KAZAHAYA: Remember Hip Hop EP – 2009 – review

KAZAHAYA: Remember Hip Hop EP – 2009 – review
RATING: 5/5
Remember hip-hop? I’m damn sure Flo Rida doesn’t. Luckily Japanese crate-digger Kazahaya does. What’s more, he remembers it how it was meant to make the crowd move. And since nowadays beats are frequently wack as fuck, he’s looped some funky shit on the title track. And since most rappers nowadays are wack as fuck too, he’s taxed a few verses from some of the greats (I’ll let you have a crack at spotting who) propounding various notions about hip-hop. If that sounds like he’s recycled …READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE DT6: (Theme from) The Baden Persuader/ EMELi SANDE & MARCO with THE DT6: Takes – 2009 – 7” review

THE DT6: (Theme from) The Baden Persuader/ EMELI SANDE & MARCO with THE DT6: Takes – 2009 – 7” review
RATING: 4/5
Starla do their double A side 45 thing again and once more I find myself loving one track and running in fear from the other. I googled The Baden Persuader (the one I like) intrigued by the ‘Theme from’ prefix, expecting to find links telling me about some sort of German Get Carter style movie. All I got were references to this very track though, which, as it turns out, finds Starla house band The DT6 dropping eastern-sounding instrumental spy-flick funk so sinuous you could put a leather jacket on it and call it a snake…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RAEKWON: Video interview with The Hip-Hop Chronicle Pt.2

RAEKWON: Video interview with The Hip-Hop Chronicle Pt.2
In which the Chef concludes his natter with the Hip Hop Chronicle and holds forth on both respect and (it's lack) in hip-hop, pays homage to the Wu Tang, discusses RZA and Dr Dre's involvement with the new LP and explores why Marley Marl is 'vintage Wu'...
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

KONFECTIONISTS: No Artificial Flavours – 2009 – Album review

KONFECTIONISTS: No Artificial Flavours – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Jazz Hands/ Intergalactic/ How You Gonna Grow?
SOUNDBITE: “You can shout but you’ll never break my soul/ If you ain’t got the knowledge then how you gonna grow?”
RATING: 3/5
The latest drop from the mild, mild west’s Ruztik label is the very tastefully packaged No Artificial Flavours from Bristol’s Konfectionists crew comprising Rola of the legendary Numskullz plus rappers Gee Swift and Project Cee. Running with an extended sweeties-based metaphor for both band name and LP title enabled the boys to throw all kinds of gags into the press release but it’s a double-edged sword akin to journo-catnip and, as such, I can only apologise in advance for the cheap wordplay and lazy imagery while I give you the 411 on …READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RAEKWON: Video interview with The Hip-Hop Chronicle Pt.1

RAEKWON: Video interview with The Hip-Hop Chronicle Pt.1
The Chef holds forth on such diverse topics as what's cooking with regard to him and Hollywood, the importance of lyrics, the ingredients of being a dope MC, and the peoples and albums that folks ought to be schooled in to learn more about hip-hop...
…VIEW VIDEO AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE MONKEY DON'T SPAM

THE MONKEY DON'T SPAM
Yeah - so blogger.com's robot chimps think that monkeyboxing empire is a spam blog. Should've paid peanuts and employed robot monkeys - they do a better job. At some point a real chimp or maybe even a person will review this blog and discover that it isn't a spam blog. Until then you can ignore the spam warnings. MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE is NOT A FUCKING SPAM BLOG. Worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!

COOKIN’ ON 3 BURNERS: Soul Messin’ LP update

COOKIN’ ON 3 BURNERS: Soul Messin’ LP update
Aussie funk commandos Cookin’ On 3 Burners are back with a new twelve track LP Soul Messin' on 1 July this year. Once again showcasing the wicked vocal talents of soul sister Kylie Auldist and soul brother Fallon Williams…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DANIEL MERRIWEATHER: Love & War – 2009 – Album review

DANIEL MERRIWEATHER: Love & War – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Impossible - Change (feat. Wale) - Cigarettes
SOUNDBITE: "Some people do it all for money, some do it all for the love..."
RATING: 2.5/5
The fact that the tag 'neo-soul' might conceivably bring shoulder-padded eighties buffoon Luther Vandross to mind seems to have escaped marketing types who are selling Aussie vocalist (and Mark Ronson protégé) Daniel Merriweather as the second coming of Motown and Stax all rolled into one for the twenty-first century. Obviously when I say ‘Daniel Merriweather’ I’m including Ronseal as well – I mean – he must have produced this - the Ikea breakbeats and the conviction that because he’s managed to persuade the Dap Kings to play brass on it, it therefore sounds like the retro funky soul they do with Sharon Jones – have got his stamp all over them.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SUBSPECIES Streetwear

SUBSPECIES Streetwear

Tired of being design chimps for the man, the main players behind dope new UK urban clothing brand Subspecies Streetwear declared gorilla warfare and set up their own company with an attitude badder than a couple of quickly thought-up puns…VIEW PICS/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

TORAE & MARCO POLO: Double Barrel - download 'Hold Up'

Masta Ace and Sean Price get on a track with Marco Polo and Torae off the Double Barrel LP (released 2 June)!…DOWNLOAD/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

