New Joint – Sadat X / Pharoahe Monch / Phil G.

Sadat X ft. Pharoahe Monch & Phil G. – “This Is Our Thing” (682Records.Com / 2013)

Grant Parks-produced track from the Wild Cowboy’s album “Love, Hell Or Right”.

True Wine Connoisseurs #54 – Sadat X / Will Tell / Sean Black

Sadat X continues on his mission to find the perfect wine in this latest entertaining TWC episode which also features the Brand Nubian member telling some studio stories relating to his 1996 solo album ”Wild Cowboys”.

Wild Cowboy – Sadat X

Footage of Sadat X on Ear 2 The Streets Radio promoting his new album “Love, Hell Or Right”.

Love, Hell Or Right Album Trailer – Sadat X

Trailer for the forthcoming album from the Wild Cowboy himself Sadat X entitled “Love, Hell Or Right” featuring input from Pharoahe Monch, DJ Spinna, Roc Marciano, Gensu Dean and more.

Live Review – DJ Doo Wop / Sadat X / Jeru The Damaja

Venue: Jazz Cafe, London  Date: 17 October 2012

London has seen its fair share of performances from golden-era artists in recent months, with this particular event being one of the most anticipated, promising appearances from not one, but two iconic emcees backed-up by one of the greatest mixtape deejays of all-time.

Between them, Brand Nubian’s Sadat X and former Gang Starr Foundation member Jeru The Damaja share a hefty catalogue of classics, all of which have aged well and still stand as musical monuments to the lyrical brilliance and sonic creativity that the best of 90s Hip-Hop had to offer.

After the Bounce Master himself DJ Doo Wop had warmed the crowd up with a selection of real rap staples, a lively Sadat X bounded onstage to the sound of the Brand Nubian favourite “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down”, leading the crowd as they chanted the hook in unison before launching into the timeless “All For One”.

Pausing to remind everyone that he reps “New York City, Brand Nubian, D.I.T.C. and Lo-Lifes”, the emcee with one of the most recognisable voices in Hip-Hop proceeded to drop his verse from the late-90s Rawkus banger “1-9-9-9″ and also delivered a rousing rendition of his “Ready To Die”-era collaboration with Biggie Smalls, “Come On Motherf**kers”, with Sadat reminiscing on the time he spent in the studio writing the track with the BK giant as they both got drunk on champagne.

Promising to return later, X left the stage, leaving the audience in the capable hands of Doo Wop once again. Dropping some rhymes of his own, the Bounce Squad leader took the opportunity to dedicate the segment to his fallen friend Guru (complete with a “F**k Solar!” moment), going back-to-back on the turntables with some Gang Starr classics, including “Take It Personal”, which was Jeru’s signal to make his first appearance.

Reciting Guru’s rhymes in his own inimitable Brooklyn baritone, the NY emcee, decked in jeans, hoodie and Timberlands, smiled widely as he was greeted with roars of approval. Working his way through a number of DJ Premier-produced cuts, including “D. Original” and “Tha Bulls**t”, the gritty wordsmith mixed some humour into his performance, engaging in light-hearted exchanges with various audience members and playfully chastising the crowd for apparently not making enough noise.

Something that was apparent from looking around the venue was the number of younger heads in attendance, some of whom looked like they would barely have been born when both Sadat and Jeru were first making their respective marks on the Hip-Hop landscape. Encouragingly, the majority of the more youthful faces around the Jazz Cafe definitely didn’t appear to be fairweather fans, rhyming along word-for-word to twenty-year-old joints as if they were the soundtrack of the present day. A situation which can only be viewed as a positive thing as, judging from the lack of old-school heads at this and other recent gigs, it will be those younger fans who keep artists such as Sadat and Jeru touring for years to come, as long as their interest in classic Hip-Hop isn’t just a passing phase based on the music’s potential retro-cool appeal.

