I Am An American - La Coka Nostra

Big new video from La Coka Nostra feat. B-Real - Check it.

Ronald Jenkees Goes Off!

This dude is NUTS. And he's got keyboard skills for DAYS.
Ronald Jenkees Website

Shake This - Royce 5'9"

Royce Da 5'9" - "Shake This" from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.

Love a bit of Royce... New video for Shake This, produced by Preeeemo. Check it.

Taking You Back To 2005

This Cribs spoof was made for the South Coast Brighton Hip-Hop Documentary that came out a while back. The film isn't perfect by any means, but has some definite moments in it. Anyway, this clip is from a crazy year, where Enlish, Daps & Newborn and me all lived together in a place affectionately known as Thug Mansion... Taking you back in time. The foot is on the gas pedal of the Delorean, and we are on our way to 88 mph... K

Oh yeah... here's the link to the full movie: www.southcoastthemovie.co.uk

Angel with Twisted Legs

Garrincha was one of the best known players ever to play for Brazil. Born into poverty, with a birth defect meaning his right leg curved inwards, doctors advised him he shouldn't play football, but he never let that stop him. Here's a great little video documenting his rise and tragic fall...

B-Real ft/ Young De - Don't You Dare Laugh

Nice new joint from Cypress Hill's B-Real... HAWLA.

You down with G.O.D? Yeah You Know Me...

Took a short trip in DJ Catch's deathmobile to catch my man Jimmy Hatetank aka DJ Manipulate and Nozl perform an insane set at the Lansdowne in Lewes (Lewes?? Yep, you heard me right). These guys are at the top of their game right now, and their floss range is off the scale. Check the myspace fam: www.myspace.com/djmanipulate





Sickness. Make sure you pick up the debut GOD LP: A Stale Breath of Fresh Ahhh

Incredible Album Artwork No.1

This is incredible. This guy hangs around with beaaaaaar mans. Ursa Major in the hizzy. Seriously though, this is off the scale of wackness, and back around to dope again. Pow.

Lions In The Forest - Pain Language

Whuddup fools. I kind went missing over the whole of October didn't I. Well in the words of Timberland and One Republic, its too late to apologise. So I won't. I've been busy though. Busy slacking. Anyway, I got hold of the new offering from DJ Muggs and Planet Asia the other day, and it is really rather good. Pain Language is the name, and its exactly the kind of sounding album you'd expect from a Muggs production, and Planet Asia has always had a dope flow since I heard him on Rasco's first LP a while back. So I thought I'd share this video with you. For my fam into their UK shit, you may well recognise the two samples up on this one as they've both been used by UK crews in the past. The intro to this track is also the intro to First Down's Pyramids of Power, off the World Service LP, and the main beat is good old Bob James (Farandole if my memory serves me correct) and was used on Hijack's LP Horns of Jericho. Anyway, I think Planet Asia kills this, so check it out... My only beef is that most lions are surely found in the jungle rather than the forest?

Yours truly

Koko Skillachi aka Stone Cold Steve Irwin.

Guiness: Good To Share

Ha ha ha ha... Big Things!

Dr Doom: Dr Octagon RIP

Dope horror flick inspired video from Keith Thornton... ZING!

Purple Porridge

New video from my man Witchdoctor Wise featuring Freecy D... Purple Porridge! Check it out!

Mex & Me - On Aussie TV...

Jesus. We probably shouldn't ever be interviewed again on the back of a week long booze binge...

New Heltah Skeltah LP Artwork

Damn man... thats an album cover and a half right there! Can't wait for this to drop.

New Pharcyde Material

Well it is kind of... Tre Hardson aka Slim Kid Tre teams up with Fat Lip for the first time in donkey's years to put together this sterling effort. I like this. Its pretty chilled out, and Tre has definitely still got the recognisable voice and the skills to go with it.

Kardinal Offishall ft/ Clipse - Set It Off

Big, BIG new video from Canada's Kardinall Offishall... Check this sucka out.

Rising Styles Flicks

You've had a few of the videos, now here's a little selection of pics from the Rising Styles live day down at the beach.


Jid Sames: Seriously, this dude is off the chain.


