I knew I had a good feeling about this year and we’re already off to a great start music wise. Lots of old favourites, current heavy hitters and even a couple that are new on my radar starting with M9ine, a drill artist from Butetown in Cardiff who I found through this great Spotify playlist from fellow Diff rapper, Traxx.
Traxx’s old sparring partner from Astroid Boys, Benji Wild is one of the first artists announced for this year’s SXSW (thanks to a partnership with Focus Wales who I shall more than likely be covering later in the year), which sadly for Benji is online rather than in Texas, so no rodeo for him just yet. To coincide with the announcement he’s also dropped this killer new single produced by our recently departed brother Stagga and featuring some heavy guitar licks that were a big part of the Astroid Boys sound.
Another welcome return next from Elro, the Chepstow emcee who inadvertently found himself a Grime sensation after taking the raps he was writing as part of his stand up comedy routines to SBTV. After that he came to the attention of Mike Skinner and ended up signing to 679 records, the label that released Original Pirate Material. It didn’t go so well, the label folded and Elro found himself dealing with severe depression, anxiety and depersonalisation disorder, which he addresses a little bit with this offering for Oh So Grimey. He’s definitely surpassed his origins as a comedian and become a thoughtful and accomplished rapper, would love to hear a follow up to his Inside Out album which dropped in 2019.
Blaktrix is definitely one of the most distinctive voices in Hip-hop and this smooth groove from Blah Records producer Morriarchi suits him perfectly. He’s been a stalwart of the scene since the early noughties when he used to roll with Ben Jammin and Humurak Da Gritty as MEB and his tunes have always maintained the highest quality throughout.
Speaking of stalwarts, I couldn’t leave out this new offering from DW Smith, it’s an absolute slammer with a grimey Boom Bap beat that has something of an old skool Middle Eastern feel to it. .
Other highlights for me this month have been: this latest offering from Welsh Music Prize winner Deyah; this laid back jazzy collaboration with Bianca Ali and Cupsofte from the new Eädyth x Ladies Of Rage EP; some heavy new Grime from Brighty and Formless plus Venomous Vocab; plus this hybrid style from Ez Rah and Razkid; and the latest video from Juice Menace’s exceptional 029 EP which I covered back in December.