With Sadat and Jeru each performing a second individual set, which included anthems such as “Love Me Or Leave Me Alone” and “Come Clean”, the show closed with an impromptu freestyle session. As Jeru stepped behind the turntables to spin some familiar breaks, Sadat and Doo Wop invited any emcees in the house to approach the stage, with UK talent such as Oliver Sudden and Chima Anya taking the opportunity to rock with the three Rotten Apple representatives.

Ending a seamless night of classic material by mingling with fans to graciously sign autographs and take photos, Sadat, Jeru and Doo Wop left having ensured those older fans in the crowd were able to relive some of their Hip-Hop memories, whilst helping the younger heads in the audience create some new ones of their own.

Ryan Proctor

Footage of Sadat X performing “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down” at the Jazz Cafe.

Demolition Mixtape Download – DJ JS-1

This is absolutely incredible – a new three-hour mixtape from the Rock Steady Crew’s mighty DJ JS-1 featuring nearly a hundred demos and unreleased tracks from the likes of Kool G. Rap, King Sun, Organized Konfusion, Rakim, Lord Finesse and many, many more golden-era greats – download here.

New Joint – Fokis & RP / Brand Nubian

Fokis & RP ft. Brand Nubian – “Big Business” (Loyalty Digital Corp / 2012)

Another quality track lifted from the forthcoming Fokis-helmed project “The Vintage Album” which will feature Kurtis Blow, Spoonie Gee, Kool G. Rap and more.

New Joint – evitaN / Sadat X

evitaN ft. Sadat X – “3 Kings” (BumRush Music / 2012)

Dres and Jarobi unite with the mighty Sadat X for some Will Tell-produced golden-era goodness from their forthcoming album “Speed Of Life”.

New Joint – Sadat X

Sadat X – “I Know This Game” (Loyalty Digital Corp / 2012)

Produced by Local-Mu12 member Real McKoy and taken from the Brand Nubian emcee’s forthcoming album “New York”.

Stages And Lights – Sadat X

Footage of the Brand Nubian emcee’s recent three-city tour in Japan.

New Joint – Sadat X / Homeboy Sandman

Sadat X ft. Homeboy Sandman – “X & Homeboy” (Goblin Music / 2012)

Dope Psycho Les-produced track from the forthcoming album “THC”.

New Joint – Lord Jamar / Lord Superb

Lord Jamar ft. Lord Superb - “N.Y. Timez” (Universal Indie / 2012)

Big Throwback-produced track from the forthcoming “Known Associates” project which the Brand Nubian is hoping to release from raising funds on his KickStarter page.

New Joint – Jakk Frost / Smif-N-Wessun / Kre Forch / Sadat X

Jakk Frost ft. Smif-N-Wessun, Kre Forch & Sadat X – “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down – G-Mix” (JakkFrost.Com / 2012)

The Philly emcee delivers his re-working of the Brand Nubian classic from his mixtape “Throwbakk Jakk 3″.

Album Review – Gensu Dean

Gensu Dean

“Lo-Fi Fingahz”

(Mello Music Group)

To many boom-bap die-hards the SP 1200 is the definitive weapon of choice for any musical maestro worth their weight in dusty vinyl. The 1987 E-mu manufactured sampler is to Hip-Hop what the lightsaber is to the Jedi Order. In much the same way that Yoda wouldn’t consider someone a Jedi Knight until they’d completely mastered the space-age sword, there are many out there who won’t consider bestowing the title of Hip-Hop producer upon anyone who hasn’t paid their dues on the same piece of equipment that birthed so many classics in the hands of legends like Paul C., Pete Rock and Lord Finesse.

Noted for its notoriously limited sampling time, the SP pushed golden-age producers to the limits of their creativity, leading to some inspired breakthroughs in studios everywhere as the likes of Marley Marl and Showbiz squeezed everything they could from the machine in order to bring to life the soundscapes that blasted loudly in their mind’s eye. Fast-forward to the present day and with all of the new technology available to make the creative process easier and faster, it would take a dedicated boom-bap disciple to disregard such convenience and still insist on crafting their beats via the SP 1200.

