My famalams Double K just released their debut EP “The Campaign”. This 6 track gem was dropped in the lead up to their debut full length, due later this year, but is in every way its own release and a fucking doozy at that!
Be sure to cop a CD from your local spot or D/L from iTunes now and youll be a cert to join the bumrush for the LTD wax due soon!
Check the first clip that spans two joints off the release below…
Unfortunately this week marks the end of an era with one of our favorite independent radio shows having the plug pulled on it by the station. In what seems to be an overhaul of station programming by the powers that be at RRR, the cancellation of one of our favorite and longest running indy shows is an obvious oversight and incredible error in judgment by those at the helm of the station.
It must be said that at the news of hearing the cancellation of the weekly show my first re-action was not only boycott the station, but also to can a pre-planned joint hosting of the show on the scheduled final date by my self and Heata, not only because it eventuated to be Top Billins last hurrah, but also as a why give a fuck about a station who don’t give a fuck about Top Billin. As it turned out, Rosco and Rawls didn’t wish to send off the show with any form of massive celebration and asked us to please keep our prior commitment in joining them on the 28th March and continue the theme night Heata and myself commenced with the tribute to 808’s episode. We had previously discussed the varying themes and this week’s was initially to be a posse cut tribute, but due to the nature of the shows last appearance weve decided to keep our booking and switch the theme.
Itll be an honour to join the boys on their last night and send off the show with a theme tribute to the acts that went “Missing in Action” right in their prime. We’ll be spinnin and speaking on albums, 12’s, tracks, guest spots from artists that seemed to have all before them only to disappear without a trace (more or less). This won’t be a tribute to those who suffered untimely deaths as Im sure you’d imagine to be the obvious, but more those who shone for a minute, got us amped, then seemingly (for whatever reason) went without a trace. Not too dissimilar to Rosco and Rawls own situation.
Tune in Friday night as we farewell the show and thank the Top Billin crew for entertaining us Friday nights for many years…
Heads up to anyone sleepin, if your new to the homie Rob’s sit Unkut.com or havent been back for a minute, best get your browser locked to UNKUTDOTCOM the brothers gone bonkers in recent months and is upping doses of dopeness daily! Recent interviews with Uptown, Craig G, Black Rob, Grimm, Shan and G-Rap along with a host of others as well as exclusives and other random info makes this a definate staple in any real rap fans internet intake.
Last week many rap nerds and fans who lived thru the early nineties golden era of rap tuned in or streamed the return of Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia to the airwaves. A reunion show that gave new schoolers a taste of what they cooked up on air back then and a trip down memory lane for the older heads. The following day the dynamic duo fronted a crowd to discuss the era with Sacha Jenkins. Slightly nerdy, no doubt but I got a buzz off hearing them speak of the time widely considered as the golden era, check it out if you have an hour spare!
I’ll be tackling the 1′s & 2′s this Saturday at Melbournes Espy warming things up prior to Ultras hitting the stage for the first time on our shores in full. Come check the greats of 88 funk your head up…
Part 2 (Cont.)
There was no doubting that the product coming out since The Straight Up Society and DWC birthed many local acts was littered with all manner of skills at infant stages, and the 90’s saw an amazing period of incredibly inspiring formation and growth, but as the scene grew to that still non-commercially-viable-but-large-enough-to-sustain-itself point at the beginning of the 2000’s, and the crowds were inflating, support was growing and rappers and DJ’s were plenty, unfortunately to me, it seemed a sense of good enough’s, good enough mentality crept in with it.
Our localized version of the artform was still being defined and refined, and to rest on our laurels and throw support to anything and everything because it was a local product was off the mark as far as I could gauge. It was definitely time to shake things up a bit.
The crew itself took a few turns and roundabouts in the early phase of planning and recording too which for better or worse was what it was. Cuts and plenty of them was as equal piece to the pie as anything in my eyes and finding the right hand to control the zhigga zhiggas was integral. J-Red had been on a couple tours with us holding down the deck duties and was super sharp on the blade. He was most definitely shaping to be the finest in his craft at the time and was a natural fit to handle that side of it. With our cut selections and direction he was the perfect foil for the role.
The other main change was the omission and what became departure of one of the crew’s initial members, Rob Nat. Rob was and still is the rap encyclopedia, check www.unkut.com for the proof. He was also renowned for his stage antics from visual hypeness, drunken debauched-ness to un-rivaled freestyles & off the dome battle raps (well before the 8-Milers). He brought elements to the L.C show that set us apart, but lacing an album and the album I wanted to deliver he had to come with a pro booth side too, as we all did. Rob had just become a parent and I think he and I both sensed the level of commitment from all involved to allow this to be what was envisioned may’ve been a stretch for him. Once the ball began rolling we decided to put a self imposed release date or at least have it complete by December of 02. Timing is everything as they say and unfortunately our time was now and although he stepped in the booth on a couple of occasions early in the recording phase, we both discussed his input and decided to keep our direction minus the Natruler on the Mic. He did co-produce two joints off the LP and continued to give input. The major positive to come from his departure was his inevitable move into what I believed to be his true calling, writing and documenting. Robs still Unkut/L.C fam to this day.
With the line up set, more direction started to appear instantly. Id been working away for the last year on some pre production, I started to tweak a couple of oldies and dug like a maniac to get started on the newies. The entire albums production was handled using the old trusted Akai s1000 and midi cubase all sequenced on an Atari ST1000. This was the style of production I had learnt from my mentor Prowla and production partner, Jase whilst working on my 12”s along with the many other projects that were laced in the Nuffsaid studios in Richmond, it worked for me so there was no point learning new ways while I was trying to still get my head around the new recording format.
The basis of the albums track selection started to map itself out too, we all had some pre-writtens that would form the nucleus of the LP, the idea was then to fill it with the missing ingredients. We weren’t about to attempt to re-invent the wheel, sticking to the classic album format was a given, so battle (already had a handle on it), sex, street & DJ homages were on the agenda. I started to accumulate a good chunk of production by now to start throwing around ideas and options to write too or match up existing verses. Things tended to start motoring along fairly quickly now as we started to come up with complete tracks ready for recording.
The three of us were fairly well accomplished emcees by the time we kicked off the recording phase, we were no doubt still developing and improving but had enough experience under our belt to hit the booth running. We had the mutual understanding that this had to be above anything wed done before. The emphasis was to blow anything else local out the water and keep on par with our favourites from anywhere in the world. It was time to really live up to our name.
To be continued…
