Patrice Evra - The video game

Much as I love football, which is ALOT (I play two to three times a week and watch an awful lot of it), I rarely post about it. In fact I may be popping my footy blogging cherry, but it's worth it. Even if it's by Nike and stars a ManYoo player. Cheers Kizza.

Being Charlie Sloth - new webisode

Life as an independent rap artist... well this is what life's like if you've got something about you and get off your arse and do something to make shit happen, as the big Sloth is doing with this.

T2 & H. Boogie - Better Off As Friends (22.11.09)

T2 of Heartbroken fame teams up with H Boogie (Estelle's younger sister) for Better Off As Friends, which is out on Island on Nov 22. T2 is of course synonymous with niche, the bass heavy garage sound straight outta Sheffield. Sweet vocal tracks like Heartbroken began blowing up in Napa and were the catalyst in London's pirates/raves developing a more fun, danceable, less aggressive, female friendly strand, which became funky. Here's some of my ramblings on T2 and niche infiltrating London nightlife in from November 2007

A creative, effective, on point to Lily Allen's filesharing rant

Utter genius. Via Matt Mason, a very astute author, journalist who used to be editor of RWD.

New K-A-N-O

Kano's back with a new track Rock'N'Roller, ahead of his forthcoming LP (early 2009), which features productions by some pretty interesting, top notch producers including ghetto-pop duo Radioclit, who's just released Warm Heart LP is frankly fantastic, Berlin electro-house upstart Boys Noize who are headlining Bugged Out in a couple of weeks (a good indicator of where they're at in the cool stakes), everyone's favourite geeky indie-disco popsters and closet UK garage fans, Hot Chip and long-term collaborators Mikey J and arguably the hottest producer in the UK right now, songwriter/producer Fraser T Smith (N Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, McLean).

Dubstep conquers No.10

So at first glance this is Diversity from BGT wowing the press outside No.10 but if you listen closely, the soundtrack's thundering dubstep courtesy of heavyweight producer/DJ Sukh Knight and equally on point label, True Tiger label. Around a year ago dubstep invaded the middle class arts establishment Royal Festival Hall thanks to Massive Attack's Meltdown (and broke the ceiling, resulting in a mass evacuation), and less than 12 months on dubstep is tearing up the PM's residence. A meteoric rise, I'm sure you'll agree and as great as dubstep is I'm not sure it's gonna save Gordon.

My grime round up in today's Metro

It's been a fantastic year for grime: Middle Britain has gone bonkers for Dizzee Rascal and embraced Tinchy Stryder, as both have topped the charts twice in 2009.

Moments such as Dizzee's smiling putdown of a huffy Kate Moss as she exited the GQ Awards last week (YouTube it) have only helped. And away from the heady heights of No.1, grime's next wave of pretenders is in training and focused.

P-Money is leader of the pack and polished mixtape Money Over Everyone (OGz) showcases his urgent, strident style. P-Money's bustling delivery and sharp tongue electrifies when astride dubstep (Left The Room) and, despite its ferocity, Fruits & Veg elicits a smile as the Lewisham MC deploys a greengrocer's stock (pears, plums, mangoes, broccoli) to slay wannabes and copycats.

The track 1 Up cleverly uses Super Mario in both sampling and lyrics, while Cash In My Pocket is a reworked version of Wiley's Mark Ronson-produced single that waxes lyrical on making, keeping, spending, saving and wasting P-Money's single favourite thing.

Little Dee also hails from London's 'blue borough' of Lewisham and is similarly highly regarded: he's featured on Terror Danjah, Roll Deep and Wiley's albums. Little Dee himself seems different – the opening of his collection Once In A Blue (Eskibeat) is melancholy, his enunciation is clear, with an icy, menacing feel.

His reference points and wordplay shine, too – he spits about avoiding the taxman, interchanges 'dough' (money) with 'doe' (though), and subtly suggests rather than beating his chest ('They say the good die young/so I'll die old').

Proper songs with hooks verses and choruses abound and Little Dee handles a variety of backdrops (rock, pop, electro) with an assured swagger. Little Dee might just live up to his claim to be 'the best thing to come out of Lewisham since Ian Wright'.

DJ Magic, co-promoter/resident at Dirty Canvas and co-founder of the No Hats No Hoods label, captures the white-hot intensity of a grime rave on No Hats No Hoods 1.

Frisco sets the blistering pace and shouts out to his heroes (Stevie Hyper, Shabba, Bounty Killer) as well as er, Abba and Sinead O'Connor, before Badness drops thick ragga-grime over electro and Ghetto brings fiery, nervous energy.

Skepta updates So Solid's 21 Seconds while Lee Brasco's Bow, a spoken-word tour of grime's birthplace, stands out amid the frenzy.

The variety of voices (30-plus MCs) and instrumentals (dubstep, Suzanne Vega, soca-grime) is staggering and it is expertly stitched together by Magic in a twisting and turning 70-minute journey. The inlay gathers photo portraits of leading MCs, making this an excellent, collectible package.

Frisco's Back 2 Da Lab Vol III (Boy Better Know) shows the hard work and commitment required to be taken seriously in contemporary grime – this is his third mixtape before forthcoming debut LP Fully Grown. Big Fris is part of the Boy Better Know label camp and takes pride in being a 'lyrical architect': his raspy flow rides different tempos and instrumentals with aplomb.

And it's this adaptability – apparent whether he's unleashing devastating punchlines or offering mature analysis on the Time Is Right remix (featuring Bashy, JME and Black The Ripper, produced by Wiley) – that suggests Frisco is a Fully Grown artist.

Trailer for 1Day - UK's first hip hop musical film

Trailer for 1Day. Is the film industry going to follow in the music industry's footsteps and finally develop and grow some decent underground films?

Young Soul Rebels - I Got Soul for War Child

Bashy, VV Brown, Pixie Lott, N Dubz, Tinchy Stryder unite for War Child. Tell you what you've got to admire the hustle and hard work Bashy, N Dubz and Tinchy Stryder put in. Impressive! They're everywhere - collabs, in store signings, gigs, festivals, studio, TV, and it's a lesson in how much hard work 'making it' actually entails.

Eloquent Vandals preview: forthcoming doc on street art

Preview for a forthcoming documentary on street art shot at the Nuart festival celebrating street art in Stavanger, Norway. More info here. And big up my boy Zeus who's in the doc and gave me a heads up on the film and festival. (I would add a link to his site but it appears to down).

Dynamo works his magic for 02

Ace magician Dynamo was key an consulted on the tricks featured in the ad. Go Dynamo...

La Ruta Del Sol - preview of Luciano's dvd and forthcoming LP

Could this actually be a music dvd worth buying? It looks like it! Luciano is an electronic music GOD. The Swiss Chilean superstar DJ does epic, shaking house and techno. And his new LP 'Tribute to the Sun' is due in October.