Get some hip hop knowledge from this week’s Saturday Matinée where KRS One discusses philosophy and hip hop’s origins. New listeners to hip hop have the disadvantage of having a culture and its music forced down its throat by the media with little or no links to its past heritage. That’s not to say all …
Akai and their line of MPC’s have ruled the roost for the past couple of decades, with the SP-1200 the only real competition in that department. Now that we have the Maschine, things are a little different but back in 2001, Roland Corporation fused and improved upon the qualities of their Roland MS-1 Digital Sampler …
As we inch ever closer to autumn, Yancey Boys drop another Dilla-produced gem in Quicksand.
In arguably the funniest edition of Rhythm Roulette, El-P makes a beat from scratch out of three records and some broken equipment. Sometimes you just can’t trust your equipment when making a track; you have to make do with what you have – like in life. One such occasion occurred in the latest edition of …
Our Throwback Thursday this week is dedicated to the late great Michael Jackson on his 55th birthday. Here is his Grammy Awards Performance from 1988. First off, happy birthday Michael Jackson! The King Of Pop would have been 55 years old today and while he can’t be with us to celebrate we can sure as …
Kaly’s new track letting us know he “can’t stop and won’t stop” and to be honest we wouldn’t want him to either. I’ve been a fan of Kaly since I first heard his track with RKZ and this guy continues to go from strength to strength with his bars and flow. Kaly rhymes effortlessly over …
Darko The Super and Starchild are back with a fresh jam for us entitled “Chances Are”. The very talented Darko The Super is back this time lacing vocals on a sweet backing beat from our editor in chief himself Starchild. The beat was originally released on Starchild’s Meridian Falcon beat tape in February but picked …
It’s finally happening. J Dilla’s uncle is planning to open a donut shop in Detroit called Dilla’s Delights.
Turns out some of our favourite producers (LAKIM, Elaquent and Handbook) remixed The Robert Digweed Collective’s First Impressions. Remember we told you about The Robert Digweed Collective and their jazz fusion debut First Impressions? Well, it turns out Robert Digweed commissioned some producers to remix the album which was a brilliant idea. Upon further inspection, …
RKZ’s latest track, Favourite Song, is free to download and produced by fellow UK producer Handbook. While you prepare for the Notting Hill Carnival festivities today, you might want to consider throwing this track on to keep the vibe going. The multitalented RKZ (who recently became the Head of UK Content here at Sampleface) continued …
TimeLess One drops Take U There (A Tribute To 9th Wonder), a promo single off his upcoming album “Give”. Musical tributes are commonplace in hip hop, whether they be in production or rap form. If the subject of the homage isn’t Dilla or Madlib, it’s usually 9th Wonder. On Take U There (A Tribute To …
It’s been nearly a year since The Robert Digweed Collective released First Impressions but it’s still as mellow as ever. There’s a creative storm brewing in Nottingham with Warren Xclnce, Mimm and now Robert Digweed and his collective at the epicentre. Back in September 2012, Digweed and a group of jazz musicians came together to …
Musician Julian Corrie gathers some old consoles together to create “Polybius” in this video set in an empty swimming pool.
Tay Devenny rhymes over “Leitha”, a deep mellow vibe featuring Stanley Ipkuss and produced by Wun Two.
Pragmatic Theory hit us with another free compilation called Elevated Patterns, featuring the likes of Warren Xclnce, KLIM beats and JuSoul.
UK rapper REAIN gives us some Soul Food For Thought with this smokey accompanying video. Staying socially conscious in hip hop without having the greater media slap the “conscious rap” tag on you like a cowboy branding cattle is tough. Fortunately for REAIN, we’re not trigger happy with the proverbial branding iron and observed his …
Erykah Badu’s RBMA lecture at their Madrid 2011 event is our Saturday Matinée feature presentation. She might have spoken at the New York event this year but back in 2011, Erykah Badu gave a RBMA lecture in Madrid (hosted by Now Again Records owner Egon). The “Queen of Neo Soul” touched upon a number of …
Back in 2001, Pink, Usher and Mýa paid tribute to Janet Jackson as part of a series called MTV Icon with some dazzling dance routines. Just before it clocks over into Friday, I thought I’d drop this Throwback Thursday in. I was struggling to think of something that was both old and original enough to …
Deku Kid of Purple Caviar samples some Gameboy sounds from Pokémon Blue and makes a beat out of it on his Maschine. I may well be 23 but that hasn’t stopped me from continuing to play Pokémon for the past 14 years (on and off). Having played every version (except the last one), I still …
US producer 2 Mello flips music from SNES RPG Secret Of Mana into a dope beat. Computer game samples are fantastic when executed brilliantly. One such example is 2 Mello’s Spirit Of The Night (Secret Of Mana Remix), where the producer replays the melody on the piano and throws on some sax and a crackling …