2013: Disaster

So I did okay - I listened to a lot of British Rap. I missed a lot too - for a number of reasons. One: these records are fairly unavailable in any form, Two: I'm disorganised and Three: Life took over.

But I did okay. I got to the top ten; I got a copy of Dettwork Southeast. I could never find a copy of the Katch 22 album. And I'd had the top three for years (MC Mell'o; Hijack; London Posse). I didn't get to wax lyrical about the London Posse. Basically I don't like them that much but How's Life In London is without question, the best pop single to come out of the UK ever.

It's been a funny old year - I came here with a suitcase containing Christmas Crackers, celebrated Christmas 2 with Amy, got a new cat, rediscovered buying records, made some new friends and some really terrible beer. America's a funny place sometimes, and living here I sometimes feel like an anthropologist: This is different, that is different, Amy cringes each time I declare that I'm off to the toilet. You can really while away your time watching Americans use knives and forks.

But now I feel it's my home - that it's the place that celebrates the slightly weird aspects of my personality that always made me feel awkward back home. That I spent the majority of the year uncovering this hidden world of incredible music both made me a little homesick but it also acted as an impetus to move forwards. The Krautrock project was all about unbridled optimism for the unknown future and being prepared to live in that future whilst in the present. This project reminded me that there's still plenty to learn. That these records have gone largely unnoticed or unacknowledged is unsurprising but it's nice to come across them none the less.

And overall, the quality was fairly astonishing. There were a few clangers (probably a result of over enthusiasm at the time of writing) but 90% of the records on there were stone classics or records to become stone classics. And whilst I struggled to deal with them sometimes, they were surprisingly surprising and beautifully well formed.

So with an order of the Katch 22 record to go, I think I've done enough on this one.

But what of 2014? I've been testing CDs out on long car journeys with Amy and she practically told me to do the project that I've planned. It's not a top 50 but it's a revisiting of the entire output of a group that will take the whole year. It required a spreadsheet and three days of research to prepare. I will take a less stressful approach to this one: If I can't get it I can't get it. The main stuff should be easy to acquire.

I'm well excited.

7: Lewis Parker - Masquerades & Silhouettes

The cover's ripped off from CTI you know. This was a record I've always wanted to hear but never got round to buying. Fortunately it's on iTunes so I had a fun week listening to it.

It's a bit different y'see - none of the drum heavy stuff here, not fast rap, no public enemy samples. 8 tracks only. It's incredible - like someone hearing hip hop but seeing something more than that and pushing themselves to create something unrepeatable.

It's romantic (I stole that from HHC) without being corny. It's one of those perfect records that sounds like nothing else and exists in it's own world.

9: Caveman - Positive Reaction

Love this record. Straight up jazz influenced goodness. Solid from start to finish.

The tempo is high, the music is guitars and sax, the rhyming is light but accomplished. There's a track called Fry You Like Fish which is as awesome as it sounds. On the flip side: Hendrix blasts out and all is right with the world. It's such a great record.

10: Mark B and Blade - The Unknown

This was it. This was the 2000 record which meant that British Hip Hop was a Big Deal. I remember that they had a 5 album deal with the new Wordplay records. Blade: the British Rapper, Mark B: the British Producer. What could go wrong.

Well, nothing, but there's something not quite right about this record. The lightness and bounce in the Task Force production is gone and Mark sets his sights on a heavy Library record based voyage. It's Mark B so it's good but there's something a little plain about the beats. There are many missteps: As a double record, this would have made a fantastic single LP. Building A Rep, for example, is good but should have been left on the cutting room floor. The Unknown, on the contrary, is great - Blade pushing his agenda over UK psych cut up from Mark.

There's a track with Westwood which does nothing. There's a track with Al Tariq which is incredible. It's swings and roundabouts. Overall this record is quite tiring despite being good. I found myself skipping the dull tracks and heading for the good ones.

Mark B and Blade didn't make it. Even with an appearance (via Feeder of all terrible things) on Top of the Pops this was the only album of their 5 album deal:

11: Task Force - New Mic Order

And after the wonderment of Fleapit, something equally good but less irreverent. Task Force meets Mark B and end up with something utterly wonderful and classy.

Mark B's finest production work to my ears - each track drips with excellence. Like how everyone pulls out their best work for Illmatic - each track here is perfectly conceived.  The rhyming is excellent as well, the balance between the two being perfectly well judged.

It's on You with Skinnyman being less annoying than on his record is superb - a marching rhythm and some lovely writing. Everything is so good, the memory of those terrible records seem so distant.

I love this record.

12: Fleapit - Music From The Ditch

And finally, after a run of boring records a good one. A really good one at that. So good, I think this topples Braintax as my favourite so far.

The Welsh contingent blend together some stupid rhyming with first rate production along some vocal scratching. It's wondrous and reminds you why the best hip hop came out of the fringes rather from the capitol. Anomalous Assault is typical of the Fleapit sound - straight up Vinyl Vulture jazz production and some daft rapping.

Greyskull Takeover Bid, however, is the song I've listened to more than any other this year. Roundtable like medieval jazz goes on whilst the MC talks to all the minor characters from He-Man and leads into a song about mortgages. A few Greyskull samples top it off. It's just incredible.

It's all done in a respectable 12 tracks. And there we go: My favourite record on the list.