Soweto Kinch minus his Sax


Stig of the Dump, Skinnyman & Million Dan smashing Dogz N Sledgez


Jehst & Micall Parkinson


Koaste and Gunshot's MC Mercury


Snuff The Ablist cold chillin behind the decks


Some of the famalam including Snuff, Koaste, LJ, Vecks, Stig, Enlish, Tyni, 184, DJ Catch, Mercury & Longusto

Bert & Ernie - Ante Up

This amused me a little...

Pharcyde - Runnin' (Philippians RMX)

Dope remix of a classic tune here, part of Delicious Vinyl's RMXXOLOGY project...

Rising Styles Videos

The Rising Styles Festival on Brighton beach was a great success with some great performances from artists including Million Dan, Jehst, Kidz In The Hall and many others. Will post a full review soon, but here's the first selection of videos I've skimmed off of Youtube... The quality on some ain't great - camera phones can be a little iffy, but when I find some more, I'll post 'em. Big Things.

Hip Hop Blues - Snuff The Ablist ft/ Koaste & MC Mercury


Million Dan - Hip Hop Freestyle


Jehst with Micall Parkinson


The Benjamins (Koaste & Longusto) ft/ Vecks - Major

Muto

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

This shit is incredible... described on the website www.blublu.org as an ambiguous animation painted on public walls, Muto is definitely worth a minute or three of your time.

Jay Z @ Glastonbury

Looks like Jay stuck two fingers up at that cunt Gallagher with this set. Big things. I doubt anything could get me to go to Glastonbury, but I might have put up with the mud and shit for this set. Here's the full set...

World Record Slam Dunk Attempt

Say No To Piracy!

Rare Eminem & Proof Freestyle

Back From Australia!

Just got back this morning from Australia, and I've got to give mad shouts out to everyone that made our stay down under so enjoyable! Black Grass played shows in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and it was pretty damn special! It was my first time over there, although Mex had been over there on more than one occasion, and the place and people made a big, big impression on me! I'm not gonna bang on about it, but here's some photos from the 11 days we spent over there! Pow!


Hanging out backstage in Perth with The Resin Dogs and NZ's Scribe


Being dropped off at Perth Airport with Dabruck & Klein, Ajax and others


Koaste and Mex hang with the legend that is Peanut Butter Wolf


The crowd at the Black Grass/Peanut Butter Wolf gig in Sydney


The Fantanaman cold chillin' in a pile of ice in Melbourne


The view from our apartment in Brisbane... so, so dope.


Black Grass hanging out with the lads from The Whip... check for this band!

Anyway, thanks again to everyone at Playground, the guys and gals at Family, Peanut Butter Wolf, Resin Dogs, Bec Reid, The Diamont Hotel in Sydney, Josie Styles, Laura, Is & Tony, and finally Candy and all the fantastic people we met in Brisbane... If I've forgotten anyone, blame my alcohol intake! See you all soon! K

Righteous Kill

Hype over this film doesn't seem to have reached these shores just yet, but its only a matter of time. With De Niro and Pacino back together for the first time since Heat, this is gonna be big. Here's a little trailer for you.

Lil' Wayne's Ill Brain

Its not often I have anything to say about Lil' Wayne, except "what the fuck is that dude on?" (The answer to this is obviously sizzurp, so I'm not gonna say that again). However, I caught this video on youtube and it is genius. Its like a lil' insight into what must be going through Weezy's brain at the exact nanosecond he conceives his lyrics. So peep this, and imagine yourself as a psychoanalist delving into his psyche as this is probably the closest you're going to get, being that in every interview with him I've ever seen he seems to be off his fucking nut.



PS: Check out Damn I'm Cold off Bun B's new LP Ill Trill for some more Weezy ridiculousnesseezy. The beat is off the lil' heezy. Fa sheezy. (stop it).

Hip Hop Blues - Snuff The Ablist

Just thought I'd draw your attention to the new 12" dropping this week from my man Snuff The Ablist. Hip Hop Blues features yours truly alongside the legend that is MC Mercury from Gunshot, one of the most well known and respected crews in UK hip-hop history. Since Gunshot split up, Mercs has been out of the game for 5 years, and this track is his first return to the mic booth since then.

