Style 43

Para, Para, Para... what can I say, the guy is fantastic. We were ...

Not really, in fact they make us happy with their festive gifts. If you head over to Fifth Element now, you can cop yourself a free download of a Halloween mixtape from Nikoless Scratch and Rhymesayers resident, DeeJayBird, called "Scripts of the Lost Souls". RSE love to give away their wares and we can never get enough of it to be honest. Apparently the mixtape was recorded 11 years ago in, and was the product of watching a huge amount of horror flicks and digging through the darker crates of hip hop, combined with Jel's production techniques and Bird's artistry. The full thing is a hefty two hours long and comes with all the original artwork as well. It is described on the site as being "not for the faint of heart or the kids for that matter. However, for those with nerves of steel, a sense of humor, and a flair for the extreme…let the nightmares begin!". Yeah!

Like any sort of festive season, Halloween brings out the best & worst in parties. Thank fuck I don't live in the US, where it is exploited to the maximum, but even here we get our fair share of 'scary' crap & pap. Luckily Crossfire are always around to save the night with their immense Halloween parties. This Saturday will see the 2009 event take place - warehouse style - at the previously secret location of Hewett Street Car Park in EC2. Warehouse parties guarantee at least three things: griminess, cash only and lunacy at every level. Ideal night basically. Two rooms of entertainers will keep the frenzy at a high with a whole mishmash of sounds: from DnB and breaks to punk and hardcore. Names on the list include Eddy Temple-Morris, Stereo:Type, Mike Diver, Lady Starlight (NYC), Crossfire Sound System and Talita Twoshoes. Live band action comes from Chickenhawk and The Fuckin Hate. Oh and there's a mini ramp in the second room, featuring a bunch of pro riders doing some exhibition type ish.

Bit of short notice on this one, but if you're around the Brixton area tomorrow ...

The Souls of Mischief are due to make an in-store appearance, at the Covent Garden Carhartt Store, on Monday 9 November. In-stores are always good, for two reasons: they are free and they are a whole lot more personal than some of the bigger clubs, that legends like this could easily ram out.

There I was getting all down in the dumps about the doom & gloom of winter coming and then Dubbledge goes & drops a banger of a mixtape and smacks winter in the face with his "One Inch Punch!". Dubbledge came on the scene four years ago with the "Fist of Jah" mixtape and got people buzzing from the get go, thanks to his flows which were as sharp as they were funny. 2007 was the year he dropped his debut album, "The Richest Man in Babylon", on the much-missed Low Life Records, and now two years later he is back with this little beauty.

I'll admit that when I first got this through the post, I was hyped. Edan is one of my favourites, but boy does it take him a long time to make his albums: "Primitive Plus" in 2002, then "Beauty and the Beat" in 2005 and that's it. Nothing since then, not even a hint. Then a couple of weeks ago, I saw Stones Throw bigging up a new Edan release called "Echo Party". Unfortunately it is not an album as such, more of a special mixtape with some added extras. The music comes from the extensive back catalogue of the Traffic Entertainment Group and it's taken two years for Edan to perfect the mix.

Scenario is back on the agenda, ladies & gents. Next month sees their ...

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7217058[/vimeo]

due to some mix ups, we had to change the music on the edit at last minute for the dvd. but here is the og ...

A month or so ago, we put up a little article about the album from BK-One and Benzilla (who produced that ill I Self Devine/Brother Ali joint, "Officer Down"), "Rádio Do Canibal", along with a free download of one of the tracks, "Here I Am". Well the album was released the other day and I can report that it as fresh and innovative as the hype made it sound. Easily making it into my top five albums of the year, the sheer amount of research and effort that obviously went into the making of this project is amazing. If you remember, I was talking about how BK-One has spent a lot of time travelling round the world, particularly Central and Southern America, and from that he had gathered enough ideas and influences to create a base of beats, for the vocal skills of a whole host of emcees and singers.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6933339[/vimeo]

Anyone been checking the Hip Hop Hype Dog blog recently? For the past ...

So, Inja's back and this time he's brought his compadre from Delegates of Culture, Skuff. While still riding on the success of the former's huge single, "Hat Low", they're releasing more hip-hop-dubstep-electro-funk madness but this time in the form of a full length album. Who knows what earlier suggestions for the album were, but they've settled for the not very exciting, "The Skuff & Inja Show". That's not the real cover either. They're only just finishing off the artwork apparently, so I nabbed this from Skuff's Myspace.

Peanut Butter Wolf is a legend. The man started buying records in 1979, mixing and scratching in 1984, was making beats by 1986, making full-on records by 1990 and then formed his own label, Stones Throw Records, in 1996. And we all know how amazingly that turned out. Stones Throw is probably one of the most prolific labels in the world right now, banging out new material quicker than a Primark sweatshop and covering a massive musical spectrum - if you've seen their latest roster, you'll know what I'm talking about. And all this is built on the back of Peanut Butter Wolf and his love of vinyl. Well now Mr Wolf is going to be here in London, for one very special night only, at the Jazz Cafe for the ever-popular Videocrash. The date in question is 22 October and is obviously one not to be missed. Seriously, everyone needs to see this. The audio-visual spectacular, combined with PBW's mighty music collection AND some yet to be confirmed special guests, will prove to be the maker of many immense memories.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7037664[/vimeo]

The Squid Ninjaz are an eight man crew from Wales who share harking similarities to the Wu Tang, according to their PR release. And not just cos they have eight members either. No, apparently the grimy production also reminds us of RZA's best beats - yes best beats - circa '94. Admittedly it also says it sounds like RZA's beats thrown in the tumble dryer with a Welsh accent, but that is still high praises. This is the first release from their forthcoming album, "Revenge of the Blowfish", and it comes with two tracks to whet your appetite, both with big basslines and bigger drums. "Wowzers" features SN members Joe Blow, Cevantis and Skamma, trading verses over a beat more twisted than Polanski's babysitting techniques.

brap, more coming soon.. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6916426[/vimeo]

Collaborations in music can be a dodgy area. Some should be struck from the history books forever - Jay-Z and Linkin' Park, Celine Dion and R. Kelly, Common and the god-bothering Jonas Brothers (f'real) - but there are others that should be praised forever - Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Kool Keith and Godfather Don, DJ Shadow and James Lavelle etc etc... Well now it seems there is another dangerous duo on the horizon, with a combined back-catalogue so dope it almost hurts. Del the Funky Homosapien and Tame One are the legends in question and I don't use that term for just anyone; both these emcees are responsible for producing powerful hip hop, in many manifestations, over many years.

DOOM you nut, you have a seemingly bottomless pit of a back catalogue, which could probably continue to produce releases, remixes and re-releases until my grandkids' grandkids are all old & grey. And so here we are again with his latest offering, "Unexpected Guests", which sees old Metal Face picking out some of the classic cuts, as well as some rarer ones, from his ridiculous repertoire, and putting them all together in a compilation that is probably worth a listen for any DOOM followers. I'm sure the more die-hard heads out there will already have every bit of music that DOOM ever had any remote association with, but for those that are still exploring the massive amount of music (and aliases) he has to offer, this comp is probably just right. Also the people who will probably know the tracks on here, but may not have the full albums they're included on - this is for you, too.