I'LL KEEP THE WIG ON:

13: Joe Buddha presents Klashnekoff - Lionheart: Tussle with the Beast

Wins the prize for the longest album and artist title. And it was released the year the list was written so we can forgive them for being a bit excited about it. It's not that great to be honest - very earnest but the parts don't match up very well. Klashnekoff is okay but ultimately forgettable.

Sayonara is the standout for me: nice and bumping, up tempo with some hard rhyming. The remainder I don't really want to hear again:

Here's a video to My Life:

14: Roots Manuva - Awfully Deep

Considering he didn't touch the top ten, three records in the company of Roots and I'm not sold. I like his voice and his lyrics are interesting. But there's something about the production that leaves me a little cold.

This is a good record, perhaps not the best of the three that are on the list. Typical Roots rapping over some electronica isn production. I still feel that the best things I've heard from him are the tracks on Countryman. On this record I really like The Falling which strangely sounds like a Countryman outtake, it's less forgettable than the other tracks. But otherwise, I have no inclination to seek out more.

Here's a terrible video for The Falling:

15: Skinnyman - Council Estate of Mind

This kicks of with a sample from a Tim Roth film which I've not seen but sounds like a Borstal type movie for the nineties. Roth is the troubled one who goes around the system. This film forms the basis of the album - I can probably recite the whole film after hearing this record.

This record is a weird one. Skinnyman's a good rapper, the production is pretty solid but there's something weirdly un-engaging about it and the I'm hard done to schtick becomes quite tiresome. But it's grown on me quite a bit. The key problem for me is that the tempo is generally too slow and I don't feel like there's enough variation thematically to keep the record interesting.

There are highlights: I'll be surprised has a bouncy soul sample with some nice bass and drums and it all works really well. The title track is pretty good too but these are the exceptions: it's nice but it's not quite right.

Here's the Mud Fam coming live:

27: Overlord X - Weapon is My Lyric

So according to our Overlord - it's rough in Hackney. This is another solid turn of the 90s rap effort - all public enemy lite production and solid rapping. There's a bit of Beethoven sampling, that always makes me think of a Clockwork Orange. There's some fast rap.

When he does slower raps it works a little less well - he doesn't quite have the caliber to hold up  the tempo, though the faster raps are more successful. I've listened to this record at least 10 tens but to be honest I can't quite picture it - it's good but ultimately forgettable.

Here's the Overlord Live:

26: Son Of Noise - The Mighty Son Of Noise

This one was late because I had to order it - unlike the krautrock project, a lot of these records are really hard to get. Forget about iTunes, and I don't do Spotify on principle - they're even hard to find on blogs.

Anyway I got this, and it's on Kold Sweat. It files nicely alongside golden age back pack type US stuff but with a bit more class. There's a bit of fast rap and frenetic scratching. The thing it has in common with a bunch of records on this list is that, in general and for single disc records, there's not filler. I love hip hop dearly but too often there's a bit too much free reign to do whatever. This is tight and to the point and keeps the bar raised on each track.

It gets quite difficult to talk about these records - like the krautrock project, it's surprising that I not only like 90% of the records here but something like 75% have become top listens. The quality is so high and it's easy to forget that there are bad rap records a plenty out there.

Take Keep It Goin: posse cut, the production is simple but tight - everyone comes correct and it leaps off the record player and into your head. This record is good.

Here's a freestyle:

19: Katch 22 - Diary Of A Black Man Living In The Land Of The Lost

And now of course I am horrendously behind. Not in listening but finding the time to write things up is difficult. But as work winds down before Christmas I have a little more time and perspective on this project.

So Katch 22. A Kold Sweat group - the distinctive green labelled hip hop label. And with that title, and that cover you just now that this is going to be a goodie. And indeed it delivers: Like a good strand of british rap, the production is public enemy lite. Katch Mission builds on a bomb alert james brown type sample that the Bomb Squad would use as a base layer - here it's relatively sparse but still powerful. The rapping is tight and to the point. Another common thread is the fast rap track: here Service with a Smile races along with a ton of whoop scratching.

And it carries on that high level - solid rapping, solid production and good djing. It's a great great record.

Couldn't find a live version so here's Katch Mission:

8: Gunshot - Patriot Games

October has been a busy month. But I'm keeping up with the listening, if I'm not keeping up with the recording so I have a fair backlog to work through.

And we're well into the top 10 already - only 9 more weeks till 2014, which feels utterly crazy but you can't argue with reality, and the East Bay is making it clear that winter is coming by refusing to be warm. No chance of getting a cheeky walk of the dog sans coat now...

But here we are - Gunshot. Patriot Games. Britcore. Britcore to me is the smashing together of Public Enemy levels of hyperbole, a much higher tempo beat, liberal use of movie samples and blustery scratching. You get this in abundance all over this record: World War 3 borrows heavily from War Games (THIS IS A RED DASH ALPHA MESSAGE IN TWO PARTS. BREAK! BREAK!). Patriot Games starts off with a "Shall we play a game" before going into a crazy flute break. The opening track, Manhunt, is a radio tale of Gunshot escaping the interception squad. Throughout the beats are heavy and, critically, fast. It's unclear how the three piece are holding up today - only White Child Rix is pictured in the article, Mercury repping World War 3, and Alkaline being absent. The titles are gloomy: World War 3, Bullets Entering Chest, Reign of Terror. But the pace is relentless and it packs a punch.