The B-side, Maelstrom, features myself again alongside Foreign Beggars' Orifice Vulgatron on a dark, dark beat by Snuff which allows us both to take the listener to the realm of nightmares.

The 12" is the first release from Snuff's forthcoming LP featuring the cream of UK hip-hop, scheduled to drop later in 2008/early 2009.

The launch party is at Cargo in London this Saturday night and features Snuff, yours truly, Mercury, Dr Syntax & Stig of the Dump, Last Skeptik and St. Anthony, and is sure to be a show not to be missed. So clear your diaries and get down to Shoreditch!



Anyway, until then, get your listening gear round this little sneak preev... POW!

Beer & Rap 3rd Birthday Party

A few of us jumped in DJ Catch's Deathmobile and headed up to the big smoke yesterday night for Beer & Rap's third birthday party at the Amersham Arms in New Cross... Dope venue, a lot of very purrrrty girls, and performances from the likes of Stig, Jid Sames, Saturday Night In Frankfurt and Taskforce...

I've never seen or even heard much of Jid Sames to be honest before tonight, but I'm not really sure what to make of his set... A little crazy to say the least, and for one section of the crowd, he definitely wasn't their cup of tea, and he was pelted with plastic glasses throughout...

Taskforce tore the place down as usual, with a little cameo from Jehst for The Trilogy, and all came to a riotous head with one track that had the heads at the front going apeshit, pogoing and indulging in some slightly rubbish but well meaning stage diving... ha ha...

But the real highlight for me was Saturday Night In Frankfurt, the alter egos of two prominent UK hip-hop producers, Beat Butcha and Chemo... I honestly don't know how to describe what they do, but get over to their myspace HERE to find out for yourself!

Just so you can experience a little bit of the madness that was their first live PA, here's a little video of them performing The Biggest Penis In The World... Check for Butcha's air guitar solo...



POW!

Romario Calls It A Day

Romario De Souza Faria, better known simply as Romario has called it a day and retired from professional football at the age of 42. There's no doubt about it, this guy was one of the best strikers to ever play the game, scoring some incredible goals whether playing for Brazil, Barcelona or Vasco. So here's a little montage - some of the footage is pretty blurry, but thats probably because TV was in its infancy when Romario started knocking 'em in... A'way... Romario. Legend. End of. Pow.

Ya Boy - 100 Bars of Death

Big... Some killer lines in this shit...

Like It Was 1980...

Found this up on Funny or Die... Fuck knows who this dude is, but its pretty damn amusing...

Beat Juggling With Tape Cassettes?!?

Man... this shit here is pretty incredible. I'm not even sure how he's making it happen - but he is. He definitely is. DJ Ramsey shows you how to rock a jam when the soundman drops both the decks or loses the needles... POW!

La Coka Nostra - Thats Coke

First video I've seen from the Coka Nostra guys, and its pretty slick. Maybe one day they'll get round to releasing an LP...

Everlast Interview

House of Pain and La Coka Nostra frontman Everlast talks about his forthcoming new LP...

See more from Everlast at Martyr Inc

Bonus Footage:

Snoop Dogg - Jump Around

Weezy Hit By Champeezy

Yo, my finger ain't so much on the pulse, but scratching my balls while the pulse goes on unchecked. Sure you've all seen this already, but here's Lil' Weezy getting the crowd's backs up at the Stratford Rex (Jesus... last time I was there was 10 years ago for Fresh '98...)

Hip Hop Songs About Hip Hop No. 1

Pacewon & Mr Green: Hip Hop

Broken Language '08

Didn't believe this when I saw it, and even then I worried whether it'd be any good, but Method Man and Redman do the original of Broken Language proud with this version for the '08. Big, big things.