Enter Texas-based producer Gensu Dean. Refusing to abandon the trademark gritty, warm sound of the SP for the slicker feel of more recent advancements, Dean’s Mello Music Group debut manages to carry on golden-era tradition without sounding dated or redundant. “Lo-Fi Finghaz” isn’t the work of a producer simply refusing to let go of the past regardless of the quality of the finished product, rather it’s the sound of a musician choosing to work with the equipment he knows will enable him to create the best music he possibly can.

Having remained under the radar for much of his career (Dean’s first production credit was on Southern duo Crooked Lettaz’ 1999 album “Dark Skies”), this debut album has been a long time coming and it’s obvious from listening to the project that the talented beat-digger wanted to ensure he dropped a release that would stand the test of time. The level of production heard on “Lo-Fi Fingahz” remains high throughout, with every cut here deserving of its place on the final tracklisting.

Featuring a varied selection of emcees, all of the collaborations included on “Lo-Fi Fingahz” sound completely natural, with Gensu’s masterful boardwork ensuring the album remains cohesive rather than simply sounding like a compilation.

The full-bodied “In My Head” finds Brand Nubian’s Sadat X and Lord Jamar blessing knocking drums laced with quirky keyboard flourishes, as the Wild Cowboy drops god-body science and J-A-mother-effin’-M-A-R highlights the benefits of releasing music in today’s digital-age (“Nothing to press up, Nothing to ship out”). NY-born, Atlanta-based emcee HeadKrack makes a notable appearance with his solo track “It’s Just Him”, attacking Dean’s dramatic blend of thumping beats and blaxploitation-style guitar licks with aggressive intelligence (“My music ain’t for the dancers, It’s for the people who question the answers”).

Strong Island’s Sputnik Brown are on-hand to rock the same 1973 Betty Lavette break used on Stezo’s 1989 classic “To The Max”, whilst the chopped guitar, haunting female vocal sample and thick drums of “Forever” provide the perfect neck-snapping backdrop for a typically timeless Large Professor performance.

The upbeat “Extra Extra” is a joyous slice of feel-good boom-bap featuring the positive lyrical vibes of UK duo The Planets, whilst one-half of the British pair, Nomadic, also appears on the stripped-down transatlantic collabo “12 Jewelz” with Roc Marciano, proving that from the pavements of London to the sidewalks of New York it’s still politics as usual.

A great body of work, “Lo-Fi Fingahz” proves undoubtedly that Gensu Dean’s faith in his trusty SP 1200 definitely wasn’t misplaced. One man, one machine, one quality album.

Ryan Proctor

Gensu Dean ft. Large Professor – “Forever” (Mello Music Group / 2012)

Live From The Bronx – Sadat X / AG

Footage of Sadat X and AG on NYC’s Street Vision Radio with DJ Ready Cee and DJ Mixx.

New Joint – Jakk Frost

Jakk Frost – “All For One” (Cold World Ent. / 2011)

The Philly lyricist remakes the Brand Nubian classic for his latest mixtape “Throwbakk Jakk Vol. 3″.

New Joint – The Funk League / Sadat X

The Funk League ft. Sadat X – “On & On” (FavoriteRec.Com / 2011)

New video for the French production duo’s previously-released single which will also be featured on their upcoming album “Funky As Usual” dropping on Favorite Recordings.

 

One 2 The Head – Positive K

Indepth RealHipHopDaily.Com interview with former Brand Nubian affiliate Positive K speaking on the early days of his career working with the First Priority camp, his 1992 debut album “The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills” plus more.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

One To Grow On – Lord Jamar

30PlusHipHop.Com audio interview with Lord Jamar speaking on the origins of Brand Nubian.

New Joint – Lord Jamar

Lord Jamar – “G-to-tha-O-to-tha-D” (UniversalIndie.Com / 2011)

Taken from the Brand Nubian member’s forthcoming album “Known Associates”.