Bullets Entering Chest is a merry go round with drums punching the mix, the beat is cut up but to the point, scratching lifting the tune. What's been so enjoyable about the late stages of the list is how high the quality is and how distinct the music is from US hip hop. There are elements of it here, the scratching parts and film samples sounding vaguely like things I've heard before. But the tempo! Totally unique, and the play off between the beat and rhyming is pure delight.

One of the best things about the top ten is that they've got pictures of the group now (though only one here) holding the record from the past. It's a bizarre reminder that the majority of these groups are long gone but the music is eternal. I'm feeling increasingly detached from my home land at the moment, partly because I'm busy and partly because I read the news much less these days. A flick through the top ten suggests that these records are obscure by most standards and it feels shameful that they languish in obscurity - I'm sure the time will come but the quality is so astonishingly high it makes me feel a little homesick.

But anyway - here's GUNSHOT PLAYING ON THE BEAT! Full points to anyone who can name the weirdo guitarist and explain why the Beat was successful despite the lack of the studio audience:

16: Fallacy - Black Market Boy

Hmm. After that run of incredible comes something of a comedown. Hated this on first listen, all tedio-rap sounding far too much like pop-rap for my liking.

It grew on me a bit, and I started to see some light in the cracks. He is a good rapper, just not my thing - good voice but I have no interest in what he's saying. There's a great Skully DJ Skit which cuts into the Groundbreaker track - which is better stuff, production is okay, fairly urgent. The rapping's all 'Look at those girls, look at my wheels' type stuff but it all fits together okay.

And then a lot more of the same (18 tracks on the itunes version). And then! The most fateful of mid-nighties bonus tracks! A ShyFX and T-Power Jungle remix of Groundbreaker. As bad as it sounds

Here's Skully:

And here's that tune (albeit with a crazy guy dancing):

18: Blade - The Lion Goes From Strength To Strength

In 1993, the only group that interested me was Carter: The Unstoppable Sex Machine. I was a typical nut, poring over their fan club newsletters. One that I remember was asking for help from this guy Blade: Send him 15 quid (or maybe 20) and you get a copy of this record, which was then unpressed or unrecorded. A pre-internet Kickstarter. And there on the booklet that comes with the record is a list of everyone that contributed (including Carter USM).

And it's Blade. What more can you say - in another world he would be common knowledge but despite a few goes it never seemed to happen for him. Listening to this record now, twenty years on, it leaps out at you. The production is incredibly tight, the drums knock you round the head - all crunchy Public Enemy lite in amount but a similar amount of force behind it. And Blade, born with a rappers voice. Every word is placed for effect. No compromise.

It's a double record, and feels it. It could have been tighter as a single but he didn't make that many records so we should be grateful for this amount of material. The track with Mell'O stands out, both of them on form:

"Mell'O why you cursing?" "Because I'm fucking angry!"

Clever rap stuff too: "How To Raise A Blade", a cappella, and then some stupid piano playing - the true test of a great rap record: you don't notice how annoying the skits are. And then crash into "No Compromise" - pounding drums and a head nodding piano line. And Blade, knocking it out the park for the umpteenth time.

29: Vicious Circle - Bagged Out

After two goes, this CD finally arrived in Oakland. And good god that cover: like the Kersal Massive have let Little Ginger Kev loose with Clip Art and Text Effects. Everything about it screams awful. So Vicious Circle, a group I know very little about and what I can glean from the HHC piece it's a crew (Wolftown) and mainly 10Shott and Size8 on this.

It's a wonderful record. One that completely captures what I've truly loved about this list of records: British Rap has high production values (in terms of laying out and blending samples), but it's forced through this funnel of lo-fi-ness. Not in a full on Shrimper type way but it's clear that these records were made for a small amount of money and a lot of production hustling. Us Man is typical: grimy drums, and a bouncing dumbeat, and some Brummie rapping. The rapping is earnest and accomplished - I've been caning the Parlour Talk record and there's something about regional accents doing rap which I find incredibly appealing now. Burglars is a bizarre, almost nonsense tale, over a well placed piano and drum beat: "If the burglar tries to burgle me and the burgler acts nervously, of course I've got stop the burglar who tried to murder me, you hearing me?"

The posse elements come through: there are a lot of tracks here (22), lots of appearances which are generally high quality. It's a solid record through and through. Just that cover though, what were they thinking?

Couldn't find any videos, but here's Burglars:

17: First Down - World Service

This is one of the records I own - the time I bought it was an attempt to work through the list in a random order. Again unsuccessful but I gave this one a fair listen. It's another winner from the start, a real gem of a record.

It's a weird one, in that it's pretty long, but keeps things moving and remains fairly urgent throughout. Incredibly lo-fi, from a hip hop perspective, it kept me going almost till I reached West Oakland from Palo Alto. Plenty of samples and scratching to keep you interested. Fairly laid back rhyming but a shit ton of urgency.

It's starting to get surreal on this project - the world of british rap was pretty much closed to me, certainly I never read about this stuff outside of the always reliable Big Daddy mag and now it's starting to open up and become some of the best hip hop I've ever heard, and it's generally as good as the American stuff which I lauded over in the early 2000's. Amy and I went to see The World's End and they included Silver Bullet during one of the fight scenes - I guess it was a big hit at the time but it made me feel like my teenage years were spent with far too much Fall to appreciate the wider world of music.