Tom Caruana Remix Time

Brighton based producer Tom Caruana is one of the most prolific beat makers on the south coast these days, spilling out more hot bangers than many of his contemporaries. So many beats in fact, that now he's turning his head to remixing some of those artists from the other side of the water. Its all unofficial of course, but the man can certainly add a little UK flavour to the tracks he's selected... So here you go... TC:

Gangstarr - DWYCK (TC Remix)



Q-Tip - Breathe & Stop (TC Remix)



Casual - Thats How It Is (TC Remix)

NORE: Cocaine On Steroids

POW! Okay, so this mixtape came out last year, but I think it's still one of my favourites, up there with Clipse's We Got It For Cheap Vol. 2 - NORE is king of that ign'ant shit, and if you like a little bit of that, then this tape doesn't fail to please. From the opening Cocaine Cowboys, via the explosive Club Shit featuring Three Six Mafia, this is some shit to bump as loud as possible in the whip or in your cans. So click that link, twist your cap back, roll your sleeves up and get thugged out. Cocaine on Steroids - by far the best name for a mixtape in the last few years, mixed by DJ Green Lantern, so get ready for some spinbacks and explosions...

Cocaine On Steroids

First Down: Last To Fall

Have a butchers at the photo from the post below. See that tall block on the right? Well, most of you probably don't know that in that block, up on the 22nd floor, was where one of my favourite UK albums of all time was recorded. An album which still gets bumped hard in the Illwood Heights stereo. Any ideas yet? Well, allow me to put you out of your misery. World Service, by First Down dropped in '94, and proceeded to put Brighton truly on the map as far as hip-hop music goes. The combination of heavy beats and the uncompromising vocal styles of the emcees rode the line between the Britcore styles of crews such as Gunshot and Deliverance and styles infiltrating our ears from the other side of the pond. Regularly rated in the top 50 UK hip-hop LPs of all time, World Service was a big inspiration to me as an up and coming rapper, and continues to prove worthy of the accolades it received.

A few years later, a follow up album was recorded, although never released.

Later in 2008 though, these tracks, and some brand new material will be released upon an unsuspecting world through the medium of mixtape. Featuring Korekt, Aroe, Baron Demus, Surprize, Bluze, and featuring guest spots from Remark (Deliverance), MC Mell'o' alongside others I'm sure. And how do I know this? Well, I'll be guesting on the mixtape as well. I spent a day locked in the studio the other week, and I can officially tell you that it is sounding HOT. Now I understand there's still a bit of recording to get done before the tape is finished, so here's a couple of tracks from World Service to get you fiending.



Mad Dogs & Englishmen RMX

Jaw Warfare Pt. 4

For more stuff featuring the production of First Down's Aroe, check out Soundmakers' myspace page, and hunt down the Tuff Crew remixes!

POW!

Sunshine!

Into February we go, and things are looking better outside Illwood Heights with a great guest appearance from that big ball of heat we like to call the sun. It still ain't exactly hot out there, but a little bit of blue sky does make everything just that little bit better. And everything will be doper still when Dr Syntax, DJ G-Petz and myself head over to Chamonix next month for a set of three gigs in the French Alps. We're hitting the slopes though, so expect to see me on stage on crutches knowing my abilities on a snowboard!

Anyway, make sure you check the vid below of Alex Young getting wild with the ink, and if you haven't checked the site out already, head over to The Sixtyone and vote for my tracks...

POW!

'Inkin Heck! Its Alex Young

Big props to the fam over at Delarge for this vid, showing one of the craziest artists in the game right now. Alex Young has done artwork for various artists such as the Nextmen, Evil Ed & K-Delight and others, and proves here that he's sick with the ink as well as the can.


Time-lapse art featuring Alex Young from delarge on Vimeo.

You can find more of Alex's work here: Brain of Alex Young

The Sixty One

Another quick little post to get your heads pointing towards The Sixty One - a music site I had recommended to me. Its for both artists and listeners alike. Artists upload their music, and the further up the site those tracks go, is completely down to the listeners bumping them from their profiles... Confused? It all makes perfect sense once you're had a Frank Butchers at the site.

Anyway, I've uploaded a few new tracks to my page on the site, so if you feel compelled to sign up and bump them up the list, then go ahead...

My tracks are here.

HAWWWWWWLAAAA!

