Above: Patrick O’Brien captures the masked hip-hop crusader in his natural enviroment. From co-founding Galway’s Community Skratch games, being a member of the Vince McMahon scratch super-group to making some seriously innovative music as one half of one man duo Deviant and Naïve Ted, Andy Connolly has been a cornerstone of Irish hip-hop and electronica for over a decade. Martin Leen took the brave step and left Dublin for the … Read More
Dank.
Mammy, I’m scared. Terrifying stuff from Cork based Cáca Militia who have stepped out of your post-weekend fever sweats to deliver a track they call Dank. We’ll just leave it here. They’re on the Soundcloud.
To Hell Or To Hip Hop.
Sligo Hip Hop feens, This Side Up, release their debut album on November 14th. TSU started as an all vinyl night in McGarrigles, Sligo, in 2008 which rapidly led to nationwide performances and some quality, original tracks. Jasper Mathews dropped them a line to discuss tunes, mental health and getting rowdy. How did creating the album go for you? We made a big decision to step away from what we … Read More
What’s London?
Manchester’s LEVELZ roll into town this weekend for their Irish debut. No hype needed here – you know the score, huge stage swagger and pulling sounds from the bassier end of the spectrum to match. They just dropped an intense 15 minute blast for Radio 1Xtra and are hitting up The Wiley Fox on Saturday with an army of Irish support. Beardy had this exchange with some of the … Read More
They’re Serious.
It got a little hectic as usual last night with @RusanganoFamily @GodKnowsRF @MuRliMuRl @mynameisjOhann ?? pic.twitter.com/lvwLl4PC57 — Stevie G (@StevieGrainger) April 9, 2016 Here’s Rusangano Family whipping it up in Cork last night with their track Run. Captured here for Twitter by Cork DJ Stevie G. Tonight they’re in the Sugar Club launching their new album. It’s called Let The Dead Bury The Dead and is getting some serious … Read More
Non-National With An Attitude.
Fresh action straight outta Shannonside via The Russangano Family. The above video for their latest anthemic banger Lights On was directed by Steve Hall and conceived by Blindboyboatclub. You might know him as the shopping bag wearing wise man of the Rubberbandits. It’s a song that name checks grime stalwarts JME, Wiley and local Limerick legends Give A Man A Kick. Not too often that happens in the same few … Read More
Party Political Broadcast.
Here’s a party political broadcast on a strictly hip hop bent. It certainly tars them all with the same brush. Make up your own minds.
Fragments and Stammerings.
Fragments & Stammerings (2006) by Deviant & Naive Ted Another re-release that came into our feeds. This one popping back into view from 2006 and sketching out the early days of the whole Community Scratch Games camp with all proceeds going into the upcoming tenth weekender. MynameisjOhn, him that does be on the buttons for Rusangano Family, has some nice words laying the backdrop to the release: “The CDs arrived … Read More
My Generation.
Fresh Batch by GI That didn’t take long. GI takes a sample of Blindboy Boatclub killing it on The Late Late show and snaps it to a breezy hip hop beat. Has there been a flurry of hard house, dubstep or psytrance remixes yet or do our ears remain safe? Take a read of our interview with the Working Class Records camp from #rabble2.
All Driller.
A group of lads from Ennis have unironically released a Chicago drill music type rap song. https://t.co/H1ltW2g45t — Rubber Bandits (@Rubberbandits) January 8, 2016 We’ve our heads buried up our own online echo chamber here at the best of times. So this video which started going viral just before Xmash went straight pass us til the Rubber Bandits tweeted it. It’s a guttural street anthem about hanging out with thugs … Read More