"Then You Can joke" is the modal First Down track - crashing jump and a simple sample. The rapping is insistent and he leans back on the track and just lets loose. Heavy head nodding throughout - it all feels way too mature for a first album.

Seven Emcees near the end has just that, from all over the place. German included, rapping in German which sounds as strange as it reads - not the best language for lyrical dexterity. They save the best til last though: Jam Warfare Pt 4 starts with a warning, and then into heavy scratching and some top quality rapping - tears through your headphones leaving nothing behind.

When I was depressed, music was always there but it always felt like a motion - like it was a backdrop to my unhappiness but it was hard to engage. But now, in Oakland, music feels more exciting and I think paring down my collection has helped and I realise that it's good to keep a cap on the size of the stuff. I'm falling in love with music again, and like the other loves in my life it's a different kind of love but I love it.

Here's a First Down freestyle. My two take aways are that a) they're young b) they're really good

21: The Demon Boyz - Original Guidance

This the second Demon Boyz album (the first is higher up). It's a tough find and is pretty much unavailable digitally. I have only vague memories of the first LP but with that this sounds like a progression.

The title track sets it off - lightweight sample based production, and some raga style rapping. When the music is tight, for me it works, Outer National Karate being especially good: Living in Society is like Karate? The second half of the album turns up the raga knob: Sweet Jamaica is interesting and loses all the things I liked about the first half of the record. The standout track is Glimity Glamity: A tight guitar hook that runs throughout the tune. For me it's the only track on the record that successfully blends together the raga and rap styles. Otherwise this was a bit too cheesy for me.

And youtube turns up the video to No Hocus Pocus, and this sounds way better than on the album:

22. Black Radical Mk II: The Undiluted Truth

Yep. Felix's not pulling any punches here - this is the undiluted truth, and a Blackman's Leviathan. The track titles follow suit: Ripping up the Industry, Witch Hunt, This Wretched Earth, England is a Bitch.

And the music is also high quality and follows this script: Heavy Public Enemy type sounds, tons of scratching and urgent rhymes, delivered with vitriol. It feels a bit lighter than Public Enemy, and without Flavour's clowning it requires a more vigilant listen. For me, Crossroads was a highlight - lots of samples firing off, some rock records I didn't recognise but it was furious.

So I enjoyed listening to it but, despite the lightness, I found it fairly unmemorable - one of those weird records which is a solid listen but it doesn't have quite enough oomph to have you coming back for more. The itunes version I bought added a couple of single tracks which suggest that there's more to Black Radical than meets the eye.

No live for Black Radical so heres the Crossroads:

20: Various - 1989 Live Hustlers Convention

In 1989 I wasn't really interested in music but I wasn't far off. Everyone else went to the Music of Life Birthday party and got hammered. This is an interesting collection of live turns from said party set around some coherent but drunken shout outs.

Asher D and Daddy Freddy do some ragamuffin stuff - the sort of thing John Peel always used to play and you waited for him to play the latest indie movers instead. And on the sad time when Westwood was ousted from Radio 1, he does his thing over Mark the 45 King cutting up some breaks. Then MC Duke does a fantastic version of I'm Riffin, it sounds incredible and he kills it.

He's then joined by 'Merlin' who pronounces it "Murlin" - he's a saying what he sees type of freestyler. He's second go is weird and veers into homophobia. Then he's off and some bonkers talk:

"Right about now, everybody that's in the place, right, we came here tonight to have a jam with the music of life posse right. But right about now some suckers got on the stage and they want to battle. We didn't come here to battle but they invited us anyway. So we won't have a battle but we'll have a freestyle and you can decide who's best. But no battling"

Then queen latifah tries to break up a fight in an equally incoherent way. Then the Demon Boyz finished everything off with a bit more raga style stuff.

So overall it's worth the entrance fee for the drunkenness and the MC Duke track. But it's a neat document of the time and it's pretty short. And yes, Daddy Freddy does a ton of Frank Bruno impressions....


Here's that MC Duke track:

23: Skitz - Countryman

I bought this at the time, with some amount of excitement. Lauded at the time for featuring UK MCs when others around them were not, it rode in on the back of two really strong singles. The cover's a bit crap but this was a record which was sorely overlooked on release. My memory of it as a back to back killer record was confirmed through the relisten I gave it.

From the get go it sets the scene: the into track is menacing and pleading - telling us to pay attention. And then into horns, a trio of female voices and one of the best posse cuts: Wildflower, Tempa, and Estelle hit hard. Then on, and everyone on the record pulls out something special - Skitz too, the production being top drawer throughout and never really faulting. Double album too and for once, it feels short. Rodney P does his thing and it feels like a match.

Then Roots Manuva, who I don't really like over his electronically wibbly beats but here sounds sublime, describing Inner City summer days. It's beautiful. Then on and on keeping up the quality: Phi-Life cypher, Taskforce, Rodney P again - a fantastic crime gone wrong tale from Dynamite. Roots again doing another beautiful track. A daft skit which fits perfectly.

And then the triumphant last side: Dynamite again doing a bubbly ragga type tune. And then the two stand out posse cuts: Fingerprints and Twilight of the Gods. A quartet of rappers, a DJ and the tradition of using a different beat for each MC. These two tracks are incredible. "Pen to the paper I scream at the world" says Roots, and the blends between each MC are brilliant. Skeleton is the revelation for me - totally menacing laid back style. "I'm the sliver backed gorilla and the great white shark".

So that's it, a fantastic double LP bursting with ideas and really high quality rapping. It never really went anywhere which was such a shame, and Skitz moved on to radio. But this is a classic for me - I love it.

Here's the video to Domestic Science:

24: MC Duke - Organised Rhyme

Undoubtedly one of the raddest LP covers of all time - it does set up an expectation of something which is not going to be a enjoyable journey.

Thankfully though this is a solid funk/drum heavy record - tons of great samples (including a nice cut of Miracles). Straight up 1989 style, this feels slightly ahead of the curve. And, a bit of British sense of humour - "What we going to do for the next fuckin' record man?", "I think we should do one for the girls, I think they deserve it", "Yeah they do deserve it".

The production hits the ground running, keeping it simple but the drums at the fore - single sample lots of scratching. The rhyming is good and bounces around the beats effortlessly. It seems fairly unremarkable in the context of the list but that's only because the list has become much more solid. As we hit the second half the quality has ramped up. I didn't know this record before this and now I do. It's a solid recording with a nice cover.

And here's MC Duke on "Behind the Beat" BBC2 show - never saw it...

25: Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner

The ultimate record from the noughties. He was 19 years old when this came out and won the Mercury Prize. This record was everywhere at the time and, to be fair, unlike most Mercury winners he went on to do much more. This was a pre-holiday record for me so I haven't given it a full weeks listen but my initial impressions are that it's very much the sound of a 19 year old. Lot's of grimy electronic type sounds and some decent rapping.

I didn't find it a fun listen, it's a bit tiring but it ticks the right Mercury boxes so it's unsurprising that it won (defeating the likes of Athlete!, The Darkness!, Marina Topley-Bird!). The production, being grime heavy, is good but too simplistic for me. And I know it's a snobbish thing to say, but I find the type of electronic sounds here a little stupid. It all sounds like a child with a decent synth pressing four keys. Grandad.

The big single, Fix Up, Look Sharp stands out. The OOOOiiiii! starting and then the cut up of Big Beat which is a smart move. And, adding weight to my internal theory, Dizzee's rapping is raised on this. Proper Production you see. There's some hints of the route he would take - basically stupid rap. It's all too long and could easily lose 5 tracks but it is of it's time and does represent something. It doesn't feel as fresh as it probably did at the time but it's still enjoyable.

Here's what happens when you turn the "Urban" knob on the video camera up to 11:

28: Aspects - Correct English

Wow, I've really fallen behind with this. In my defence, June was busy at work and we went on holiday. Furthermore, now that I'm approaching the nether regions of the list the records aren't as easily available. Two have fallen by the wayside (I'll have to order them IRL FFS ETC). But I've kept up at least with the listening side of things.

So Aspects: from the Bristol axis of the New Wave of British Hip Hop. This is a great record - loads of smart production, crazy accents. This was released on Hombre - the Bristol label (see also the Numskullz). Two DJS, Three MCs. A bit of spoken word and then the first track proper: Aspects the Crew Are Top Choice over and over and some raspy noisy thing. It's as good as it gets. It's a solid listen from then on, but maybe a little on the bland side. One of those things that's really good but lacks the thing that grabs you.

Kronos Device starts with the Vampires of Dartmoor, before breaking out into a reggae like bouncy thing. It's great, but would have been better with the Vampires. They do the spoken word track from the start but rap over it at the end. It's good. At 18 tracks, though it's way too long which is particularly a hip hop trait. This falls into the trap of being part of the NWOBHH: It's a long but solid listen but there were so many other things at the time that were slightly better. All the parts are there and they've come together okay but it's just not super fulfilling.

Couldn't find a video, so here's top choice:

30: Silent Eclipse - Psychological Enslavement

This isn't the first time I've attempted to tackle this list - I've made several half arsed attempts in the past. Hence it comes to pass that this is the first record that I actually bought a while back.

I know little about Silent Eclipse and the internet isn't much help. But have a look at the cover, the name of the group and the title of the album. This is a pretty heavy trip. And it's one of those UK Hip Hop records with a large reggae influence. I gave it a short shrift when I bought it but, actually I think it's a solid entry on the list.

They're pretty full on from the get go - the production is minimal and the rapping hits hard. The production though is changable enough for the record not to be dull and they're not preachy. The standout for me was "Policing as a Tool" in which the hypotheses is put forward for this "that most of the officers were bullied at school". It does that brilliant thing of mentioning the album title in the song: "I waked up early, I had it going on, Psychological Enslavement was going strong".

This is a dark record which doesn't feel heavy - they tell you the facts rather than try to force your hand. I don't know if I could listen to it a lot but it is a solid listen when it is on.

Here's a neat video of MCD from Silent Eclipse:

31: Roots Manuva - Brand New Second Hand

So the second entry by Roots in the list, but his first album. This was a pretty big deal at the time, but typically I was too lazy to get into it.

I've kept listening to him, the other record falling into my regular rotation so I've warmed to him a little. However, I just can't commit to it - there's something about his voice which doesn't match up for me.

Having said that I preferred this record to the other one, there's less fluff on this one and there's much less annoying electronic wibbles which I found distracting. Ultimately though, there's nothing on here which I found memorable - it's accomplished but I found it quite cold. This most likely reflects my taste - I like my hip hop to be super backpack or incredibly stupid. This is serious both muscially and lyrically so it doesn't quite match.