My Fist In Your Face

Stumbled across this blog when I was jumping through random links like the Sam Beckett of cyberspace, and I'm glad I did. There's a load of good stuff on offer like the BUMPS mixtape, which I've got pounding through my off-the-back-of-a-lorry speakers right now. There's also a link to the demo tapes from one of my favourite LP's of all time, Casual's Fear Itself, which makes it worth visiting the site on the strength of that alone. A'way, I've adde the address to the Linkage section for future reference, but for now, get your mouse and hammer on these words right here ---> MY FIST IN YOUR FACE!

Blast From The Past

Well its Saturday afternoon, and here's a little treat for you all. Taking things back to 1999, a little footage from that year's South East Mixing Championships, featuring some early footage of my old friend Killa Kela back in the 360 Physicals days... You can spot a few infamous faces in the background, including yours truly...

Pure Mayhem

Not sure what happened to The Terrorists' mixtape that this tune was supposed to feature on, but for those that haven't seen it, here's the video for Mayhem by my good friend Dr Syntax... A very dope track, with a very dope video, I think you'll agree...

Happy New Year Motherfuckers!

Guess who's back... Yeah, thats right, I've finally composed myself and dragged my stinking carcass out of the intoxicated liver-fuck that was my Christmas, Birthday and New Year, and I'm now rolling up my sleeved and preparing to hit 2008 with the kind of ferocity normally reserved for Newcastle fans with season tickets behind Sam Allardyce's dug-out. I realise that the tail end of 07 was a bit slack as far as Fantana Reports goes, but I'll endeavour to bring you a little bit more quality over the next 356 days. Who knows - it might actually happen.

So... thats all very well, but what have you got for us now?, I hear you cry. Well let me cut to the Chevy Chase.



First up, registering strongly on the radar is the debut LP from NYC producer/deejay Statik Selektah. Now you may or may not know the name just yet, but Spell My Name Right hits all the right buttons as far as I'm concerned. I had mad trouble picking it up from around Brighton and had to cop it online, but its worth the search to get your hands on it. The list of guests he's managed to rope into appearing is pretty phenomenal. DJ Premier, KRS-One, Large Professor, Q-Tip, Joell Ortiz, AZ, Royce the 5'9", Ev from Dilated Peoples - the list goes on. The beats are all pretty tasty too, from the laid back Stop, Look, Listen to the Mike Tyson's Punch Up sampling Punch Out (see what they've done there) featuring Big shug. Anyway, picking up this LP if you haven't already got it would be a sure fire way to kick off 2008 in style, so go geddit!

I also picked up Termanology's Hood Politics V, but I won't offer my opinion just yet, as I haven't listened to it enough to do any review justice...

Right, moving on to video of the week - taking things over to the Westside for Ice Cube's Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It - judge this for yourself fam, but up here at Illwood Heights, I'm definitely feeling it.



In UK news, it gives me great pleasure to announce the return of Dusty Crates Radio after a brief hiatus. My man Last Skeptik will be uploading new shows on the rgular, so head over, slam a bookmark in that goddamn web address, and rest easy knowing your life is a great deal more complete than it was before you did it. And while I'm on the subject, check out Skeptik's Under The Patio for January. If you don't know, know you know.

Moving on to films. Whatever you do, don't waste an hour and a half of your time sitting through I Am Bell-End or whatever Will Smith's new flick is actually called. Nothing more than a yank rip-off of 28 Days Later, with possibly the worst ending I have endured for a good few years. Its that shit that I thought I'd post a breakdown on here, but then I thought no, if you want to ignore my advice and watch it, then do. You won't get that time back though, ya heard! Oh, and don't get me started on the shithouse CGI...

Anyway, before my blood reaches boiling point and I spontaneously combust, I think I'd better mention the fact that my man Vecks from Genius Squad has a new track up on his myspace called Sunday Service, featuring Rup the Cnut and yours truly, pontificating on the finer points of the beautiful game.

Other things that are good, before I go: Jessica Alba in Sin City; My liver healing itself after the festive booze up; The new beat I got off Tom Caruana; Gigs in the French Alps in March; Longusto's forthcoming CD; Anticipation of the new Aliens vs Predator film (whether or not it will be any good is another question, but I live in hope); Call of Duty online (PS3 you Xbox chumps)...

Till next time.