Christmas is a time for giving, and thankfully beatmaker Clams Casino has joined in the Yuletide spirit by offering up the critically acclaimed Instrumentals LP from his Facebook page for free. In what was originally released as a free online mixtape and then pressed onto vinyl by the label Type, this new gift heralds a “previously unavailable high quality 320kbps digitally remastered version of Instrumentals“. And what better way is there to celebrate the festive period than experiencing Clams’ heady beats in all of their high quality glory?

Furthermore, the new year has brought us mixtapes from two of the most acclaimed MC’s of recent memory from America and England respectively. Raekwon has put together a tape, Unexpected Victory, ft. Mobb Deep, Capone N Noreaga, Styles P with production from 9th Wonder and more, while Dizzee Rascal has provided another, Dirtee TV.com The Mixtape, that showcases his label’s talent, sidestepping the pop-electro leanings of his most recent albums and instead sticks to what he does best, grimy raps.

All City Records, the Dublin based independent label specialising in electronic leaning hip-hop, continues to defy the odds in a David v Goliath type fashion with the type of releases that make other labels (with far bigger budgets, dare i speculate) green with envy.

2011 has been a particularly strong year, with releases by Onra, Falty DL, Shafiq Husayn and Om’Mas Keith (Sa-Ra Creative Partners) and this banger by Martyn, among others. To celebrate this fact label head honcho Olan and Tuki put together a 2011 Round Up featuring cuts fromHudson Mohawke, Rustie, Zomby and more, full track list here, listen below.

A$AP Rocky to Zomby 2011 Wrrrrappp Up by allcitydublin

Love this short with Ice Cube celebrating and considering the work of design deities Charles and Ray Eames. Cube draws a parallel between the shared production values of rap and the Eames, highlighting the resourceful and innovative nature of both styles. But as Cube notes, the Eames were ahead of the game ’1949 style’. A compelling piece of film.

Bonafide set out with the aim to celebrate hip-hop. Our aim was to explore ‘old-school, mid-school and new-school creativity’, five issues on we’re proud to present the old school x new school issue. In hip-hop chronological order we speak to the Godfather of it all, Grandmaster Flash, profile EPMD, the funky Long Island duo from the golden age of rap and get crazy with ‘the lazy hustler’ and fourth Beastie Boy, Ricky Powell. Still in NYC, we speak to a leading voice for alternative hip-hop, EL-P, who, nearly 15 years on from the release of the Funcrusher Plus (as part of Company Flow), reveals that there’s plenty of drive left in the tank. From the West Coast we catch up with the revered turntablist and Beat Junkie, J Rocc.

In the new-school side of the magazine, we break bread with those responsible for some of the most exhilarating new sounds in British urban music. We have exclusives with DELS and Ghostpoet as they launch their careers with original and nuanced albums. For this issue’s roundtable we speak with the men behind Numbers, the Glasgow based record label that has rewritten the rulebook on how techno, electronic, R’n’B, house and hip-hop music should sound. And the resulting mutant strain of bass music is destroying dance floors the world over. On the visual side, we delve deep into the Brainfeeder psyche, speaking with designer and artist Charles Munka about his contribution to the label’s distinct art direction.

Buy an issue via the Bonafide shop and you will receive a redeemable code (sent via email within 48 hours) for a free copy of DELS’ Gob EP, including the original single and remixes by Dave Sitek of Tv on the Radio (catch a listen here), Untold and Ry9n. While stock lasts.

You can also buy Bonafide in the TATE Modern bookshop, Rough Trade, Fopp, Magma, all good online and physical record stores and for the first time, HMV, from May 15th.

In 2006 Spank Rock’s channelling of Miami Bass hedonism and dayglo hipsterism made his debut album Yoyoyoyoyo a refreshingly dangerous – even unhinged – break from rap’s standard macho scowl. It was filthy, bass-heavy, and fairly unrepentant about its fixation with drugs and x-rated dancing. Cycling forward to 2011 and it is probably safe to say that not a great deal has changed for Spank Rock, at least in terms of lyrical content.