Here's a live version of my favourite track on "BBC Choice" which looks like it was presented by the work experience kid this week. He's way too laid back on this:

33: Parlour Talk - Padlocked Tonic

Have I said how it's utterly bonkers that I can only buy this record because I have a UK credit card? For all the little music services that are available to us now, none seem to solving the problem of just having a sensible rights system for digital music. Hence the lengthy delay on this one.

But it's a weird one - a Hip Hop record on Acid Jazz? I was a bit young for Acid Jazz and I don't really know much about the label but the name puts me off a little. So I was worried about this. Parlour Talk is Mister Deed and Sir Beanz OBE. The latter showed up in the second birth of UK Hip Hop, appearing on some Big Daddy CDs.

So it was a welcome blindsiding on this one - this record is non-stop fantastic. Sir Beanz has a thick Bristolian accent and can really rap. The scratching is great and the production is spot on - all light and bouncy whilst still keeping the beat up. It's a bit like Souls Of Mischief but more fun and more playful.

My favourite track was Gutted: A keyboard riff leading into drums and cowbell. Then "When you're feeling well hung or your gutted" and then guitar over the drums as the rapping bounces over the beat. It's really accomplished stuff. And then some Guru samples - truly the mark of confidence. Able Semen samples the Vulture classic Klaus Wunderlich and C'Mon Down takes its cues from a hammond heavy spinning wheel cover. It's a great great record, full of fun. Acid Jazz be damned!

No vids for Parlour Talk but here's Able Semen:

32: Cappo - Spaz The World

I missed one, mainly due to the stupidity of digital music being unavailable in different regions. So I had to wait until I could buy the last one on UK itunes, and then transfer it to this machine. One of the not-shiny parts of Digital Music.

This is Cappo, but really it's Cappo, and the P Brothers. In early noughties, when Big Daddy was busy being the best music magazine ever to come out of the UK, it felt like Nottingham was the epicentre of UK hip hop. It's strange to think that anywhere apart from London could be making a stamp on the world but though it was short lived, the P Brothers burst through with lots of boasting. At the same time, the distinctly London based Creators were also busy being top producers. Both were studied, had deep record collections and chops. But whereas the Creators felt a little too studied, the P Brothers always felt too brash for me - like they were trying too hard to have big drums.

This album changes my perception of them - here there are heavy drums and funk samples galore. But it's not relentless - and there are patches of light. Cappo's an okay rapper - nothing special for me here, and when Scor-Zay-Zee appears, it becomes more apparent. But his words are okay, I think he tries a little too hard to be hard but with the production it's lifted.

Watership Down is typical - all RZA type strings, then a beat from nothing - no reference points, just a bunch of samples. Learn To Be Strong is stunning - mixing two vocal samples together with drums and strings. It's a masterpiece, and Cappo raises his rhyming for it. It's also a short record and you never feel it outstays it's welcome. This and The Brotherhood record are really starting to bring in the second half of the list.

Here's a non-video for Learn To Be Strong:

34: The Brotherhood - Elementalz

A little on the late side with this one - Brotherhood, it seems, were going places in 1996. Some indie efforts, then signed to a major, shot some fancy black and white videos, and put out this record. They were on the brink of breaking through and then.....the inevitable.

There's a vitriolic piece on the web somewhere about how the music press didn't understand them and compared them to Public Enemy and Cypress Hill.  Which is unsurprising by they do offer up a really interesting blend of US and UK hip hop.

At some point during my disastrous tenure as a Lecturer I started a habit of listening to a particular record at the start of Friday afternoon. I started with the first Black Sabbath album, the sign of Sabbath o'clock indicating that the week of hell was almost over and the delights of the weekend were fast approaching. When I first came to California I did the same, but I chose to listen to Between a Rock and a Hard place to bring in the weekend - the change from Heavy Metal to tight indie hip hop representing my change in mood. The Brotherhood record brought all those memories flooding back.

This is a fantastic record, the kind of record that you're embarrassed to arrive to late. The production is slightly up tempo, drums are heavy and unrelenting. The rapping is spot on, mixing that laid back kind of sound of Artifacts or Black Moon into snatches of English - "I am Remington but I don't carry no Steel". It's incredibly polished - like a perfect gem, and well rounded. It's not too long and the production varies enough to stop it from feeling tired.

Alphabetical Response is the stand out track - bleepy bloops from the Radiophonic Workshop (maybe), leading into those drums and they've got you in their sights. The chorus : "We'll flip one to your bonce, alphabetical response!". It's wonderful.

It's early days on this one, but I think it might oust Braintax from the top spot. And to prove it, here's that arty black and white video for alphabetical response:

35: The Mitchell Brothers - A Breath Of Fresh Attire

Ah yes - the first half of the noughties. I went to a fancy dress party in 2002 where someone went as the cover of the Streets first LP. I went as either E or P from EPMD. Someone broke a door. Heady days indeed. It's easy to forget now how big Mike Skinner became at that time. I never realised he was big enough to have his own 'imprint' which this record came out on. His legacy is a strange one - his records are missing from the list, but he was never really hip hop and I could never decide if he had found a way to make a spoken version of a rap song or was just a load of rubbish.

His hands are certainly all over this, but it's not the trial I thought it would be. There's something about the brothers which is honest and it comes across on this. Basically the tales of two fairly amusing guys and their trials with ladies and football. None more noughties.

The first track does it no favours - lots of swearing. It's the third track before it gets going - stuttering beats, and (the best thing in rap) handclaps too. They aren't quite Skinnered up on this, there's a bit more melody to their flow that makes the whole thing work, but they are essentially speaking. Skinner shows up and his contribution polarises me - he's certainly different but it sounds like someone reading, but there's something about the way he places words which I quite like. But then it veers back to rubbish.

Then there's a track which is like dry your eyes one that the streets did. It then trundles on in the same vain - quite varied lyrically, if the production's a bit one speed. The 11th track starts with them boasting about cunnilingus which is a little refreshing to hear. Then it goes off with a rap ballad. The best line of this whole album? : "She's been here since Popworld started, and I haven't got to pop her bra yet". This is one of the defining sounds of the first decade of the new millenium.

Here's a stupid video for Routine Check, featuring Sir Skinner on the Fuseball:

36: Ty - Upwards

That most frightful of formats - the triple LP. Thankfully, this was available on US iTunes so I dodged that bullet. Triple LPs - especially Triple Hip Hop LPs (This is a 13 track album) are not designed for casual listening. I've been in California off and on for over half a year and I've yet to feel any homesickness. Even with this project, and a recent Thornbridge mini-fest in Berkley.

And now Ty - I knew a few of his tracks prior to this, notably on the first Nextmen LP. This took the token urban slot in the 2004 Mercury Prize, amongst the Streets, Amy Winehouse, The Streets and, er, Keane. It lost out to tedio-rockers Franz Ferdinand of course. I used to listen to all the mercury nominated albums which was always quite interesting but my favourite never won, I was always too far removed from the judges.

This, by the way, is a fantastically accomplished record - I don't know about a man at the top of his game but this is brimming with confidence, and reminds of the forward thinking krautrock records I listened to over the summer.

The production is tight and varied, and his not afraid to mix singing and rapping, like on 'Rain' which is  the sort of blend of rap and soul which is not easy to pull off. It's a solid listen throughout. The last track is something of a narrative, another difficult thing to pull off and he doesn't quite make it. But it is good - nice soul backdrop and his writing is almost good enough to make it believable.

And then a hidden track. Which on digital format comes off as a 5 minute silence where you think your player's broke. But yet this is a good record all the way through - a little too effortless though but a good un.

The only way to film hip hop is in the comedy style - so here's Wait A Minute:

37:Silver Bullet - Bring Down The Walls No Limit Squad Returns

This was the hardest listen so far. Not because it was bad, nor was it challenging, nor was it avant garde. It's simply the most brutal record I've ever heard - so much so, that I found it physically tiring to listen to in full.

Silver Bullet are seemingly known for the 20 seconds to comply track - an uptempo, Public Enemy like clash of tough drums and a load of Robocop samples. If someone's sampling Robocop then everything is right with the world. It's not far off a Hijack's Badman is Robbin', which makes me wonder why this did so well but Hijack seemingly didn't? But anyway.

The rest of the album takes the same tack - heavy drums, fast rapping and the sound of a man losing his voice. The version I bought  has 4 bonus tracks, including, of all things, two Bomb Squad remixes. I guess they struggled with the remix, since it's so close to their sound anyway - the version of 20 seconds is basically shorter but still as relentless. It's a good record but too one dimensional and not distinctive enough to keep me interested. And exhausting.

Here's a cheap video which (surely illegally) includes a whole bunch of scenes from one of the greatest films ever made:

38: Outlaw Posse - My Afro's On Fire

The Outlaw Posse album cover is channeling a little bit of the Jungle Brothers, and a little more of the Dream Warriors. Fortunately this is just a carbon copy but a channeling of the above into a coherent whole. There's even a track called "Doin Our Own Thang".

Everything's in balance - upbeat, optimistic rhymes, jazz backdrops and embellishing scratching. The samples are straight out of UBB, blended with a bit of Gang Starr speeches. It's a good capture of US afro-centricity but through a UK filter.

There are many highlights - With A 'K', where Karl outlines that his name begins with said letter, over a looped Ode to Billie Joe, close your eyes and your listening to a lost De La Soul album. It's a solid listen, though a little unremarkable and though I enjoyed it, I can't say it made a huge impact on me.

Here's a horrendously mixed live performance of Stop the Negativity:

39: Jehst - Falling Down

I'm marathoning Mad Men at the moment, trying to catch up before we start to watch the new season and so my commute process has switched from listening to podcasts to watching TV. Thus I haven't given Jehst as much time as I perhaps should have but I think I've got the measure of it.

So I like it, but I seem to remember this being something of a big deal, and I don't think it's that. But it is good. So some records I like the rapping, and some I like because of the production. This one I love solely because of the production, I'm not in love with his rapping - a bit too on the abstract side for me but the production is fantastic. All thick bass and fender rhodes and good quality scratching. I don't get much else from this to be honest - the rapping's not terrible and, to be fair, it does play off the production pretty well.

Monotony is the stand out for me - I think it's cutting up the windy noises at the start of In Den Garten Pharaos, and is stunning. I love that smarts, where you take something out of place and make a rap record out of it. China Shop Taurus is the big track on here, and is indicative of the record as a whole - and again the production is super sharp. A good record overall with some great moments.

