ORIGIN ONE feat. GARDNA & NANCI CORREIA: Nice & Easy

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ORIGIN ONE: Deeply Rooted

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NICE UP!: 12 Dubs Of Xmas (2016) Free download

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BLEND MISHKIN & ROOTS EVOLUTION: Survival Of The Fittest (2015)

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CUT LA VIS feat. MADDY CARTY: Still Have The Love (2015)

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JSTAR: Watch That Riddim Killa (2013) Free download

If DJ Maars’ Summer Soundbowy EP staged a ‘raid on JStar territory’ last week with its marriage of hip-hop vocals and dubbier reggae beats (as opposed to ska ones), here’s a convincing response as one of the grandaddies of reggae/ hip-hop mashups delivers a booty broadside retaliation in the shape of Watch That Riddim Killa. I say ‘booty,’ the beat is actually a JStar original riddim – Watch That Sound topped off with a bit of Rodders P on …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BLEND MISHKIN feat. PEPPERY: Foundation Style (2013)

It’s solid summer skankin time on Foundation Style as Athenian producer Blend Mishkin strips it back to some serious bass, drums and keys groundwork and employs vocalist Peppery (a.k.a. Chilli Bongo) to spice up the riddim in order to nice up the dance – literally, in fact, since the release drops on the Nice Up! label. It’s out on seven inch at the end of the month and gets versioned instrumentally on the…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ SHEPDOG: MCs Act Like They Don’t Smoke (2012) Free download

Rude free digital download here from legendary hip-hop/ reggae rerub fiend DJ Shepdog of the Nice Up! crew here in the form of the previously-only-available-on-vinyl MCs Act Like They Don’t Smokefor Serato heads. Who can now act like they’re playing the vinyl original. This was the …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ SHEPDOG: Nah Shutterbug – Free download - 2011

DJ SHEPDOG: Nah Shutterbug – Free download - 2011
It seems like only the other day I was extolling the virtues of Shepdog’s reggae refix of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep and damn if he isn’t back already with another free download. Marrying Outkast rapper Big Boi’s Shutterbug acapella with Nas and Damian Marley’s Nah Mean beat means he can chalk yet another reggae remix victory up on the mash-up wall of fame. Indeed, so effortlessly do these roll off the …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ SHEPDOG vs. MR BLENND: ‘Everyday Wig’ + ‘Everyday Champion’ – free downloads

DJ SHEPDOG vs. MR BLENND: ‘Everyday Wig’ + ‘Everyday Champion’ – free downloads
The thing about making vocal bootlegs or mash-ups is that you need to get your vocals from somewhere. Sometimes a record co. will lob a producer a free vocal stem if they think the remix will boost sales of the original but mainly they come from officially released acapellas. But the thing about that is that not as many people officially release acapellas as you might think…DOWNLOAD/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

NICE UP & J STAR: Cut Ups, Bruck Ups and Muck Ups Vol. 2 – 2010 – Album review

NICE UP & J STAR: Cut Ups, Bruck Ups and Muck Ups Vol. 2 – 2010 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: All of it. Again.
SOUNDBITE:
RATING: 5/5
As many DJs will tell you, just because something bumps on the dancefloor doesn’t mean you want to hear it in the car or on your mp3 player - and the opposite is also true. Happy the person, then, who gets hold of this second volume from the kings of reggae mash-up/ remix-land which, like its predecessor (and hopefully any future successors) run tings in both clubland and pretty much anywhere else you care to play it. Once again the main contributors are J Star and Nice Up label boss DJ Shepdog - though on Cut Ups…2 they’re also joined by Jeff Li (the fashion designer? Surely not?) and Brighton's Black Grass.
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NICE UP & J STAR: Cut Ups, Bruck Ups and Muck Ups Vol. 2 – 2010 – Album review

NICE UP & J STAR: Cut Ups, Bruck Ups and Muck Ups Vol. 2 – 2010 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: All of it. Again.
SOUNDBITE:
RATING: 5/5
As many DJs will tell you, just because something bumps on the dancefloor doesn’t mean you want to hear it in the car or on your mp3 player - and the opposite is also true. Happy the person, then, who gets hold of this second volume from the kings of reggae mash-up/ remix-land which, like its predecessor (and hopefully any future successors) run tings in both clubland and pretty much anywhere else you care to play it. Once again the main contributors are J Star and Nice Up label boss DJ Shepdog - though on Cut Ups…2 they’re also joined by Jeff Li (the fashion designer? Surely not?) and Brighton's Black Grass.
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NICE UP & J STAR: Cut Ups, Bruck Ups and Muck Ups Vol. 1 – 2009 – Album review

NICE UP & J STAR: Cut Ups, Bruck Ups and Muck Ups Vol. 1 – 2009 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Pretty much all of it
SOUNDBITE: “”
RATING: 5/5
Ah the mashup – refuge of the lazy DJ/ Producer or inspirational genius? It all depends on whose doing it and what the outcome is like. In the case of J Star and Nice Up DJs Shepdog and (on one track) Moodie, it’s the latter. Those who keep their eyes glued to the relevant new release pages of their favourite online record stores may well recognise the greater portion of the cuts on offer here from successive 7 and 12” releases over the last few years and will probably have a lot of them. They’ll also be familiar with the recipe. Take one classic vocal stem (usually off a hip-hop track but possibly off a dancehall or decent pop track) and graft onto the instrumental of another (usually a rocksteady or reggae track but sometimes a hip-hop track) always obeying the rule that the one does not come from the same genre as the other.

Thus we have Skankin’ In The Way of Control with >…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

NICE UP – Blud & M.I.A. / Witness The Flava – 2008 – Single review

NICE UP – Blud & M.I.A. / Witness The Flava – 2008 – Single review
RATING: 4/5
Freestyle Records head honcho, DJ Shepdog, is the man behind the Nice Up! series of quality mash-ups and never one to shy away from splicing obscure brilliance to the blatantly obvious. Thus it is that we finding M.I.A. riding her PPRPLNS vocal atop the instrumental of The Nextmen’s 2005 dancehall riddim monster Blood And Fire and a family pack of guest rappers off Craig Mack’s Flava In Ya Ear sitting heavily (if not exactly pretty) on Roots Manuva’s bomb Witness 1 Hope. There’s absolutely no doubt that both of these are 100% guaranteed to get bodies sweaty, but I just can’t help reflecting that in this case both The Nextmen’s vocal original and Roots Manuva’s vocal original were equally capable and the better tracks.
Out now on Nice Up!.
LINKS
Listen to Nice Up – Blud & Mia
Nice Up! - Myspace

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