There is, however, a younger generation of artists that have managed to be simultaneously weirder (Lil’ B) and wilder (Odd Future) than anything Yoyoyoyoyo could have possibly prepared the listener for; all of which leads one to speculate as to whether Spank Rock’s follow-up will retain a singular voice amongst a growing chorus of post-irony, pre-maturity rap artists.

Initial signs for Everything is Boring… are good. The first three songs provide one of the best openings to an album this year: the minimalist assertion of ‘Tah Dah’ runs into the unrepentantly grubby ‘Nasty’, followed by ‘Car Song’ and its sublime Santigold voiced chorus. All three are linked by Spank Rock’s confident delivery, which does its part to cover over any stylistic discrepancy between the songs. ‘Car Song’ is not too dissimilar from a TV on the Radio track in terms of its texture, a definite departure from the more pronounced electronic edge of Yoyoyoyoyo. Elsewhere Spank Rock seems to eschew his rap persona entirely, most notably on the fraught but superb ‘Energy’; loathe as this reviewer is to recycle a comparison already made by the press release, it does sound very much like David Bryne.

It is difficult to know what to make of Everything is Boring. As song-writing goes the album is well developed and broad in its scope of influences. ‘Birfday’ would undoubtedly have been hailed as a progressive leap if it had had the good grace to pre-date the Shabazz Palaces album, rather than follow it by a few months. It is this tendency to feel slightly too late that plagues a great deal of Everything is Boring; it is a great piece of work at both its beginning and end, but with an oddly hollow ring to the centre. The momentum leaves somewhere around ‘#1 Hit’, an auto-tuned song about the tedium of auto-tuned songs, and fails to return until the closing few tracks. There is too much a scrabble between ideas to excuse such a lapse, and it is a shame as it feels as if the album touches on greatness without managing to sustain it for the duration.

Spank Rock makes adult music, but in the same way that adult films aren’t really meant for proper adults, and with enough of a knowing wink to render it palatable. The terrifying implications that come bundled up with Odd Future’s corrosive youthfulness are less of an issue with someone like Spank Rock, however it is also to his detriment. While one can forgive Tyler the Creator for not knowing better, or rather not wanting to know better, Spank Rock gives off a sense that not only does he know better, he also knows you know that he knows better, and wants to develop beyond finding increasingly eccentric places to put his penis. To that end, ‘Turn it Off’ laments a wired-in generation for not making more of itself, yet it is followed by a song which bears the problematic chorus lyric, ‘shake it until my dick turns racist’ (‘Race Riot). It’s a unique mind that doesn’t see any incongruity between these two poles. It is a mind that should be applauded, though perhaps at a distance.

Words: Andrew Spragg

Dusting off some material that we stored for a rainy day.

With the first snowfall happening around my neck of the woods, Christmas finally seems upon us. Santa Claus is something I definitely don’t expect to see coming down our chimney (he’d have a job as it’s gas anyway) but in the ‘I don’t believe it stakes’ this kinda trumps it. RZA busting out Deck the Halls…

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.

Depends on the person. If they were in a car club I would say ‘Roll Out’, if they were young and in school I would play ‘Outta Control’… if they were Hip Hop I would play ‘ Classic’, and if they were just out the loop on M.E.D I would play ‘Where Im From’. For all the Southern Cali Gang Bangers I would play ‘Blaxican’ to heal all the racist tension.

You’ve entitled this album Classic and indicated in interviews that the name derives from the process of making it. What, for you, is the best recipe for making music?

Best way to make music for me is to have the right beat and be in the mood. To many artist sound like there lyrics are not inspired. I want everything i do to be natural.

And looking back from now to when you first started listening to music, what albums do you think of when you think ‘that was a classic LP which sets the bar to where I want to aim for?’

BDP By All Means Necessary. NWA Straight Outta Compton, A Tribe Called Quest’s 1st LP, E40, Nas, Geto Boys..etc. As you can see I’m influenced by all the greats who carry the torch of having Classics.
If you were going to recommend one song on the album to someone who has never heard your music, which track would you select and what do you think it would say to the listener about who you are and what you do?

Depends on the person. If they were in a car club I would say ‘Roll Out’, if they were young and in school I would play ‘Outta Control’… if they were Hip Hop I would play ‘ Classic’, and if they were just out the loop on M.E.D..I would play ‘Where Im From’. For all the Southern Cali Gang Bangers I would play ‘Blaxican’ to heal all the racist tension.

Will you be touring the new album?

Yes! Check Stones Throw and @meda4ox on Twitter for all show info.

OK, warming to the Classic theme. What for MED makes for classic:

Classic Food = Tacos

Classic TV = Martin

Classic Film = Boyz In The Hood

Classic Book = Rick James book he wrote (ha ha)
Who did the album artwork and were you aiming to reflect the album’s title in the design of the cover? The typeface and font colour laid over the black and white imagery looks like a forgotten record from the Blue Note vaults.

Exactly.

Any two of the albums listed in the answer to the second question, and Mary J Blige My Life, 1 jazz CD and MED’s Classic LP… everyone should have a copy!

I watched an interview piece you did where you mentioned that it had been six years since your first LP but that Madlib busts out like 18 a year. As a friend of his, what keeps him going in his relentless quest to produce music?

Probably the love of making music and… bills.

In England we have a long running radio show called Desert Island Discs. If you were stuck on a small, deserted island which five records would you take to keep you sane?

Any two of the albums listed in the answer to the second question, and Mary J Blige My Life, 1 jazz CD and MED’s Classic LP… everyone should have a copy!

News has recently been broken of an EP-length collaboration between Madlib and Freddie Gibbs. Still untitled, it will consist of six tracks, Thuggin’ and Deep being two, and be released through Madlib’s Madlib Invazion label at the start of 2012.

Having previously worked with esteemed musicians DOOM, J Dilla and Strong Arm Steady, Madlib’s famed psychedelic production will stand as a change of direction for Gibbs’ hood-rap style.

Containing vocals, instrumentals and two bonus beats, the artwork by Jeff Jank (check out his guest cover design in Bonafide #03) will feature a dual A-side, “Madlib” printed on one side, “Freddie Gibbs” on the flip.

What is it with rappers and acting? The tangible line of success between hip-hop and Hollywood has strengthened through the nineties and into the noughties, with countless examples of successful money-grabbing rappers trying to convert their lyrical talent into acting steel. What is it that prompts this change in field? The money? The ego? Probably both. The on stage persona that is seen as part and parcel in the hip hop industry appears to feed the musicians’ egos to the extent whereby they believe that they have the ability to cut the mustard in front of a camera.

Needless to say, the forgotten failures far outweigh the success stories. For every Common and Ice Cube there is a 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, RZA, Ja Rule, DMX, Eve, Xzibit and Ludacris. ‘Where’s Eminem?’ I hear you cry.  Sorry Eminem fans, but one good role does not make a good actor.

One hip-hop icon who has bucked the trend by making a tentative yet successful conversion into the glitzy world of film and TV has been LL Cool J. With credible turns in Deep Blue Sea, S.W.A.T and Any Given Sunday, J has most recently turned his Shakespearean prowess towards such shows as 30 Rock, House and, most recently, NCIS: Los Angeles in which he has a starring role with Chris O’Donnell of Fast and Furious fame.

Now just as much a seasoned actor as rhyme-spitter, J can be legitimately respected in both fields. This is not to say that he hasn’t appeared in some clangers over the years, but would you be able to name any Academy award-winning star who hasn’t been part of a box office dud in their entire career? Say what you will about James Todd Smith, but the self-proclaimed G.O.A.T. has stayed busy on both the rap and celluloid fronts, acting continuously while finding time to crank out an album every two years or so. Here’s to hoping that 50 Cent’s latest role as a near on anorexic isn’t as god awful as it sounds.

I’ve been itching to listen find out more about MED’s Classic LP ever since it surfaced on Stones Throw and I caught sight of Eric Colman’s and Jeff Jank’s Blue Note riffing cover. As MED puts it when asked about the album’s moniker:

“I called the LP Classic because thats the approach I took: create music that has the potential to be played by every generation. This album deals with current issues, personal and within the community. Good-feeling music will always last and allow hip-hop to grow.”

With contributions from Aloe Blacc, Talib Kweli, Oh No and Kurupt, Madlib on production duties and beats by Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow and The Alchemist, it seems like it the LP may well live up to its name.