Anyway - here's the terrible video for Monotony:

Entries 50-40

I thought I'd sum up each step of 10, since I'm not a fifth of the way through. So far the standard has been really high but one record has really stood out - so if you buy one of these, make sure it's this one:

Braintax

Unsurprising, this is a regular one on my commute and it's a winner through and through. And like all great hip hop records it never puts a foor wrong. And here's a documentary about Manchester Hip Hop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eGXR3tgEuAM

40: Yungun & Mr Thing - Grown Man Business

Didn't like the look of this one - the cover screams "Ernest" and the title is a little embarrasing. First listen held this out - all bad rapping and so so production. But I kept going and over time it wore me down.

The list is starting to get interesting - as the wavering 40s disappear - we're coming into what I hope to be serious territory. On the face of it this shouldn't work, for the reasons stated above. And it starts badly G.M.B. (Just Like That) tries to give you a left hook, but it's weak and flops when it should punch. The thing that this record gets away with, where others don't is that they can do cheesy rap stuff really well. Peter Pan Syndrome should be terrible, but there's some real charm there and it works. Then it's straight into one my favourites - Forget Me Not, which is really sweet, soul harmony production and some lovely intentions. It chugs along being good and into the stand out track: One Step Beyond. Heavy soul production, good horns and drums and Yungun raises his game and you start to listen. Good scratching too.

So this album is weird - it's not straight up club bangers, or the tightly produced abstracts I usually go for but it's something else. A mature record made by people with genuine talent. It's a winner.

Here's the video for Forget Me Not:

41: Diversion Tactics - Pubs, Drunks and Hiphop

In 1999 my good friend Tel goaded me into listening to Tim Westwood for the first time. I thought Westwood was a bit of a dick but there was something about Hip Hop that kept me coming back for me. As my interest in the music grew, every month or so Tim had Prime Cuts on the show and he would do an hour of 'undergound' type hip hop records. I would listen to the show, grab as many titles as I could and then every now and then search record shops for the records I had heard on the show. One of those records was a 12" by Diversion Tactics called School Report.

Thus this is the first record on the list that I own and I always held it in fairly high esteem. I haven't listened to it in a while so I was little nervous about listening to this again - would it hold up in the context of the list. And I had a little bump at the start of the week as it took me a few listens to really get my head round the record. And it is a winner but not in the conventional sense. My records are still in storage (but not for much longer...) so I can't tell you why there are four people in the group but five on the cover. But essentially two MCs and two DJs and probably one hanger on.

And it's a great great record - sticks to pretty much the same furrow but ploughs it really well. The title track sets everything off, the classic Brit Rap staple of talking about different ways of getting drunk. The production is spot on and the embellishments that support it are great - fairly low tempo throughout, but there's a real quality to the production and drums. The rapping is solid and they even push a bit of humour.

The real standout for me is a track which featured on the first 12" - Scout Report. Minimal production and solid rhyming. And there's great turns of phrases. From Buy British: "The only time I'm in a trance,  is when I fuckers who can still breakdance, unfortunately I have the physic to play darts". The Chubby Alcoholic has one of those styles which is utterly accomplished without really showing off.

You ain't feeling UK hip hop if your best mate ain't an MC, is a fantastic line and captures the mood of the record - they know they're great but they don't have to go on and on about it. If I were to complain I would say this could be a much stronger single album but it doesn't feel too stretched. I still prefer the 12", although there are other singles they've done which are solid and better than that...

I couldn't find a live video of them but here's an awkward interview with them. Seemingly they're embarrassed to be interviewed by someone who looks like one of them...

42: Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me

So here we go - The guardian's favourite British MC (maybe?). I've heard a few RM tracks on other places but never a full album. Being a terrible music snob if you'd asked me before this I would said that he was pretty bad - The sort of hip hop that someone that doesn't like hip hop listens to etc etc. I thought this could go two ways: 1. It would be as terrible as I pre-conceived it to be and I would smugly report how bad it was. 2. It would be great and I would eat my words. Unfortunately neither seemed to be true, and it ended up being good but nothing exceptional.

The key problem for me was both that a) RM has a rapping style which is pretty tedious. Not terrible, but nothing special and worse b) the production on this is so boring. Clearly I am biased to a certain style of production - snares, drums and samples and the like. I think that if you're going to stray from this style then you either need to be a really good MC (Doom gets away with it for example), or the production needs to be really good.

Witness (1 Hope), shows how this could work - the production is tight and merges with his rapping really well and gets your head nodding. Ital Visions, though, doesn't work - the production is washy and RM just talks over it - compare this with the track he did on the Skitz record which had a similar rapping style but way better production and it just comes away broken.

Two tracks that feature guests (Charli 2na and Rodney P to be specific), for me show up RM as an average rapper, Charli hitting the production like a pro and Rodney P as usual blowing everything out of the water without even thinking about it.

RM then commits a cardinal rap sin: the "courting track". There are a few places that rappers go which is very dangerous ground. Trying to do comedy rap is incredibly difficult and rarely comes off. Ditto for tracks describing the deed. The production is kind of weird and the lyrics creepy, and that chorus is utter shit. "Take a little peek under that frock tonight" sounds like some kind of weird stalker. But anyway this is not terrible and listening to it out of the context of the project I may have liked it more - but there's nothing here that hasn't gone before (and done a little better), means that this one just washed over me. Still not as good as Braintax.

Having been a bit blah'd by the album - this video's pretty good: