Style 43

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There's a lot of good local music coming my way this week. Luckily for me, Bristol has always been a melting pot of musical influences, from the days of The Wild Bunch and then Massive Attack, up to the more recent breakthroughs of artists like TC and Jakes. I'm glad the history books are not closed for the Bristol music scene just yet; as this week proves, there are still a lot of amazing sounds coming out of my favourite city.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYky7kUWP_4[/youtube] Anyone with their finger on the Rhymesayers' pulse will already know that Brother Ali is on his Fresh Air Tour at the moment, alongside label mates Toki Wright and Evidence. By all accounts the live show is amazing (shock horror), which is all well and good if you happen to be in the States and can actually go catch one of the shows, but some of us live in other places and don't have the kind of funds necessary to feed an international live hip hop habit.

I think it must be like a two years now. But I was in need of some new shoes at the time and I remember getting some Lotek Deltas off of H-Man through Streetphire. I was pretty stoked on those shoes, so much so that I wanted a pair of Nightwolfs some months later and proceeded to go to H-Man again who informed he no longer had any Loteks to sell. He forwarded me to Mike, who runs 20Twenty and sure enough I got me some Nightwolfs. That was quite a while ago and Mike has helped me out with some other stuff recently as well. So it only seems right that I put up a Quick Q's with him so anyone that doesn't know of 20Twenty can find out about them and hopefully it might spur you to think next time you order something to maybe give Mike a call instead.

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just come back from a week long road trip with some of the carhartt flatland team, we started in Koblenz Germany and finished off in ...

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6601654[/vimeo] enjoy

Next Friday September 25th, Jehst returns to the Jazz Café with resident DJ’s Sarah Love ...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbVKKJvJltY[/youtube] The hip hop world is in mourning yet again, due to the untimely death of one of its true grandmasters, Anthony Williams aka Roc Raida. The 37 year old apparently died from complications following a car accident earlier this month. It was announced by Busta Rhymes on Twitter, "I am sorry 2 say that on this day at 2:05 Sept 19th we lost another incredible life...Dj Roc Raida died 2day my personal Dj is gone..."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzPx3bNESYQ[/youtube] When I was a kid, probably around 14 or 15, I became friends with a dude at school who gave me my first ever hip hop tape. It had "Illmatic" on one side and "Enta Da Stage" on the other, both albums that I still bang today. Anyway the guy's name was Chris and we'd continue to bump into each other around Bristol until I moved away for a few years in 2003.

Launched in 2004, Rising Styles (formerly known as The Brighton Hip Hop Festival) is the UK’s largest celebration of international Hip-Hop culture. Building on the success of high profile events, the 2009 festival is developing a fantastic line up of high profile events that are designed to appeal to all audiences old and new and promises to be bigger and better.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XOa8eaTZuo[/youtube] A duo thoroughly steeped in hip-hop accolades, the Minnesota-based duo Eyedea and Abilities have returned with their brand new album “By The Throat”, out on Rhymesayers Entertainment (home to Atmosphere, Brother Ali, P.O.S et al). Their first album since the breakout 2004 release “E&A”, “By The Throat”’s songs range from intensely personal topics to the more esoteric (quantum mechanics).  The end result is leaps and bounds beyond what MC Eyedea is perhaps best known for, his prowess as a battle rapper (winner of HBO’s Blaze Battle, Scribble Jam and several others).

O.K I'm sat in a hotel in Montpelier, I come across this video, I feel close to vomiting. I have seen the dark and I ...

The Notorious IBE 2009... GOD-DAMN-IT! The Dutch IBE (International Breakdance Event) was first held in 1998 and over the past eleven years it has grown into one of the biggest events period. Spread over eight venues in the southern city of Heerlen thousands of worldwide connected bboys and fiiiine bgirls came together. Style 43 payed a visit to the legendary IBE which promissed to be the biggest ever, including the yearly All Battles All friendly continental dance wars and the already history-books-worthy Salah vs Bionic Man.

Notts top shotters, The Elementz, are back with a BOOM and a slew of remixes on their new release, "Club Music". It's been a couple of years since their immense "Crushmode" album dropped, but don't let the silence fool you. The old 'calm before the storm' saying seems appropriate coz they've been in the lab concocting 14 remixes for us humble lot and as if that wasn't enough, they've only gone and made it a free bloody download!

After a live night at Vibe Bar back in June with Ramson Badbonez, Skandal and DJ Gone, Suspect Packages LIVE is back!! London & the UK's original premier UK hip hop pioneer Disorda, brings his Suspect Packages brand to the Vibe Bar stage on the second Friday of each month. Showcasing the freshest UK rappers & collectives, up and coming and established names! Friday October 9th has Micall Parknsun, Joker Starr & Children Of The Damned all performing live, whilst Disorda and DJ LoK control the decks. They will be bringing classic and new hip hop, dubstep, reggae other 'fresh' vibes to the speakers!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsPaYZ26Cw0[/youtube] Unless you've been comatose, incarcerated or having a massive nap for the past six months or so, you will be well aware that Brother Ali's third album,"Us", is set to be released real soon. Once again Ant is on the beats, following the success of their partnership on Ali's previous releases, so we can expect more of the originality and emotional depth that was crammed into both "Shadows on the Sun" and "The Undisputed Truth".

At last! I know we're not the only ones who have been clamouring for the UK to be blessed with a visit from one (or all) of the Doomtree crew, and now it seems as though our cries have not been in vain. Last week P.O.S announced he would be embarking on a European tour this Autumn and the UK will be getting him for no less than nine dates.

It takes a lot to make me feel good in the morning. Especially when I'm stuck in an office and it's sunny outside and it seems as though the whole world is having a party which you're not invited to. But then a little sliver of good news will come through, like a flower breaking concrete, and everything seems okay again. This time that honour went to Rhymesayers, for their announcement of the forthcoming release of BK-One's debut album. Not content with being an immense DJ, touring with Brother Ali and releasing some dope mixtapes, BK-One is now planning to release a debut album, with the help of new producer on the Minnesotan block, Benzilla. The album, "Rádio Do Canibal", is going to be 'a Brazilian musical bed for some of hp hop's most engaging MC's' to do their thing on.

some years ago David Hallett approached me asking if i would be interested in filming a few things down at south bank, 2 ...