-bass b-lines and shuffling beats. For the uninitiated, producer Sober doesn’t spend hours diggin’ the crates for old jazz cuts – partly because neither of the duo want to recreate a sound which has had it’s depths soundly plumbed over the years, partly because it wouldn’t suit Dribbla’s bulldog delivery. And also possibly because Sober’s a lazy bastard.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RUPERT: Just Woke Up – 2009 – Album review

RUPERT: Just Woke Up – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Make Moves – Grey Light – South Of The River – The Fox
SOUNDBITE: “Live your life within systems, or decide to drink wisdom from a stream that’s been pissed in”
RATING: 4.5/5
Just Woke Up? Christ, there were times when I thought this would never see the light of day. I’ve been hanging out for the first Rup – oops my bad – RupERT album proper since the motley collection of odds and ends that was Rup On Zebra a while back. Well, I say ‘motley’ – easily one of the best releases of 2007, it would have lyrically smoked anything else into a coma. Cryptic blogs on Rup’s myspace meanwhile suggested that he was over the whole music thing and that’s all (s)he wrote. Thankfully, these have turned out to be little more substantial than an investment banker’s competence, not only has Rupert woken up, he smokes his drugs, doubts his own worth and makes you take a long hard look at your own while convincing you that none of it matters anyway – although – oh - actually it might – all in less than forty minutes. Not the longest album in the world then, and there’s also been a stylistic shift in balance between this release and the last.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

TORAE & MARCO POLO: Double Barrel LP update + tracklist

TORAE & MARCO POLO: Double Barrel LP update + tracklist
(PRESS RELEASE) Featuring Lil Fame of M.O.P., DJ Premier, Sean Price, Guilty Simpson, Masta Ace, Saukrates, S-Roc & Cuts By DJ Revolution...

Rapper Torae & super-producer Marco Polo have joined forces to release the New York rap album that fans of raw, hardcore Hip-Hop have been waiting for on 2 June 2009.

When it comes to beats and rhymes, Canadian producer Marco Polo and Brooklyn MC Torae don’t play, just check the résumé. On his 2007 critically acclaimed album Port Authority, Polo recruited a who’s who of MC’s like Kool G Rap and Kardinal Offishall to ride over his hard-hitting instrumentals. Torae, on the other hand, has certified his rep as one of the game’s illest lyricists in a similar fashion, with remarkable wordplay on his highly touted 2008 street album Daily Conversation. So, in the spirit of great hip-hop duos…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE HAWK: Listen Outside The Box LP

THE HAWK: Listen Outside The Box LP – Press release
Having previously garnered airplay with gorgeously ethereal debut single Candy Dream Dub on Rob Da Banks’ BBC Radio 1 show, Nerm spinning the B-side Puppets on the BBC Asian Network and none other than Steve Lamacq dropping the skankin’ breaks of last single Run Rudeboy, The Hawk (a.ka. Scott Milsom, bassist for critically-acclaimed UK funk heroes Big Boss Man) has finally made good on his promise to drop a full-length album……READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

FREESTYLE PROFESSORS: Confuse A Few – 2009 – 12” review
HIGHLIGHTS: Dat Grit Grime - Luv U
SOUNDBITE: “Stay in your place, you hard-headed like a Mexican/ I’m a testosterone lyricist, you full of oestrogen”
RATING: 5/5
Hey - they don’t make them like this anymore do they? Erm, except obviously they do because here’s this, the official 12” for upcoming, long-awaited LP Gryme Tyme due in June – and I’ve had that straight from the horse’s mouth. Well, Branesparker’s at least. Anyway, DITC affiliates and underground legends Freestyle Professors are back with their super-heavy, crate diggin’, self-styled Bronx-grimey sound to bring you five all-new tracks, two of which you also get as instrumentals. I’m confused. Isn’t this an EP? Whatever, Branesparker himself produces four of…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN: Funkman – 2009 – Album review

DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN: Funkman – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Straight From The Big Bad West Coast – Young Adrenaline
SOUNDBITE: “Hip-hop, an asylum, run by inmates who be wylin’/ So I’m coming with a heavier dose/ This medication, is safe for you slow folks”
RATING: 2/5
On paper this sounded excellent - it was full of western promise. Del, the man with ‘funky’ in his name, the man who dropped Mistadobalina back in the day, the man whose discography includes two of the dopest old school LPs ever under his belt was going to drop an LP called Funkman! News of this was swiftly followed by the ‘stimulus package address’ video shot in grainy black and white with funky president Sir DZL speaking to the hip-hop nation over a Hendrix-style guitar re-working of Hail To The Chief boldly claiming,”…for all of you who have been waiting, listening to hip hop and being so frustrated because of lack of funk - I’m here to bring your funk back to you.”

Ah yes, things were sounding good - and yet, somehow…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE HAWK: Electric Boogaloo ('Listen Outside The Box' LP promo single) Free download/ Video

THE HAWK: Electric Boogaloo ('Listen Outside The Box' LP promo single) Free download/ Video
RATING 5/5
The tinny treble frequencies of those with ‘too-loud’ walkman headphones that used to bother the respectable train traveller have long been superseded by spotty hooded youths who eschew headphones completely and rape the ears of all and sundry with the tinny treble frequencies of their mobile phones. Older commuters must look with misty-eyed fondness on the days when the ghetto blaster was king and their breakfast-filled bowels were loosened by thunderous bass. Coincidentally, it is to this era that new Hawk track Electric Boogaloo harks back
…DOWNLOAD/ WATCH/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

CHOPPS DERBY - Back To Yer Yard - Video

CHOPPS DERBY: Back To Yer Yard - Video
Northern filth merchant Chopps Derby pulls a handbrake u-turn in terms of genre (if not in lyrical focus – which remains firmly in a condom-choked gutter) screeching from the chilled breaks of the You Don’t Know What Broccoli Is EP to lairy grime with Back To Yer Yard. It’s difficult for one to speculate at the grim horror of life in a northern ghetto
Out...…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SMOOVE & TURRELL - YOu Don't Know

SMOOVE & TURRELL - You Don’t Know – 2009 – Single review
RATING: 4/5
Listening to the various efforts at rebooting northern soul over the last couple of years has been a bit like being on the sidelines of the ‘open’ egg and spoon race at a school sports day. Ever an event that inspires a variety of approaches, it has both heroes and villains. Mark Ronson is the devious competitive parent who achieved an early lead by sticking chewing gum to the bottom of his egg but gave the game away because…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

AUDEL - Featured artist April '09

ARTIST PROFILE
APR. 09 – AUDEL
This month you’re getting some fresh French flavour in the form of Audel. This man is straight outta Valence and kicks it live with the DFS and ONE crews. He’s got six years painting time under his belt and is such an integrated European that he cites writers of several nationalities as inspirations for his new school style: Otis from the Fatherland, fellow Frenchman Mire and the UK’s very own Aroe. Audel likes nothing better than getting together with a few mates and enhancing brickwork with…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM