23 years after the first London show Erick Sermon and Parish Smith, AKA EPMD, return to the Big Smoke still making dollars and having fun, as Phillip Mylnar investigates.
With a funk-saturated sound formulated way out in Long Island, EPMD took their place up front as part of hip-hop’s fabled golden era back in 1987. Now nearly three decades deep in hip-hop history, rap innovators Erick Sermon and Parish Smith look back on the game-changing night they played London’s Brixton Academy, how the business of hip-hop taught them to break-up to make-up, and the lasting lesson the legendary Run-DMC taught them about always embracing rap’s new generation.
Ever since since I clapped my eyes’ on Eric Colman’s and Jeff Jank’s Blue Note riffing cover for MED’s Classic LP I’ve been wanting to know more. When I peeped lead single Blaxican it was obvious that this was a piece of work pitching to be classic in a holistic sense.
With the album just released MED (aka Medaphoar) took five to extol the virtues of the Classic things in his life. …Read More.
On the same day Paul White drops Rapping With Paul White – The Remix EP as a free download from his bandcamp page and to stream below – in a first for the producer, the record includes a trio of sample-free tracks on which Paul plays drums and synths – we are also pleased to present an interview with the south London based beat maker who tells us his top five rap albums of all time, his eclectic working methods and explains why he nearly always includes his full name in the title of his albums. …Read More.
Friday night, fabric, peak time 1.30am, and London is in the midst of another farcical Indian summer. Four Tet, (Kieran Hebden to his mother) is commencing his dj set. Oozing out of the crystalline Room 1 speakers comes the serene, haunting and woozy tones of jazz pin up John Coltrane. Not your average club fodder then but then nor is Four Tet your average producer. …Read More.
In a digital age where virtual identities are ubiquitous, particularly within music, Shabazz Palaces is something of an anomaly. With no Facebook or Myspace page to speak of, the mystique that surrounds him is a genuine point of intrigue and fascination. As a marketing tactic it’s relatively trite but undeniably effective, and as such, is a slightly daunting task for the discerning interviewer to undertake. …Read More.
When sifting through the ubiquitous ‘best of’ lists at the tail end of last year, there was one distinctly noticeable trend wherever you looked; artists from the fledgling bass label Night Slugs kept on cropping up. Co-founders L-Vis 1990 and Bok Bok had a 2010 to remember, culminating in the release of their first compilation album, Night Slugs Allstars Vol. 1, a wide-ranging collection of tracks by artists on their roster. …Read More.
With his new LP Ox 2010: A Street Odyssey (Man Bites Dog Records) marking the rise of the Phoenix from the dusty, pigeon populated streets, we thought now was the time to speak with the legendary myth maker, MC crusher and NYC storyteller, the one and only Vast Aire. With rising DJ and producer Kount Fif in tow, we got the low-down on the LP, urban myths and the pair’s motivation for releasing records.
“Industry rule number 4080, record company people are shady.”
Unfortunately Q-Tip has been proved right time and time again and no one knows this better than Bilal. His 2006 album, the tragically ironic titled, Love for Sale was deemed unmarketable by Interscope and then leaked mysteriously shortly after. While we live in a time where accidentally on purpose leaks are a promotional tool, for Bilal it was the final nail in the coffin and the album was never released. …Read More.
Yup, that’s right kids, for a limited time only you can read all back issues of your favourite art design and music magazine (or ‘a fucking hip-hop guide book’, according to Raekwon) online at Issuu.
We enjoy wasting the day away on the Internet whilst pretending to do work as much as the next person, but Bonafide is essentially a print magazine and in order to keep it that way we need to sell it. And to encourage you to buy it we’re giving away a free album from the legendary BBE records with every 2 issues ordered via our online shop. And that’s what we like to call bullshit free marketing. …Read More.
All art is subjective. But there are some lyrics that, no matter the time nor place, will remain epically true; verses that represent a moment, feeling and passion in a way that demands preservation. Listening to Talib Kweli’s immaculate Blackstar collaboration with Mos Def, for example, it stands tall to this day – 13 years later – as a body of words that’s simply untouchable. …Read More.
