Far from being just the big guy in a shower hat behind Eminem, Detroit rapper Bizarre boasts a musical legacy to rival even some of today’s more high profile rappers. Ahead of the launch of his solo album, Friday Night at St Andrews Bizarre took the time to speak to Bonafide about the hip-hop legacy of his home city, MC battles and oh yes, the shower hat. …Read More.
Bonafide caught up with YNR Beat monster Jon Phonics immediately after the release of his brand new LP Half Past Calm 2 on YNR – who happen to be giving the album away to co-incide with the launch of their dope new website: ynr-productions.co.uk. You can also head over to their shop and grab 1 of 300 Limited Edition CD’s with hand-printed 4-ply booklet and inlay/poster courtesy of Brixton Basement Press.
Jon Phonics is one of the most promising producers in the UK hip-hop scene right now and the quality of the beats speak for themselves. If you don’t believe us, you can download most of them yourself for the ridiculously low price of bugger all. It’s almost criminal. …Read More.
The Infesticon trilogy is set for its denouement with Bedford Park. Following the earlier installments, the Infesticons resistance and underground informed Gun Hill Road and the bling-decadence of Beauty Party, the Majesticon’s nouveau riche reply, Bedford Park is the sound of the aftermath of the battle. An exploration of musical styles, all set to an ‘anthem’ theme check this exclusive for an insight into the aural handgrenades that are being thrown out in Bedford Park.
Bonafide caught up with Infesticons figurehead/ringleader Mike Ladd. A man of many guises, Ladd is a seriously talented individual dividing his time between musical collaboration, writing and lecturing on Black American literature and producing documentaries. Always against the grain. Always worth listening too. Checkit. …Read More.
The Oakland based quartet Souls of Mischief formed at the start of the 90s and the memory of what they stood for – an enthusiasm for collaboration (as part of the much loved Hieroglyphics crew) and creativity in order to further push the envelope for hip-hop on a global scale, eschewing the commercial preoccupations that began to dilute the culture less than a decade later – has come to represent more than just music that they made at the time. But fear not, new album Montezuma’s Revenge, produced entirely by Prince Paul, isn’t some retrogressive attempt to return to or reminisce over past glories but a very solid and funky rap record. John Whybrow recently caught up with producer/MC Tajai from the group to discuss longevity, inspiration, Monetezuma and ancient history.
The Psychonauts are probably responsible for some of the slickest, dopest and most accomplished mixes you have ever heard. When we talk about mixes, we are not talking about Back To Mine stylish, coffee table ensembles but innovative, intricate, milk fresh mash-ups that are so sick they require a health warning.
Take a wander across to Pearson Towers to join their mixtape community and share the love for the Essential Mix, a mash up of hip-hop, electronica, indie and funk and the Cream Live 2 Mix (produced with James Lavelle) that manages to stitch together Street Fighter dialogue, Dr Octagon and Air.
They’ve been operating as producers, musicians and DJs for the past 15+years and despite critical plaudits and being cited by the likes of DFA as major influences, have remained in the shadows. With the re-release of their excellent debut LP Songs For Creatures, an album they state is beyond definition, we attempt to lift the lid on one of the UK’s most uber talented groups. …Read More.
So, after what seems like an eternal winter we find ourselves basking in the feeble English sunshine of spring. And thank fuck as I thought this miserable weather was never going to end.
Something else that has put a spring, ahem, in my step over the past month has been the musical takeover of London by Red Bull Music Academy; with a host of new pupils, seasoned lecturers (encompassing everyone from Moodyman to Cosey Fanni Tutti and Roots Manuva, above) and above all a series of banging events and parties including Brainfeeder at Fabric and the long-awaited DOOM homecoming …Read More.
Bonafide aims to be a creative resource; to make it as informative as possible, we worked with people characterised by a drive to achieve and who eschewed conservative, safety first PR attitudes. A strong example of this is the interview with design collective Ehquestionmark. Ehquestionmark openly discussed work for Lex, an affiliate of Warp. The Lex imprint has an agenda to release experimental hip-hop and the Lex x Ehquestionmark relationship has blossomed to deliver some of the best music packaging ever seen. …Read More.
Leaders of the Next School
Sup world, for the uninitiated allow us to introduce ourselves. We’re Associated Minds, a record label working with some of the newest rising artists from all over the UK, currently based in Cardiff. We’re not an experimental ‘sub-genre-of-the-month’ label but a hip-hop record label that still isn’t scared to play with what people expect. …Read More.
In an era of auto-tuned Myspace rappers who release mixtapes on download, DJ’s who carry their music on memory sticks and footballers who are called legends after their debut, Bobbito Garcia embodies genuine knowledge and talent in the many cultures and mediums that he has made a name for himself in over the years. Baller, label owner, DJ, sneaker connoisseur and all round cultural personality, Bobbito is always busy on one project or another. With so little time in the day I caught up with him to discuss his new Connection Volume 1 Mix on R2 Records as well a whole bunch of other stuff that Bob has “ooh-wee’d” over. …Read More.
The Godfather of hip-hop photography.
A trip last February to the Beautiful Losers exhibition, Milan, highlighted that our potted history of the record covers wasn’t exactly watertight. We realised we had missed out influential heads, and furthermore might be wrong in theorising that the evolution of music packaging has lead to visuals being fine art. Perhaps it hasn’t been a linear progression, maybe it was down to different philosophies producing different types of work. Bonafide decided that the best thing to do would be to go back in the day and speak to an OG creative heavyweight. That someone was George DuBose. …Read More.