ZOO YORK: Summer 2009 range

ZOO YORK: Summer 2009 range
Remember Shut Skateboards? I do. Well, the griptape at least. It had little Shut logos all over it that you could push out and stick somewhere else like the bottom of your deck or road signs and stuff…er…anyway – Shut folded and Zoo York rose…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

COSMIC BOOGIE : The Undisputed Truth: Space Machine/ Charles Jackson: Ooh Child – 2009 – review

COSMIC BOOGIE : The Undisputed Truth: Space Machine/ Charles Jackson: Ooh Child – 2009 – review
RATING: 5/5
How’s your space-funk at the moment? Not so good eh? Not to worry, those crazy boys over at cosmicboogie.co.uk have just dropped two tripped out seventies classics that are so massive they could be seen from orbit. Space Machine floats lazily into your ears on a slo-mo funk break, is shortly joined by the vocals of lead singer Joe Harris who unleashes some classic acid-fuelled bollocks about how…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RECORDKINGZ: Heavyweight – 2009 – Album review

RECORDKINGZ: Heavyweight – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Take A Walk With Me (feat. Joell Ortiz) – Rock Ya Shoulders (feat. The Beatnuts) – Keep It Coming (feat. Phil Da Agony, Montage & Mo Money) – Keep On (Chalice & Ruk)
SOUNDBITE: “I wrote this one on the porcelain throne/ Contemplating how I shit on fake niggers who ain’t holding they own”
RATING: 4.5/5
Heavyweight piles into the hip-hop fray in a very similar way to Jake One’s White Van Music last year. By this I mean that it finds a talented producer hooking up with a host of talented MCs and dropping dope phatness. It’s even possible that Juliano (formerly one half of 90s duo The Creators), arguably has the edge on Jake One and that this has the potential to give a kick up the arse to a few flagging careers, proving once again that the music industry (and to some extent the public’s) obsession with rapper-cult-of-personality is forgetting one vital thing. It doesn’t matter how good the lyrics, nobody ever danced to poetry. When was the last time you heard a proper jump-up hip hop track anyway? The underground has been plagued by masturbatory production for too long - even if there has been some lyrical insanity. On the other hand, the mainstream shits out club beats like its got diarrhoea – but is plagued by lyrical inanity. This isn’t to say that everything on here will light fires under people’s feet – simply that…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE AMNESIACS: Top Yourself/ Want Your Body – 2009 – Single review
RATING: 3.5/5
With Top Yourself (soon to be featured in upcoming Brit Football-hoolie flick Awaydays) The Amnesiacs musically shove The Ordinary Boys to the ground and snatch ska from their limp hold. Then they riotously sprint away, pausing only to give Will And The People a well-deserved shoeing, before…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

BETTY DAVIS: ‘Is This Love Or Desire?’ LP Update

BETTY DAVIS: ‘Is This Love Or Desire?’ LP Update
The unreleased fourth LP Is This Love Or Desire? by 70s funk-rock queen Betty Davis is finally due to see the light this September on Light In The Attic.

A former model, Betty Mabry was briefly married to Jazz legend Miles Davis and turned the big man onto Sly Stone and Hendrix, thus she was a major catalyst in the creation of Miles’ landmark psychedelic epic Bitches Brew. She went on to make three massive and insanely overlooked funk-rock LPs…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

PHILLY WHIZZ: Inside The Axe Wound – 2009 – Album review

PHILLY WHIZZ: Inside The Axe Wound – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: We Don’t Really Care – All Mouth (feat. Keef & TL) – Can’t Rewind – Slow Lane – Shit City
SOUNDBITE: “We don’t really care about your mix cd, sounds like a demo, a demo to me/ We don’t really care about your guest MCs/ Can’t you write a full LP?”
RATING: 3.5/5
It’s been two years since Philly Whizz’s excellent Random Era collaboration with partner in crime Ash The Gent and this second solo LP from the respected Scouse MC takes a typically no-prisoners approach to life as a rapper in a genre that is overlooked (UK Hip-hop) and in a city where (if Philly Whizz is to be believed), Shameless is less comedy and more documentary.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE COOL KIDS - Gone Fishing Mixtape - Download

THE COOL KIDS - Gone Fishing Mixtape - Download
The name of the The Cool Kids' long overdue long player When Fish Ride Bicycles was apparently meant to be a riff on the 'when pigs fly' idiom. Both of them mightDOWNLOAD/ READ REST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

K-DELIGHT: Def Jam Mixtape – free download

K-DELIGHT: Def Jam Mixtape – free download
Hot on the heels of his gnarly Audio Revolution LP, K-Dilla drops a ‘mixtape’ like they used to make, recorded live in one epic take. On two turntables. Only everything’s digital and shit now right? So you can cop it in full downloadable glory
…DOWNLOAD/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

JOHN DIMERY - Featured Artist May '09

JOHN DIMERY - Featured Artist May '09
Skater, surfer and artist John Dimery might not feel the need to hide behind an alias but that didn’t prevent the grommets at his local skate park giving him one. ‘Old school’ they call him. Cheeky bastards. But many aspects of his life and art have been fuelled by the hardcore underground 80s skate scene.
Out...…SEE MORE PICS/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM